Summer reading suggestions for tweens and teens

This summer, give your tweens and teens the gift of reading and eliminate the "I'm bored and I don't know what to do while school's out" syndrome.

As an adult who enjoys YA literature (and many are cross overs to adult fiction), here are my summer recommendations that are sure to keep your tween or teen's mind a-churning...

Tweens:

• Nancy Drew series (I grew up on these!)
• A Series of Unfortunate Events, a series by Lemony Snicket
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Whale Song by Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Teens:

• Pretty Little Liars, a series by Sara Shepard (also a new TV series)
• The Vampire Diaries, a series by L.J. Smith
• Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
• Uglies, a series by Scott Westerfeld
• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney
• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• Whale Song by Cheryl Kaye Tardif (a discussion guide can be downloaded from my website)

Happy reading! :-)

Day 25 of virtual book tour: Picture Perfect by Cheryl Kaye Tardif

With one week left of my 'Touring the World' virtual book tour, I want to give you more samples of my work. Today's shocking short is one of my personal favorites, and the first short story of mine that Amazon picked up for their Amazon Shorts program.

So here's a sneak peek...

Picture Perfect

© 2006 Cheryl Kaye Tardif

When my sister, Belle, vanished back in 1956, I lost more than you could possibly imagine. And in the last fifty years, I've never told anyone what I saw. That summer day, I lost a part of my family, a piece of my heart…and I think I lost my soul as well.

In 1956, on the morning of the Calgary Summer Carnival, my baby sister and I were so giddy with excitement that our mother threatened to ground us for bad behavior. There's no worse punishment on the face of this earth than being left behind on Summer Carnival day.

Well, maybe there's one worse thing...

Check out the excerpt at Criminal Minds at Work.