From picture books to chapter books, YA fiction and nonfiction, Nancy Pearl has developed more thematic lists of books to enjoy. The Book Lust audience is committed to reading, and here is a smart and entertaining tool for picking the best books for kids. Divided into three sections-Easy Books, Middle-Grade Readers, and Young Adult-Nancy Pearl makes wonderful reading connections by theme, setting, voice, and ideas. For horse lovers, she reminds us of the mainstays in the category (Black Beauty, Misty of Chincoteague, etc.) but then in a creative twist connects Mr. Revere and I to the list. In a list called Chapter One, she answers the proverbial question- which chapters books are the most compelling for kids who are now ready to move beyond picture books. And who says picture books aren’

t deep? Recommended Folk Tales sort out many of life’

s dilemmas and issues of good and bad; a selection of picture books on Death and Dying introduces this topic with sensitivity; and You’

ve Got a Friend offers up books for early readers that show the complexities and the pleasures of relating to others. Parents, teachers, and librarians are often puzzled by the unending choices for reading material for young people. It starts when the kids are toddler and doesn’

t end until high-school graduation. What’

s good, what’

s trash, what’

s going to hold their interest? Nancy Pearl, America’

s favorite librarian, points the way in Book Crush.