In an earlier Dog Eared we told you about the one hundred books the National Education Association picked that make great reading for children and young people. Here are some more, the recommended "Books for Young Adults."

1. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
   
   
2. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
   
   
3. Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
   
   
4. The Cay by Theodore Taylor
   
   
5. The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
   
   

To see the entire list, check out the Teachers First website.

The National Education Association picked one hundred books that make great reading for children and young people. The following selections are the recommended "Books for All Ages."

1. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
   
   
2. Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein
   
   
3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
   
   
4. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
   
   
5. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
   
   

To see the entire list, check out the Teachers First website.

Mystery novelist and Paris resident Sparkle Hayter recommends these three books about her beloved adopted city:

Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne

Paris Babylon by Rupert Christiansen

This is Paris by Miroslav Sasek

Subscriber Saul Gliserman recommends "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy:

I would think that most subscribers to VT would enjoy Blood Meridian immensely because of McCarthy's use of the English language. The book reads as an admixture of the Old Testament, Homer, Shakespeare and Melville. Although there is much gory realism, it is by no means gratuitous, and it conveys, in a profoundly realistic fashion, what life was like in the "Old West" of the mid-nineteenth century. The book left me with the utmost respect for McCarthy's talent, and I would rank him among this country's finest writers of any era.

Dog Eared is the section where you, the good subscribers of Visual Thesaurus, recommend the books you love.

I, your humble editor, will kick things off by telling you about four of my favorite books on writing.

1. Writing Broadcast News--Shorter, Sharper, Stronger, by Mervin Block. I know it says "broadcast news" in the title, but trust me: This book will help you with any kind of writing.
2. The Art of Fact, edited by Kevin Kerrane and Ben Yagoda. An anthology of "literary journalism," it features writers as diverse as Daniel Defoe and Lillian Ross.
3. Spunk & Bite, by Arthur Plotnik. If you think Strunk & White is a wee bit outdated, you're not alone.
4. On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. This oldie but goodie still resonates.