Still waiting for the new Harry Potter book to come out? Here’s yet another outstanding fantasy book that has become a classic. "The Chronicles of Narnia", by C. S. Lewis is a series of seven books that take the you beyond this world into a world filled with adventure and excitement. It begins with the first book, "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe."

This story is an excellent introduction to the world of Narnia. Four children find themselves in another world when they discover a hidden door at the back of an old house’s wardrobe. (C. S. Lewis was from England and the term ‘wardrobe’ in that country meant a large closet where clothes are hung.) Lucy is the first to discover this magical world. As she was hiding from her older siblings in the dark wardrobe, she began to move towards the back of this closet. One minute she was stepping on the hardwood floor and the next minute she was stepping on soft snow. This seems very strange because it wasn’t winter, it was summer. Before she realizes it, she is suddenly in a snowy wood where she sees someone standing by a lamp-post. She soon discovers that the top half was a man and the bottom half was a goat. He was a ‘faun’. He tells her that she is in the land of Narnia where it stretches from the lamp-post to the eastern sea. As the reader soon finds out, all of the children end up in this exciting land and help Aslan, the noble white lion, free his country from the White Witch.

C. S. Lewis wrote this first book for his goddaughter and the stories grew from there. I don’t think his intention initially was to write a whole series of books about the land of Narnia. But his imagination seemed to take hold and the Chronicles were born. These stories are all about good versus evil and evoke courage and sacrifice. The chapters are short and each book pulls you immediately into the story. The books would be a wonderful read-aloud for younger children but nine or older would certainly enjoy it as well. In fact, no one should grow old without reading these books! There is a bit of controversy on the order of the books and which to read first. The publisher renumbered the series so when you purchase the set, you will find the order. However, I follow the purists belief that the following order is a more chronological order of the events in Narnia beginning with this first book. Here, then, is how I would recommend the series to be read: 1-"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" 2-"The Magician’s Nephew" 3- "Prince Caspian" 4- "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" 5- "The Silver Chair" 6- "The Horse and His Boy" 7- "The Last Battle"

A rollicking fun picture book that has you completely immersed in all kinds of math problems is "Math Curse", by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. The first sentence will grab you and hold you all of the way through this funny, yet informative book until the end. "On Monday in math class, Mrs. Fibonacci says, ‘You know you can think of almost everything as a math problem.’ On Tuesday I start having problems." Thus begins a series of math problems that one girl finds herself in where ever she goes and what ever she does. She believes that her teacher has put a math curse on her. She begins to calculate how long it will take her to get dressed, how many flakes in her cereal bowl, how many quarts in her gallon of milk, how many kids on her bus and on and on. This very inventive book explores all aspects of math in our everyday life and how really useful it is. There are questions throughout to really entice your inquisitive mind. This has got to be every math teacher’s bible as it applies and demonstrates how important math is. The illustrations go along with all of the different size and color print, entertaining the reader to the end. And the end is about as creative as books get. What a great book to read to any one ages 5 all the way up through the teen years!