Community Corner

Patch Picks: Reading Choices for Children and Adults

Every week, we look to our readers to help us compile a list of things to do, places to go, restaurants to try and whatever else we come up with.

March is Reading Month, so let's talk about books. We asked around, a few people, a few librarians, and got a few ideas for books for children and adults. Here are a few suggestions from Ferndale, Berkley, Royal Oak and Clawson.

Feel free to add to this list in the comments section below.

Patch Picks this week: Hey, librarians ... what should we be reading? Hey, Patch readers ... what are you reading?

From the : Children's librarian Jillean McCommons offers a few suggestions for different age groups.

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  • Scat by Carl Hiaasen is a book for tweens, around Grades 5 and 6. McCommons said Hiaasen's books tend to revolve around the environment. In Scat, a boy and his best friend find themselves on a quest to find their biology teacher, who has mysteriously disappeared. The teacher isn't their favorite, but in the end, well ... you'll have to read it. "It's a wonderful book," McCommons said.
  • A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Christian Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead — Amos McGee treats the sick animals at the zoo, but one day he gets sick, and guess what? The animals come and treat him. One of the cool things about this book, McCommons said, is that the author and illustrator are from Ann Arbor. The book won the 2011 Caldecott Medal, given to the artist for the most distinguished picture book for children.
  • McCommons also added the the Fancy Nancy series by Jane O'Connor and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series are are also worth checking out. Fancy Nancy is about a girl who uses fancy words. McCommons said the book helps a child build vocabulary. Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan is a "hot" series right now, she said. It's about a boy whose father is a Greek god and whose mother is a human. (Recently made into a movie.)
  • For the older readers, Kelly Bennet, circulation specialist and project coordinator for Ferndale Public Library, recommended Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer and One Day by David Nicholls.

Suggestions from other libraries:

  • From the : Youth librarian Marie Newcomb recommends Leonardo the Terrible Monster, written and illustrated by Mo Willems. "He has a fabulous sense of humour," Newcomb said. The librarian said the best things about Willems' books is that he always teaches children a valuable lesson without them knowing it.  Willems is also the author of the popular picture book Knuffle Bunny.
  • From in Clawson: The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss is a tale of two groups of sneetches who separate themselves by stars on their bellies. The star-belly sneetches believe they are the best and get to enjoy life's finer things, while the sneetches without stars are considered social outcasts. In the end, both groups come together in unity.
  • Also from Clawson: Bliss, Remembered by Frank Deford is a novel about a charming woman who falls into a deep love affair with a Nazi diplomat during the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Their relationship suddenly ends when political forces tear them apart. In the U.S., she is left with a broken heart but marries an American man while still battling her feelings for the man in Germany.
  • From the : Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Young Laura and her family brave the challenges of life in a log cabin in the Wisconsin woods during the 1870s.
  • Also from Berkley: Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. Wilbur, a sweet-natured pig, befriends Charlotte, a spider who lives in a web above his pen and works to save Wilbur from becoming bacon.
  • From the : The Library by author Sarah Stewart and illustrator David Small. Elizabeth Brown must figure out what to do with the books she's collected over a lifetime, which have swallowed up her house.

Ferndale Patch reader suggestions:

  • Colette Nutton: My favorite kids book: Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. Always get it as a gift for girls.
  • Kirsten Buys: I gave these to adults and kiddos for Christmas this year: veryawesomeworld.com.
  • Michelle Foster: I'm reading Super Rich by Russell Simmons.
  • Danielle Queenie Etienne: Good stuff I read this year! Brett Easton Ellis — Imperial Bedrooms, Glamorama, The Informers; Sam Shepard — Day Out of Days; Norman Mailer — The Executioner's Song; Daniel Clowes — Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron; and Forrest Carter — Watch for Me on the Mountain.
  • Nan Knitter We just read Sleepy Hollow (my sons are 7 and 10, so it was a slightly spooky bedtime story).
  • Ann Warner: I recently read The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, Havana Nocturne by T.R. English, Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue and The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.
  • Tracie Gloudemans: For adults: a recent read was Tinkers by Paul Harding. Sad but good.
  • Melinda Lee Hicks: I don't read as "deep" as most here, but Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman was one of the best books I've read in a long time. The Help is another really, really good book.

Reading something else? Tell us about it in the comments.

Next week's list: Tell us about your favorite summer camps in the area.

Find out what's happening in Ferndalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Patch Picks is a weekly feature on Ferndale Patch highlighting our picks and, more importantly, your picks for a number of things. We'll look and ask about great local businesses, local or near-local destinations, local services, local organizations, ways to spend a day off and whatever else we can think of.

We hope you'll find this list useful for you, your family, friends and significant others. We'll look to compile the best of everything, from Sunday brunch spots to summer camps to date-night destinations to florists to parks and more. So, stay tuned and contribute to our lists!

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