The Summer Reading Booklist

With Thanks, Tom Gauld 

Reading to your kids is one of THE most effective ways to ensure their future happiness, emotional health and vast riches. If you aren't reading your child a bedtime story every night, please start now. It need only take ten minutes each night... in fact, I once had a bedtime story book called "Three-Minute Bedtime Tales", and I'm sure you can spare three minutes. Go to your local library, and it may cost you nothing. I've ranted about this before, so I won't carry on again!

Have you noticed how few of the favourite child characters have a mum or dad harassing them to be in bed by eight or clean their room or eat up their broccoli? The boys pointed that out to me once, moaning that I made their lives so boring. (P.S. Tom Gauld's cartoons are just what you need on a Monday morning, go see. After you're all done with the awesomeness here.)

You may click on the 'Our Favourite Books' link on the left there for our past faves and books for young kids, but for the current Sheppard List for bright 10 to 14 year old boys (who no longer require reading to, alas, and only say "One more chapter!" when I try to get them to switch their lights out), see below. Clicking on the book titles will take you straight to Amazon, so you can get reading!

The Hunger Games Trilogy : An absolute must-read for fans of the film.

The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Trilogy, Book 1): Sam: "THE BEST book I've read in a long time. You have to read this mum." So I did, and I couldn't put it down. We're on tenterhooks, waiting to get books 2 and 3 from the library.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: Sad, thoughtful.

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Book 1: Wolf Brother: "The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness". The story of a stone age twelve-year-old named Torak and his wolf cub friend. The whole series is good.

Stormbreaker (An Alex Rider Adventure, Book 1) : Alex is an unwilling teenage M16 spy, fighting despicable baddies, saving the world and trying to finish his homework.

Skulduggery Pleasant Book 1: Scepter of the Ancients: Brilliant series featuring a wisecracking skeleton detective in a Bentley and a cast of magical baddies. Skulduggery is one of my favourite literary characters of all time, and his courageous and brilliant sidekick Valkrye is a welcome change from some of the other female characters in recent young adult fiction. In one book, she's got a brooding, handsome vampire boyfriend who is completely, obsessedly in love with her. Sound familiar? She tells him she's had it with his drama, though, and it does NOT end happily for him. (Book 7 out in August!)

The Hobbit: Read it before the film comes out!

The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1): More magical adventures from the author of the Percy Jackson series.

What books are your kids reading? Leave your recommendations in Comments!

P.S. I'm on twitter... Tweet Tweet!