I grew up in a remote corner of Alaska, without electricity or a telephone, at a time when the Internet would have been considered a maniac’s wild fantasy. Anyone entering our house at night would have found everyone in our family clustered around a couple of gas-fueled lanterns in dead silence, each of us deeply immersed in a book–except for my little brother.

Scarred by an unsuccessful introduction to reading in the first grade, my brother had soon become embarrassed by his lack of skill in a family of bibliovores and was a resolute functional illiterate. The rest of us found this appalling as well as inexplicable and discovering a book that would make my brother a passionate reader became an overriding obsession for us all.

Not too far away there was a tiny library that was our family’s idea of paradise. Even my brother loved it, since it contained picture books and illustrated encyclopedias–and as it turned out, a sizable collection of Tintin books.

We were not a family of comic book readers, but when my brother came home with his first volume of Tintin, poring over the pictures and painfully puzzling out the words, it was a big day for us all. It was the moment that my brother became a reader and Tintin became a household saint.

As a bookseller, I love to find books for the uneasy reader and Tintin is always high on my list of suggestions. A colleague of mine specializes in turning reluctant readers into bookworms and in an upcoming interview she will tell us how she does it. What about you? What titles do you suggest for the uneasy readers of your acquaintance? Let us know!

We’re delighted to hear from two British boys who responded to our plea for information about books that children love. Alistair, who is nine and a half, says that books he has recently read for fun are books in the Young James Bond series by Charlie Higson, Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon, and The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. His favorite authors are Michael Morpurgo, Charlie Higson, and Francesca Simon, with Hurricane Gold (in the Young James Bond series) and Tiger of the Snows by Robert Burleigh among the books that he has discussed with his friends. Morpurgo’s The Wreck of the Zanzibar is one of the books he has read for school that he enjoys and among his favorite books in a series are The Chronicles of Narnia, the many adventures of Harry Potter, and Young James Bond. Books he has read more than once are volumes of Tintin, Asterix, Harry Potter, and The Making of Monkey King and Monkey King Wreaks Havoc in Heaven, both by Debby Chen. A book that he found in the library that he longed to keep is one about BMW motorcycles–and, he assures us, although he’s a boy, he does enjoy reading books in which girls are central characters!

Ben, who is seven and a half, loves to read pop-up books, encyclopedias, stories with pictures, and Adam Frost’s Ralph the Magic Rabbit. Books that he has read more than once are Tintin books, Steve Parker’s Larger than Life, which he says is amazing and has recommended to his friends, Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies, and If I Didn’t Have Elbows by Sandi Toksvig. His favorite writers are J.K. Rowling, Julia Donaldson, Herge, Francesca Simon, and Dick King-Smith. When it comes to books that he has borrowed from the library and wishes he could keep, he simply admits there are “loads.” He too enjoys books about girls, but not ones about sports!

Thanks to Alistair, Ben, and Evan for responding to our questions, which can be found at The Tiger’s Bookshelf: Asking the Kids

We would love to hear from more readers–perhaps a girl or two?