Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading by Lizzie Skurnick

I love everything about Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading . I love Lizzie Skurnick's style of writing; I love that a publisher let her write about teen classics we never stopped reading; I love that there are also essays by Jennifer Weiner, Meg Cabot, and Laura Lippman.

But the reason this book is so exciting is that I never knew anyone else read these books. I always assumed that I was the only one staying up late to finish the Paula Danziger collection.(When she died, I could not understand why there wasn't more media coverage, a big obituary, whatnot. Then I remembered that she was a female young adult author.) I would cheer every time I came upon a Skurnick essay for something like The Girl With the Silver Eyes (Apple Paperbacks) because I felt like I could finally justify reading it on the playground instead of hanging out with the other kids.

While this book is an amazing tour down memory lane, it's also a reminder of how much reading for fun exposes children to a life different than their own. I'm not talking about Little House on the Prairie (Little House, No 2) or other books pushed in school, although those are obviously valuable. But without these other "lesser" books, I never would have known about childhood abuse or just bad parents ( Don't Hurt Laurie (Aladdin Fiction) , The Cat Ate My Gymsuit ) or what it's like to lose a parent ( Tiger Eyes ). A parent who tries to ban her kid from reading Flowers in the Attic (Dollanganger) is missing the point - trust me when I say that you will want to go hug your mother after you're done reading it, although you might develop a complex about being alone with your brother.

Even if you are less familiar with some of the books tackled in here, this is a great choice for parents, teachers and librarians.

I can't wait for the sequel. (Anyone else there still remember their mind being blown by The Drowning of Stephan Jones ?)