About once a year, I read a great book.

I mean a book that makes me stay up till all hours of the morning.

A book that blows me away with its intense story, great characters, and good writing.

A book that I can't stop talking about to my friends and family and I try to get everyone to read.

I read a book like that last week: Art Spiegelman's Maus.

It's a graphic novel in two parts, which tells the story of a Holocaust survivor through the eyes of his son who grew up in the long shadow cast by his parents' nightmares.

It was such a great book that I tried staying awake to finish it one night, and couldn't - but I was so happy when I woke up at 3 a.m. again and could continue reading.

The last book I read like that was Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. It was so suspenseful that I had to skip a couple pages when I thought the heroine's sister was going to get killed.

Gone With the Wind was another one of those books, and I remember getting caught reading it in Algebra 11 despite the fact it was my favourite class.

But I don't just love reading - I love books. I like to walk through stacks of books at the library or a bookstore and imagine all the stories floating in them that could be mine if I had all the time in the world.

I like the feel of books, holding a book in my hand and flipping through its pages. (I am still waiting to be convinced to pick up an e-Reader.)

Youth literature is an area that has exploded in recent years and I find myself often reading the same books my kids are reading.

There are some classics that every teen-ager should read - Catcher in the Rye and The Outsiders are two that come to mind, and two that I've recently reread.

Newer authors that I've enjoyed include Eric Walters, a Canadian author who wrote the excellent Run about our national hero Terry Fox.

For kids who are labelled "reluctant readers," two book series cater to high-content needs with fast, easy-to-read writing. They are Orca Currents and Orca Soundings.

The stories are often by well-known authors - Eric Walters has written some - and the stories are well written but aren't thick and daunting, which often turns reluctant readers off from reading.

While there are venerable lists of books to read (the Classics, CBC's Canada Reads books, etc.), the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district has its own list: the Bookfest books as chosen by students in SD42.

So if you want to read what the kids in our school district are reading, consider a book from this list:

Tabloidology by Chris McMahen Running Wild by Michael Murpurgo Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

5 Days by Willem Bell The Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian Two Tintins: Red Rackham Treasure and Secret of the Unicorn both by Herge

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade The next time you are about to pick up the remote control or battle zombies on PVZ (Plants Versus Zombies - I confess, I'm addicted), maybe take a look at your son's or daughter's backpack and see what books their teachers sent home with them.

In fact, I think I have a copy of Tabloidology at home.

I've been feeling a little lost since I finished Maus last week.