“Try them! Try them!
And you may.
Try them and you may, I say.”

One of mine and my son’s favorite books is the story of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. As many times as I have read this book to my three-year old, I am still always delighted that after all his complaining that in the end, the man likes green eggs and ham. I sometimes reflect on my own world and how many green eggs I don’t try because I think I won’t like them.

Before I started writing this column, I rarely read fantasy books. I always thought that they were too complicated or boring for me to read and went readily to my comfortable genres instead. In reaching out to find books to recommend to my readers, I have discovered that fantasy books can be wonderful books to explore. I have also found them to be some of the cleaner books written for teens and young adults (always a plus when I am reviewing for Meridian Magazine.) I can say of many of my new-found fantasy books that “I Do! I like them, Sam I Am!”

Any one of the three books that I am recommending today might be a green egg for you. They are all different from one another and might not appeal to you initially. I have had I Lost My Phone Number, Can I Have Yours? on my shelf for quite sometime, but when I decided to read it, I wondered what had taken me so long. I challenge you to try something new in your reading and find out if you really do like green eggs and ham.

I Lost My Phone Number, Can I Have Yours? by John Hilton III

This book is written in a comical form, but takes problems, roadblocks, and situations that dating teens and young adults face in their interactions with the opposite sex. John Hilton uses his own dating stories and real-life stories of others he has met or taught in his life to not only provide valuable insight to dating and courtship, but to offer spiritual guidance as well. I especially like the way that John Hilton writes to young men, giving suggestions for fun, inexpensive dating, tips on what the girls might be thinking, and righteous advice that is backed with scripture. This is a book that I highly recommend, and wish that I had read when I was in the dating game.

Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White

Gypsy Ball is a beautiful young girl growing up in Virginia in the 1950’s. Her life changes when her cousin Woodrow comes to live with her grandparents in a neighboring house to hers. Although Woodrow is cross-eyed, skinny, and poorly dressed, Gypsy and Woodrow become close friends and find all kinds of adventure together. The people of the town are curious as to how Woodrow’s mother mysteriously disappeared and they are even more curious to see what type of son Belle Prater left behind. Instead of finding a pathetic orphan, they find a quick-witted, interesting boy who stands up to the rumors and the pain of having his mother gone. Gypsy suffers her own pain, as she struggles with nightmares and missing her father, who died when she was five years old. When memories push Gypsy over the edge, it is Woodrow who ultimately helps Gypsy learn to find peace after the pain. A straightforward story that pulled at my heartstrings, but also left me resolved that everything would be okay in the end.

Heartbeat by Sharon Creech

Annie is a 12-year-old girl who likes to run. She runs barefoot with her best friend Max every day — same time, same place, like clockwork. They are both excellent runners and run for the pure joy of it until one day Max decides that he will join the school team. The girls’ coach starts to bug Annie about running on the team, but all she wants to do is run for herself and not for someone else. While Annie tries to avoid the track coach, she has worries of her own at home. Her mother is expecting a new baby and her grandfather is acting strange as he slowly forgets who he is and loses some of his memories. From speaking forbidden words, to dealing with an assignment to draw 100 pictures of the same apple, Annie works through the problems in her life in a mature and humorous way. I listened to this book on tape and loved meeting and knowing Annie through the voice of Mandy Siegfried. A book that any color will enjoy!