Zoe's Tale

by John Scalzi
Tor | 2008

Zoe lives on Huckleberry, a planet that's part of the Colonial Union. She has her adoptive parents, John and Jane and two Obin, Hickory and Dickory, charged with making sure she's safe, because she is actually the lynchpin in universal peace. When John is chosen to command a new colony on the new planet of Roanoke, Zoe leaves with him, Jane, and 2500 other colonists and heads to their new home. What they don't know is that the Colonial Union has sent them purposely off course to a different planet to hide them from the evil Conclave. And it ends up that only Zoe can save them all in the end.

Scalzi's Old Man's War trilogy, published for adults, ended with The Last Colony, the story of the group's trip to Roanoke, told from John's (Zoe's dad) perspective. He returns to the same story to tell it again--from Zoe's perspective. Zoe's Tale works as a stand-alone novel and there's no need to have read The Last Colony to love it. And, the best part is, even though Zoe's Tale was also published as an adult novel, it is really a YA novel. It's protagonist and storyteller is a teenage girl, and the story is just as concerned with teenage problems as it is with interplanetary warfare.

Anyone who likes YA lit will likely love this. Anyone with a child who likes fantasy books will also love this. It's well written and a really well-paced and exciting story. It's one of my favorites I've read this year. (Don't dismiss it if you usually don't go for Sci-fi--you'd really be missing out!)

Children's Book-A-Day Almanac

by Anita Silvey
Roaring Brook Press | 2012

THE BOOK PILE'S FIRST POST ABOUT A BOOK FOR ADULTS.

Anita Silvey is a legend. She's a former editor-in-chief of the Horn Book Magazine, former children's publisher, and current writer and professor. She's also a really, really nice woman.

For the two years-plus, she has blogged her recommendations of the best books for children, both classic and new, at Anita Silvey's Children's Book-A-Day Almanac, available here. And now, the blog has been turned into an easy-to-use, affordable reference book that belongs in every library, on every teacher's desk, and in every parent's home.

Beginning on January 1 and containing 366 entries (one for February 29, too!), each page highlights a different book for children in every age-level and every genre from The Very Hungry Catepillar to The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, and Treachery. Each entry contains a synopsis of the book and information about it written in the first person, which feels almost like Anita has joined the reader in the classroom or living room to help the reader understand why the book is important. She ends with recommendations about for whom the book might work best and with suggestions on how to use it with students or kids. A sidebar on each page notes important things that took place on that date such as birthdays and historical events.

The book is appended with a guide to major children's book awards, a book and author index, an index of books by type, an index of books by age, an index of major holidays, and photo credits. All this back matter makes the book even more user-friendly. At the fantastic price of $19.99 and with its easy to hold and flip-through paperback format, you may want to buy a few of these as holiday gifts for folks you know!