Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth

Author: E. L. Konigsberg

First line: I first met Jennifer on my way to school.

Why you should read this book: An unorthodox friendship between two outsider girls leads to revelations and growth for the narrator. Little Elizabeth wants to believe in Jennifer's world, where witches can brew flying ointment and use their powers to humiliate stuck-up kids. Clever as all Konigsberg's novels are, it's a small, smart story about the power of the child's mind and the ability to construct reality.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You really are a witch and you aren't planning on sharing your flying ointment with anyone.

No Dinner: The story of the Old Woman and the Pumpkin

Author: Jessica Souhami

First line: There was once an old woman who lived at the edge of a big forest with her little dog.

Why you should read this book: Combining a few fairy tale conventions, an old woman and her granddaughter, who live inconveniently separated by a forest full of man-eating animals, outwit the creatures of the forest. This is a wonderful read aloud story, with repetition and multiple voices, as well as a satisfying conclusion.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You've been conned by little old ladies before.

The Day the Babies Crawled Away

Author: Peggy Rathmann

First line: Remember the day the babies crawled away?

Why you should read this book: In rollicking rhyme, the narrator recounts how a bunch of intrepid babies crawl away from what appears to be a Fourth of July pie-eating contest and have an adventure in the forest while an older child uses all his resources to save them from certain doom. The illustrations are striking, with majestic sunset skies serving as a backdrop for a black silhouette foreground where the action occurs. Adorable, funny, beautiful, and sweet, a lovely bedtime book.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You work for DCFS.

Nobody's Mother Is in Second Grade

Author: Robin Pulver

First line: "Did you go to second grade when you were my age?" Cassandra asked her mother one night at dinner.

Why you should read this book: Cassandra's mother waxes nostalgic about second grade and determines to attend her daughter's school, but, since nobody's mother is in second grade, she chooses to visit disguised as a large houseplant. Soon enough, Cassandra's classmates determine that there is something peculiar about that plant, but not so ridiculous as somebody's mother being in second grade. Intelligent and silly, a great book for perceptive kids.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You believe that fun interferes with the learning process.

Too Many Tamales

Author: Gary Soto

First line: Snow drifted through the streets and now that it was dusk, Christmas trees glittered in the windows.

Why you should read this book: Although she knows better, Maria can't help trying on her mother's beautiful diamond ring as they make tamales for the family Christmas feast. When she loses track of the ring, she can only assume it's hiding inside one of two dozen tamales, and immediately enlists her cousins' help in recovering the lost property. A happy, if slightly bloated ending brings the entire family together to celebrate the spirit of Christmas.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating and you consider two dozen tamales chump change.

Tom Strong Collected Edition Book 1

Author: Alan Moore

Quote: I should tell you that although I've never much liked hitting women, I do quite enjoy punching fascists.

Why you should read this book: Sending his character from the dawn of time in one direction to decades hence in the other, but mostly covering the whole of the twentieth century and paying homage to the history of the comic book with every device, Alan Moore presents us with his vision of the perfect man: Tom Strong, Science Hero. With more gear than Batman and a healthier outlook on life, Tom Strong is the kind of guy who takes a break from fighting criminals to go home and marry his childhood sweetheart, from whom he never strays; in fact, she and their daughter, along with a steampunk robot and a surgically enhanced gorilla all use technology and intelligence to battle the Science Villains who constantly threaten Millennium City, where airplanes are outdated and everyone travels by cable car, personal blimp, or jet pack. It's a very intelligent and deft bit of silliness from a guy who probably understands the graphic medium better than anyone else.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You were a member of the Comics Code Authority in 1954.

Six Characters in Search of an Author

Author: Luigi Pirandello

Quote: The drama is in us, and we are the drama.

Why you should read this book: An earnest exercise in meta-theater, this play follows the drama of six characters, whose personalities and crises are well-drawn, but whose author has declined to write their story, possibly due to its scandalous and depressing nature. After bursting in on the rehearsal of a theater company, they demand that their pain and suffering be played on the stage, but cannot swallow the translation of their personal reality through the conventions of the theater. The interplay between characters and actors works to illustrate the futility of expressing truth on stage while demonstrating the author's frustration in attempting to transcend the limits of his medium.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Did you ever wish you could go back in time and somehow prevent Roland Barthes's conception? Have you never been able to grasp the significance of the play-within-a-play in Hamlet? Even once, have you contemplated homicide after watching a David Lynch film? If you answer yes to any of these questions, this might not be the play for you.

Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living

Author: Anna Redsand

First line: The icy wind whistled at the prisoner's backs, pushing through the threadbare rags their captors called clothing.

Why you should read this book: Viktor Frankl led a remarkable life, but more importantly, he contributed to the sum of human knowledge a remarkable theory: logotherapy, which teaches that human beings must create their own meaning in life. Although he lost his wife and parents in the Holocaust and was himself a survivor of Auschwitz, Frankl taught that a positive attitude is the salvation of mankind, saved countless people from taking their own lives in desperation and pain, and brought meaning to the human condition. Anna Redsand's brilliant biography is written with the young reader in mind, but nevertheless covers, with sensitivity and depth, the often tragic conditions that forged Viktor Frankl, the first therapist to suggest focusing on the positive in treating mental conditions.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Since this is a young adult biography, older readers may find more of interest in Frankl's own Man's Search for Meaning or one of the many other books written by or about the subject.

Where the Wild Things Are

Author: Maurice Sendak

First line: The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another, his mother called him, "WILD THING!" and Max said, "I'll EAT YOU UP!" so he was sent to bed without eating anything.

Why you should read this book: One of the all-time great picture books, Where the Wild Things Are describes the strange nighttime voyage of a little boy with high self-esteem and a lot of aggressive energy. His sojourn to a monstrous society where he can express his atavistic alpha side is balanced by his ability to return, when he's lonely, to his own safe bedroom, where someone loves him best of all. Sendak's warm, fuzzy, menacing monsters have become cultural icons, and the rhythmic poetry of the story paints a timeless picture of the world of imagination.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You were raised by wolves and you never want to go back to the wild.

The Jerusalem Windows

Authors: Marc Chagall and Jean Leymarie

First line: Great works of art defy limitations of time and place, but sometimes strange combinations are required to produce such art.

Why you should read this book: Chagall's twelve stained glass windows, commissioned in 1959 for the shul of Jerusalem's Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, represent a groundbreaking fusion of ancient and modern. Working with biblical themes and twentieth-century techniques, he created twelve dazzling windows, one to commemorate each tribe of Israel. This book reproduces each gorgeous panel, as well as all of Chagall's preliminary work, bringing together five drafts for every finished window, so readers can follow the development of the artist's idea from conception to completion.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're color-blind.