A Norwell librarian's picks for young readers

By Nancy Harris

When children on the South Shore headed back to school this week, the first question they inevitably heard was, “What did you read this summer?”

Some will have randomly chosen titles from assigned reading lists, but for many students in Norwell there is a woman who has guided their choices. This woman is Nancy Perry, a longtime resident of Hingham, and the Children’s Librarian at the Norwell Public Library.

At a small, round table on pint- sized chairs, Nancy sits amidst piles of books for children of all ages, including babies and young adult readers. As a passionate reader herself, Nancy points out that while books are always within easy reach at her job, sadly, her own personal reading must wait until late at night. In fact, she often stays up “well into the wee hours” just to finish a good book.

When asked how she makes time to read given the demands of work and family, she grins and says, just as in a Nike ad, “You Just do it!”

While Nancy certainly reads adult novels like her recent favorite, “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, she also readily consumes children’s literature so that she can make meaningful recommendations to students. One of her favorites this summer has been a book meant for upper- elementary and middle school students, called “Countdown” by Deborah Wiles.

"Countdown" is about the life of 11-year-old Franny Chapman, who is simply trying, like any fifth grader, to succeed in school, please her parents, deal with friendships gone awry, and cope with the antics of both a younger brother and college-age sister. The difference, however, is that Franny must deal with all these common tween issues during one of the most tense events in US history: the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

In 1962 Americans were already living in a tumultuous time of civil rights conflict, constant political rhetoric and a rapidly changing moral climate when Russia unexpectedly moved many of its nuclear missiles into Cuba. With a nuclear arsenal poised to strike cities all across the country, children like Franny were suddenly forced to deal with the added terror of nuclear war.

Nancy Perry admits that her reading preferences have always leaned towards historical fiction, but says that this is more of “a documentary novel” that brilliantly weaves the everyday life of a fictional character with the realism of actual 1962 Kennedy photos, speeches, and even nuclear disaster “survival instructions.”

Perry says that the book feels “very personal” to her because it stirs up her own real-life memories growing up in Alexandria, Va., “hearing terrifying air raid sirens and watching frantic adults stock their bomb shelters.”

Nancy says that while "Countdown" was a fabulous read, one of the most popular series she saw flying off the shelf this summer was Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson novels. While Perry enjoyed reading the series, she truly “loved” that it has gotten both kids and adults excited about Greek mythology.

But even as she struggles in our limited time together to recommend yet another great book, Nancy slips her glasses gently down her nose and says, like the true librarian she is, “It doesn’t matter what kind of book you read, because ALL reading is great reading!”