Deciding which book to read can be really difficult, particularly if you have to choose one or a few from many in a bookshop. Friends are the best guides who tell you which books they enjoyed and which books you should stir clear of.
But sometimes you may grow up to discover some real classics that you missed out on. The Puffin Good Reading Guide for Children tells you everything you wanted to know about books for children, but didn’t know whom to ask. The author, Ruskin Bond, himself a children’s book writer, has complied a guide for readers aged four to 16, listing over 1000 books!
The guide is divided into three sections – Young Adults, Middle Readers and Younger Readers – with further classification of the genres as Humour, Adventure, Crime and Mystery, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Animal Stories and much more.
Bond has made the guide more interesting by including symbols to indicate that the book has been made into a film or TV series and that it’s an award-winning one. “
The first part, Young Adults is for ages 12 to 16. Bond has listed the must-read books in English and some of those that have been translated into English, from all over the world, spanning from the classics of Jane Austen to the more contemporary ones like the Harry Potter series.
After the title of the book he recommends, he gives some background of the book and author, its plot and then lists some other notable works of the author that should be read too. If it is a series, the other titles in it have also named but not detailed. At the end of each genre, there is a list of other books of the same genre with a brief comment about it.
Bond has made the guide more interesting by including symbols to indicate that the book has been made into a film or TV series and that it’s an award-winning one. It is always fun to watch a film based on your favourite title.
The Puffin Good Reading Guide for Children is an invaluable resource for those who love books – both children and their parents – helping them make the right selection and get to know about titles they are unaware of.
The review appeared in Young World magazine of Dawn.
