Gosh, thank you all so much for the great ideas. I have a Pete the Cat book but didn't realize it was a series. I'll look for more. I'm very interested in the Harry McLary books, but interestingly my library doesn't have them! But they are on Amazon, so I'll give them a try. I was going to try to thank everyone individually, but worry I'll leave someone out, so I hope you'll know that I'll look at each of these and try them out. For anyone else reading this looking for ideas, my grandson loves a book I found called Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. And I can second the G'night, G'night construction site. How do boys seem to emerge with an affinity for construction equipment? At 2 and younger? It's crazy! Also, no one answered about Where's Waldo? I know it's older, but does anyone recommend it? If so, which one? Please keep adding books if you think of more. It's great to have them all in a place to check back with. Thanks again!

Socks, this book is the only one I've read in the series. I think it would help to read the first one, get introduced to Skippyjon and why he thinks he should be a chihuahua instead of a cat. ;o) But otherwise, I don't think it would matter. We enjoyed our book very much without having read the first one. Gayle, if I worked at B & N I would spend my paycheck before I left the store! LOL. Otherwise, I would love that job! I would love to work in the children's section and do the storytimes; I love reading aloud to kids. Talley Sue, have your kids read the kids' novels by Carl Hiaasen? "Hoot" and "Flush." I love those books. They are funny, the perfect example of irony, and the language and pace of the plot appeals to middle grade kids. My 5th grader read them this year. He liked them a lot, and he doesn't like to read (whose kid is he?!). I also like the books by Deborah Wiles, for girls. We listend to "Love, Ruby Lavender" on CD while on a road trip. Sad, funny, smart, and cute, a good read. DD read "Every Little Bird that Sings," she is 8, 2nd grade, above-grade reader, but I think it was still a little above her reading level. One of my favorite volunteer duties at the school is to read the new children's novels that come in, they have to be screened for content before hitting the shelves for students. They tell me "just skim them" but I can't! Some of them I've liked recently were "Penny from Heaven" by Jennifer Holm, set post WWII, Italian family, very well developed plot and characters. And "Rules" by Cynthia Lord, narrated by the sister of an autistic boy, deals with accepting disabilities and the people who have them. It comes across very sincere and believable. I did not like the new series that tells of the adventurs of Peter and Pan, "Peter and the Starcatchers" by Dave Barry, et al. They were IMO, very boring, text was forced/dragged out into twice as many pages as they really needed. They are very long books, and I could not force myself to finish it. That one I did just skim. OK. I'm done for now. ;o)

Depends on how much you are prepared to spend. Have a look at the CSIRO Publishing web page http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/18/bcid/48.htm For Eucalyptus in the southern half of Australia it would be hard to go past the Euclid CD. For Acacia likewise the Wattle CD has a wealth of descriptive information about ALL the Australian spp. The 2 Acacia and 1 Eucalyptus volumes of Flora of Australia are comprehensive though the later is now somewhat outdated. Neither it nor the Euclid CD recognises Corymbia as a distinct genus - in the case of the CD because its principal author is strongly opposed to its recognition (in the face of majority botanical opinion in Australia), in the case of the Flora because it predates publication of Corymbia. For a more general book at a more reasonable price it's hard to beat the current edition of Australian Native Plants by Wrigley and Fagg.

I have a 10 year old girl and 13 year old boy. My son is not a big fiction reader, he reads for information, but he loves Artemis Fowl or anything by Eoin Colfer. He also loves Calvin & Hobbes, Foxtrot and Tintin comics. I think that consulting with a good children's librarian may be better than the awards (though the Newberry is always pretty reliable), because some of the YA award books can have some material you might consider objectionable. For example the book Tender Morsels that had a thread on here not long ago. Here's a list of books my kids have really enjoyed: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH The Tale of Desperaux Any of the Magic Treehouse books The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents Andrew Clements' books (Frindle, Janitor's Boy etc...) Dragon Rider Here's what's on the eighth grade summer reader list at my son's school: They all have to read Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patilla Beals, then they can choose any of the following: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou It's Not About the Bike - Lance Armstrong Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood - Ibtisam Barakat A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson Facing the Lion Growing up Maasai on the African Savanna - Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton In the Heart of the Sea: the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex - Nathaniel Philbrick (we live near Boston, so local history) Chew on This - Eric Schlosser The Man Who Ate the 747 - Ben Sherwood Big Mouth and Ugly Girl - Joyce Carol Oates Travel Team - Mike Lupica A Step From Heaven - Na, An A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams Summerland - Michael Chabon Dune - Frank Herbert The Green Mile- Steven King There are a few others on the list. For the younger ones, there are some really great picture books: The Olivia books by Ian Falconer The Three Pigs by David Wiesner The Miss Spider books Jan Brett books are a feast for the eyes Hope that helps.