Sophie's World

by Jostein Gaarder

Genre: Science fiction? Realistic fiction? Nonfiction? It's hard to classify. Let's just say it's nonfiction and fantasy combined.
Age group: 12+ (but older is fine too. If you read it at 12 you might want to read it again at, say, 22 and see if you notice anything new.)

One day, a perfectly normal 14-year-old girl called Sophie gets a letter in the mail. The letter has no return address—it's just a simple white envelope, and inside it contains a piece of paper with two questions on it: Who are you? and Where did the world come from? Sophie, who has never thought about these things before, suddenly finds herself asking these questions too. And soon another envelope arrives, with the start of a philosophy course inside.
But as Sophie is learning philosophy from the strange professor Alberto, she's also finding mysterious letters with cryptic messages addressed to a girl named Hilde, c/o Sophie. Who is Hilde, and why are these letters turning up? This is only one the questions Sophie must ask as she journeys into the world of philosophy.

My dad strongly recommended I read this book, but I put it off for a while. When I finally did start reading, I actually found it very interesting. Be warned; there's a lot of philosophy and talking about philosophy inside. It can seem daunting. But Jostein Gaarder does a really good job of making philosophy accessible for young people. He uses comparisons and allegories and metaphors and similes and whatnot to make concepts easier to understand. He often has Alberto say something and then demonstrate it, or have Sophie restate it in simpler terms. Sometimes certain sections require re-reading, but I learned a lot and enjoyed the story too.
The sub-plot with Hilde is AWESOME. At first it can be really confusing, and for a while I had no idea what Hilde had to do with anything. But in the middle of the book everything changes and everything falls into place and you understand! It is just remarkable. This book was very different from any of the other books I have ever read, fiction and nonfiction alike. It is very aware that it is a book. I think that is probably the aspect of it that I most enjoyed.

Running Wild

by Michael Morpurgo

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age group: 10-11+

Will's dad died in the army, and it's been haunting his family ever since. Now it's just his mom and himself, and they're living with Will's grandparents in the shadow of his dad's death. But one day, his grandparents suggest that maybe Will and his mom should take a vacation, and relax a little bit. So they travel to the tropics.
But while Will is on the beach taking an elephant ride, the elephant suddenly runs away, into the jungle. Will soon finds out why: A huge tsunami is coming, and it almost certainly will kill everyone still on the beach.
Now Will is in the jungle, with only an elephant and the other animals to keep him company. He bonds particularly with the orangutans he meets—the babies and the mother, and the large male he calls Other One. But with the peace of the jungle comes conflict and chaos from the poachers who want to kill the animals—and the orangutans—and sell them.

In general Michael Morpurgo's style of writing is (in my opinion) really, really good. He writes clearly and simply and also incredibly descriptively—he doesn't overstate things or go into too much depth, but has just the right amount of detail. He shows that in reality, writing is an art. It's actually quite beautiful. I like how the story starts in one place, but by the end, you've been taken to places you never knew would ever end up in. It's not the most predictable of books. I also like how Morpurgo is not afraid to face the hard truth. People do die; the world is not always a wonderful place, and he is very realistic in his stories in that sense. He has written a lot of other good books, including War Horse and Private Peaceful, and many others besides. If you've read Morpurgo's other books and enjoyed them, I encourage you to try this book, and similarly, if you read this and enjoy it, I encourage you to try his other books.