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We hope you enjoy our computer games, but on this page we want to share something else with you - a selection of books that we feel are in the Family Games spirit by appealing to the young without exempting their elders.
Most of the books we recommend here should be easy to find at your local bookstore or library. For your convenience, we also include links to the on-line bookstore Amazon.com, where you can purchase any book that interests you, or just find out more about it. Many of Amazon.com's listings feature reader reviews. These are often quite detailed and helpful, and may give you a better idea of a book's value to you than an ordinary review in a newspaper or magazine (or web-page!). The Amazon.com links will take you directly to an information page for each book.
The Family Games Web Center
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The Seventh Princess by Nick Sullivan
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OK, perhaps it's self-serving, but so many readers have told us how much they enjoyed this fantasy novel by our own Nick Sullivan that it seems silly not to recommend it here.
The Seventh Princess tells the story of Jennifer, who falls asleep on her school-bus and awakens in Eladeria, a land of enchantment, mystery and mortal danger.
The book is recommended particularly for children of 8-12, but we are delighted to learn (from the user reviews on the Amazon site) of readers returning to the book as adults to renew a fond acquaintance with it begun in childhood.
Incidentally, a sequel to The Seventh Princess, entitled The Demon in the Chain, is available free for reading on our web-site (click here).
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Publisher: Scholastic First published: 1983
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Click the amazon.com link to buy or learn more about this book.  |
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The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
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There can't be many contenders for the title of Best Long Nonsense Poem in the English Language, but this masterpiece from the loopy but logical mind of Lewis Carroll is definitely among them. Subtitled "An Agony in Eight Fits" (a fit, or fytte, being a chapter or sub-section of a long poem), The Hunting of the Snark tells of a voyage by the weirdly charismatic Bellman and his strangely assorted crew to capture the Snark - an ill-defined creature who (we learn) may or may not be a Boojum. Some lines stick in the mind for no apparent reason, as when Carroll reveals the band's unconventional approach to navigation:
"What's the use of Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry, and the crew would reply,
"They are merely conventional signs!"
We have a paperback edition of the poem, unfortunately out of print, with marvelous illustrations by Ralph Steadman. We haven't seen the Penguin edition, annotated by Martin Gardner, but from his work in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, it's sure to be worth having.
The Hunting of the Snark will appeal most to those, young and old, who can appreciate its rich language and nonchalant eccentricity. For those readers, it's an inexhaustible treat.
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Publisher: Various First published: 1876
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| Click the amazon.com link to buy or learn more about this book. |
| Some books of Christmas information |
We are sometimes asked to recommend sources for the kind of esoteric information about Christmas that finds its way into our popular Christmas trivia quizzes. (Click the "Amazon" links in the text to purchase or learn more about individual titles.)
Our favorite book of this type is Gerry Bowler's The World Encyclopedia of Christmas (McClelland & Stewart, 2000), which is a mine of well-presented Christmas lore. [Amazon]
Two other books we've found useful include the large and miscellaneous The Everything Christmas Book: Stories, Songs, Food, Traditions, Revelry, and More (Adams Media Corporation, 1997) [Amazon], and the small and specialized 4000 Years of Christmas: A Gift from the Ages (Ulysses, 1997) [Amazon]. The latter book, which focuses largely on the pagan origins of the Christmas festival, attracted unfavorable notice on Amazon from one reader who felt it shortchanged the Christian aspect of Christmas, and another who wanted material on the ancient Goddess religion. We prefer to judge it for what it includes than what it omits.
Finally, here are some other books that we haven't yet seen ourselves, but that should be of interest:
General
Christmas Customs and Traditions: Their History and Significance (Dover, 1989) [Amazon]
The 'Christmas Carol' Trivia Book: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Every Version of the Dickens Classic (Citadel, 1997) [Amazon]
Mostly for kids
Christmas Around the World (Mulberry Books, 1998) [Amazon]
A Christmas Celebration: Traditions and Customs from Around the World (Ideals Childrens Books, 1992) [Amazon] |
Make your own recommendations for books we should add to this list - we'd love to hear from you! Visit our on-line Suggestion Box and fill in the few lines of information we need.
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This picture book is the first and we think the best of a series featuring Ma Bungalo and the Bungalo Boys, four brothers (Rufus, Shorty, Johnny-Bob, Curly) with a taste, if not a talent, for adventure. Bianchi's art and text have a Pythonesque whimsy that makes reading this book to a four-year-old (or thereabouts) a delight for readers of any age. With the help of their wonder dog Projectile, the Boys do eventually overcome the rustling activities of the rascally Beaver Gang, but never before has tree-ranching seemed such a challenge.
