The Bat Boy and His Violin

Written by: Gavin Curtis

First line: I sashay my bow across the violin strings the way a mosquito skims a summer pond.

Why you should read this book: The year after Jackie Robinson breaks into the major leagues, Negro baseball is on a decline, but Reginald’s papa’s team, the Dukes, is doing worse than anyone else. All Reginald wants to do is practice his violin and get ready for a recital in the church basement, but Papa doesn’t understand his music and thinks he’d be better off working as a bat boy for the Dukes, since he can always practice in the dugout when he’s not working. It turns out that some soothing violin music is all the team needs to inspire them to make their last season the best season ever.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You’d never bring your precious instrument onto a dirty baseball field.

Carol from the Country

Written by: Frieda Friedman

First line: Never, not once in her eleven and a half years, had Carol felt as unhappy as she did today, the first day in the new apartment.

Why you should read this book: Relocating from their big, beautiful farmhouse in the country to a loud, cramped New York tenement is definitely the worst thing that’s ever happened to Carol, and to add insult to injury, the twins think city living is great, and keep sending new kids upstairs to meet their big sister. But Carol doesn’t want to be friends with these overly-familiar children, especially not the janitor’s daughter, or the immigrant girl, or the kid whose dress is too small and too tight because her mom is too poor to buy a new one, and by the time she realizes that having some friends in her new neighborhood might not be such a bad idea, even the doctor’s daughter thinks she’s a stuck-up snob. It would take a major catastrophe to get back into their good graces now.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You don’t associate with the unwashed masses.

Lizzie Lies a Lot

Written by: Elizabeth Levy

First line: Lizzie opened the door.

Why you should read this book: Lizzie’s Nana is the sort of woman who would never compliment a beloved granddaughter, but Lizzie can relieve the pressure of Nana’s constant criticism by making up stories in which she is the prettiest, most popular, most talented girl at school. Nana knows she lies, and so does her best friend, Sarah, but her mom and dad buy some pretty big whoppers, including her tall tale about being selected to dance the lead in the school recital. What happens when all those lies come crashing down around her head?

Why you shouldn’t read this book: Lying is in your job description.

The Ringmaster’s Secret: A Nancy Drew Mystery Story

Written by: Carolyn Keene

First line: “Oh, Nancy, I worry so about your doing that trick riding,” remarked Hannah Gruen, looking fondly at the slender, attractive girl in jodhpurs and a tight-fitting coat.

Why you should read this book: Nancy’s immediate proficiency in circus riding leads her father to buy her an exquisite bracelet that features five gold horse charms and one platinum mystery. In her quest to understand what’s become of its former owner, the teenage super sleuth is soon in her element: getting strangled by mysterious strangers; ordering Bess, George, Ned, Hannah, her father, side show attractions, and police chiefs in the city and the suburbs around; and, of course, joining the circus, where she befriends a clown and an aerialist with their own secrets. Every step closer to the truth creates more enemies for the girl whose detective skills are legendary, and whose father is willing to drop everything and fly his kid to England to pursue a sketchy lead on a pro bono case that has already resulted in two attempts on her life.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You're a bad guy, and you would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids.

The Missing Mother Goose: Original Stories from Favorite Rhymes

Written by: Stephen Krensky

First line: Old King Cole was a merry old soul. And he had every reason to be.

Why you should read this book: If you’ve ever wondered what made Old King Cole so merry, or inspired a cow to jump over the moon or a boy named Jack to jump over a candlestick, these whimsical stories will answer all your questions and others it would never have occurred to you to ask. Did Little Miss Muffet really suffer from crippling arachnophobia, or did she have ulterior motives, and how do you grow pickled peppers, anyway? Includes a brief section with historical information about each of the included nursery rhymes.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You’ve ever been compared to Humpty Dumpty or shot out of a cannon.

