From: Marci Retzlaff <mretzlff>
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 18:37:36 -0600

Hi! I am a youth services/ill librarian in Norfolk, NE (located in the northeast part of the state--population _at_21,000). I definitely have some favorites for the year. Jerry Spinell's _Crash_ is a great book to recommend to boys who too are wondering where they belong in this life; the female counterpart to that could be
_The Cuckoo's Child_ by Suzanne Freeman. I thought Mary Downing Hahn's _Following My Own Footsteps_ was excellent, as was _Belle Prater's Boy_ by Ruth White. For a more mature youth I would heartily recommend Chris Lynch's _Slot Machine_. This novel really deals with it all -- the pressure to excel in sports, in being true to yourself, in trying to be popular. This is really a good read for teenage boys. For the historical fiction fan I would recommend Avi's _Beyond the Western Sea_.
(Of course, I am probably well known for recommending anything Avi writes, but that's another topic!)
        My non-fiction tops for the year would be Barbara Cooney's _Eleanor_ and
_Orphan Train Rider_ by Andrea Warren.
        Picture books are elusive this year...but among my favorite would be Jamie Lee Curtis' _Tell me again about the night I was born_.
        That's a few of the books I found worth reading this year...thanks for reading!

Marci "So many books....so little time"
Received on Thu 05 Dec 1996 06:37:36 PM CST