With the holidays approaching, gifts are on many people’s minds and I know that the vast majority of our campers and arts academy students are eager readers. They probably devour books like the Harry Potter series and the Hunger Games trilogy without any prompting. But how do you encourage a gifted young reader to look beyond contemporary YA and challenge themselves with their reading choices? Here are some books that might make good gifts this holiday season:
For readers who enjoy The Hunger Games and the Divergent series…
Dystopian fiction is actually going through a resurgence right now: there are a lot of classics like 1984 by George Orwell, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, which all deal with ideas like individual freedom and mass media.
For readers who are drawn to Cassandra Clare, or the Twilight series…
There are many similarities between the classic ‘romances’ and the werewolf-vampire-zombies prevalent in teen fiction nowadays. Check out Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, or anything by Daphne Du Maurier.
If you enjoy the Harry Potter series, Philip Pullman or Neil Gaiman…
Try classic fantasies like Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula Le Guin and – of course – Lord of the Rings.
For readers who enjoy history…
Check out The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – one of the best YA fictions ever.
For readers who enjoy a good mystery…
Try the Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle or The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumasy. The language may be classic, but there’s action bursting from all these books. Oh – and anything by R L Stevenson, especially Treasure Island.
Younger readers would also enjoy the childhood misadventures in Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, or the Hardy Boys mysteries.
Happy holidays – and happy reading!
Julie
Julie Hartley
Director
Centauri Arts Camp
Centauri Arts Academy, Toronto