By: Emily Shwake

If you were here for Week 7 of Aunt Camp and are still looking for a book for your older niece or nephew, how about getting nostalgic? Choose a book that you loved when you were their age. You can bond with them over the parts you love and the characters you can never forget. Better yet, reread the books yourself along with your niece or nephew, and escape grownup life for a little while.

1. A Wrinkle in Time: This sci-fi classic won the 1963 Newbery Medal. You and your nieces and nephews (ages 9+) will dive into this story of Meg, her brother Charles, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe trying to save their father and the universe in their adventure through time. Stick around for the rest of the series if it catches their fancy.

2. Holes: This book (ages 10+), written by Louis Sachar, concerns a program for troubled youths. At the camp, boys dig for hours straight in the blazing desert sun. Little do they know, they are not digging to “build character,” but for a treasure buried long ago. Stanley Yelnats, a poor boy from a family cursed because of his “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather,” might just find some truth in those holes as well.

3. Bud, Not Buddy: Christopher Paul Crits won the 2000 Newbery medal for excellence in American children’s literature for the story of 10-year-old Bud who runs away from his foster home in search of his father. Through Bud’s amazing adventure, your nieces and nephews (ages 9+) will learn about the Great Depression, jazz, and the Civil Rights Movement.

4. The Outsiders: Published by S. E. Hinton when she was just 18, this coming-of-age novel won countless awards. Told over the course of two weeks, The Outsiders tells of Ponyboy Curtis who belongs to a gang in the East Side of Tulsa, Oklahoma, called the greasers. When Jonny, his best friend, stabs a Soc in order to protect Ponyboy, the two run away together and end up on a search for the difference between right and wrong. Because of its adult content, it would be best to share this with nieces and nephews 12 and up and to maintain a discussion about what they are reading.

5. The Giver: In a dystopian society where there is no color, no weather, and no feelings, Jonas, a 12-year-old boy is assigned to be the Receiver of Memory. In order to help the community avoid the mistakes of the past, one person must bear all the pain but also the joy of the past. Through this riveting tale, your nieces and nephews (ages 12+) will learn the importance of history and memory.

Photo: Nata Snow
Published: August 4, 2015