Ayla’s Voyage Blog

Publish Date: Sunday, May 29, 2011
Hi Everyone! Summer vacation is here for many and approaching for the rest—yippee!—and I think all of us are looking forward to blissful months of long days and starry nights, imagination and adventures, and ample time to frolic in the joy of life. Yahoo! Summer is a time of new learning and new experiences, and for me, it has always been a time of new books.

Yes, I know. Summer is supposed to be free of school and books and all that stuff, but to me (a total bibliophile), summer has always been about leaping onto a time machine, or a broomstick, or a spaceship, and becoming engrossed in a marvelous story in wondrous worlds, far, far away. From the edges of our Milky Way, to the temples of Ancient Greece, to the walls of Hogwarts, reading is a transport into a world of imagination for all to enjoy. Writing and reading are the closest things we can do to be anyone, do anything, and see everything, and I believe that summer is the perfect time to explore the world of words.

With that in mind, I have decided to compile a list of reading recommendations for kids, and teens my age. There are some books which are so amazing, profound, and remarkable that anyone—young or old—would enjoy their stories. Without further delay, I present to you, “Ayla Besemer’s Complete list of Favorite Books.”

Classics That Never Get Old

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Age 12+)
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Montgomery
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare (I could list other Shakespearean plays that are worth a read, but Macbeth is my favorite. For anyone new to Shakespeare, I highly recommend SparkNotes’ No Fear Shakespeare. Silly as it sounds, these guides make Shakespeare a whole lot more enjoyable when you can actually understand what the characters are saying.)

Historical Fiction that will Blow Your Mind:

• Ophelia by Lisa Klein (Age 12+)
• Nobody’s Princess and Nobody’s Prize by Esther Freisner
• Lady Macbeth’s Daughter by Lisa Klein (Age 11+)
• Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field

Books that Leave You Awestruck:

• Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass
• The Princetta by Anne-Laure Bondoux (Age 13+)
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
• The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
• Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel (the heroine, Ayla, inspired my name!)
• Half Magic by Edward Eager
• Knight’s Castle by Edward Eager
• From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Series That Create a World:

• The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians
• Harry Potter (The best of all time! 🙂 ).
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
• Chasing Vermeer (B1), The Wright Three (B2), The Calder Game (B3) by Blue Balliett

Science That’s Fun Beyond Belief:

• A User’s Guide to the Universe by Jeff Blomquist and David Goldberg
• Star Trek and Philosophy edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker
• Harry Potter and Philosophy by David Baggett and Shawn E. Klein

The ULTIMATE Award, The BEST book of all time, the one I will read over and over, the one which stays with you forever, and the one whose words float off the page:

✓ Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaardner

The best book I have ever read (and I’ve read lots), Sophie’s World is the story of philosophy. Sophie, our book’s heroine (or so we think…), begins receiving letters in the mail from a mysterious teacher who has taken it upon himself to educate Sophie in the history of philosophy. Mind boggling questions precede essays about the history, questions, and intricacies of the philosophic realm. As Sophie delves further into this world, she begins to discover things about her existence that she never guessed—and she begins to unravel a potent secret that questions all we know about reality and our own consciousness. I recommend it to ALL teen readers. This book is truly genius. It is a rare work of literary art, and it leaves you pondering the universe, time, space, the world, and most of all, ourselves. Now, just to keep in mind, it can be a bit of a difficult book to get into because of the author’s writing style. The book was translated out of Norwegian, therefor to an American reader, it can seem a bit short and choppy without many loquacious descriptions. Bear with it, though! It is well worth it, and by the end of the story, you’ve come to appreciate Gaardner’s unique style. It can be read on a park bench, under the covers late at night, in a library, over a cup of tea, with your parents, with your cousins, with random people, with your dog, with yourself…it is the most perfect novel ever to have been written, in my opinion. An absolute MUST READ!

I hope these Summer Reading recommendations get you off to a good start, and that your summer is filled with imagination and endless wanderings in the extraordinary world of words. Happy Memorial Day!