Chi Running: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running

Written by: Danny Dreyer with Katherine Dreyer

First line: Not long ago I was running past a grade school

Why you should read this book: Using the cotton-and-steel principles of Tai Chi to emulate the perfect, unconscious running form of a child, this book promises to increase a runner's speed and stamina while reducing effort and eliminating injury, regardless of the runner's age or experience. With pages of detailed instructions on how to perceive and move each part of the body, checklists, and exercises, this book strives to be a substitute for the author's successful and sought-after running classes. In addition, there is much instruction on maintaining the mind-body connection along with a clear, open mind; training, eating, and choosing and tying your shoes properly; and identifying and overcoming specific complaints often suffered by runners.

Why you shouldn't read this book: In the event of the zombie apocalypse, you're planning on increasing your friends' odds of survival by being the one that's easy to catch.

There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales

Written By: Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

First line: During the war, a colonel received a letter from his wife.

Why you should read this book: The scary fairy tales of this anthology are overcast, rather than dark, existing in a landscape that mirrors the shadowy reality of Soviet Russia, with its dearth, privation, and fear, but through which a single beam of hopeful sunlight may pierce. Through the collection, ghosts of dead loved ones appear in unexpected forms or places to offer succor to the living or easy passage to the next world, while soldiers and mothers struggle through confusing foreign regions that do not quite match up with their understanding of the shape of the universe. There is much beauty to be found in the gritty unreality and the bright passion of love that run through this translated collection.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You suspect your neighbor has been trying to kill your baby.

Flashforward

Written by: Robert J. Sawyer

First line: The control building for CERN's Large Hadron Collider was new: it had been authorized in A.D. 2004 and completed in 2006.

Why you should read this book: The search for the Higgs Boson goes horribly wrong, resulting in everyone on earth blacking out for almost two minutes; many people experience visions of themselves twenty-one years in the future, and many people die in the blackout. Scientists Llyod Simcoe and Theo Procopides need to contemplate the results of their experiment, including their own culpability in the deaths of millions and their beliefs in the immutability of the future: Theo must work to solve his own murder, while Lloyd worries incessantly about an impending divorce from a woman he hasn't even married yet. Some interesting discussion of free will and physics in a sort of light speculative novel that comes off as Michael Crichton on laughing gas.

Why you shouldn't read this book: The writing is pretty bad, with distracting and redundant exposition and stuffy dialog, and some of the science fiction elements have not held up over time. Occasionally, a passage which is clearly meant to demonstrate the author's efforts to embrace a multi-cultural perspective come off as racist. With the exception of a few themes and elements, this novel has almost nothing to do with the television show it inspired.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Written by: Carl Sagan

First line: It was a blustery fall day in 1939.

Why you should read this book: Popular and charismatic scientist, author, and television personality, Carl Sagan bemoans the gullibility of modern audiences and advocates greater funding for science education and experimentation as a bulwark against ignorance, superstitious hysteria, and pseudoscience. Along the way, he advocates for the scientific method, debunks most every popular belief about aliens, UFOs, and New Age thinking, and includes, for the reader's convenience, his "Baloney Detection" kit: a detailed explanation of various types of logical fallacies that impede intelligent thinking about the world. Advocating for equal parts wonder and skepticism, this book is a call for reason in an age where reason is increasingly held in disdain.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You only need one book to tell you about the nature of reality, and you think it was written by an ephemeral, bearded old white guy who lives in the sky.

The Wolf Girls: An Unsolved Mystery from History

Written by: Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple

First line: When I grow up, I want to be a detective, just like my dad.

Why you should read this book: The true story of the so-called Wolf Girls brought to an Indian orphanage in 1920 is dissected by an objective child searching for the truth. Each page contains some of three different elements: a yellow box telling the story as it is known, a white notebook page withe the child narrator's explanations, and a series of colored boxes containing definitions of unusual words. Were two children really raised by wolves until rescued by a kindly missionary? This book asks readers to examine the evidence and decide for themselves.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You prefer legends.