9. Just for Fun

Zita the Spacegirl, by Ben Hatke (First Second, $10.99 pbk, ages 9-12, 192 pages, 2011) In this zany fun graphic novel, a brave girl named Zita launches herself into another dimension to save her pal Joseph after she unwittingly lets a tentacled creature from another world enter Earth and snatch him away. Unless Zita and her band of cohorts (a giant mouse, battle orb, robot and earthling named Piper) can get to Joseph in time, he'll be sacrificed by Scriptorians, a doomsday cult, to save their planet. Great fun and a sure way to keep your child glued to a book all the way to the last page. Hatke is the author-illustrator of the graphic gems the Flight series and Flight Explorer. 

The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book (revised and expanded edition), by Jeff Kinney (Amulet Books, $12.95, ages 9-12, 224 pages, 2011)  Zoo-Wee-Mama! For fans of The Wimpy Kid who have everything (i.e. all six titles of the phenomenally popular series), this is the book to have: a journal about their own amazing childhood. Inside fans are invited to write down how incredibly smart and witty they are, they get a chance to finish their own Zoo-We-Mama comic strips and make up their own, and they get to pour through more of Rowley's classics in full-color. But just so parents understand, this is NOT a diary. No feelings allowed. Just lots of silly stuff: like the survey of all the nutty things they've ever done, answers to questions only Greg could think of -- like "How many steps does it take you to jump into bed after you turn off the lights?" and our youngest boys' (age 7 and 9) favorite page: an outline of a brain with lobes of varying sizes to write down what's inside. Stuff like soccer, food, sleep and purple?

Star Wars Battles for the Galaxy: Fight for Victory, Become a Hero, written by Daniel Wallace (DK Publishing, $12.99, ages 9-12, 96 pages, 201l) AND Star Wars Character Encyclopedia (DK Publishing, $16.99, ages 9-12, 208 pages, 2011) Is your child deliriously happy reading Star Wars trivia? Does he have imaginary duels with his fingers against droids and clones in bed at night? My Tate does, and these two books had him staying up later than late. Both feed the love of the Force with colorful pictures, graphics and lots of action shots. Star Wars Battles for the Galaxy invites recruits of all ages to save the galaxy one page at a time. Readers receive their mission briefing, then are guided through tactics to stop a droid army and eventually shut down Endor. Star Wars Encyclopedia profiles 200+ heroes, villains and more, and fills readers on all that a fan wants to know -- including who planned the Rebel assault on the first Death Star. Both books are scaled down in size for easy reading.

2. Ghostopolis

Written and illustrated by Doug TenNapel

Graphix, 2010

$24.99, ages 10 and up, 272 pages

A dying boy is sent into the afterlife too soon and unless he can outwit a ruler who's corrupted the underworld city of Ghostopolis and find a ghost trafficker, he may not get back to Earth.

In this crazy-fun graphic novel, a boy with an incurable disease named Garth Hale is accidentally zapped into the underworld and goes in search of a Tuskagee airman who may know how to get him home.

The problem is, an evil mortal named Vaugner has taken over Ghostopolis from Airman Joe, who created the city so ghosts would have a place to live, and now Vaugner wants to destroy Garth, the only other living being there.

Vaugner believes Garth could threaten his reign because humans can harness supernatural powers in the underworld with their imagination. (Soon after arriving, Garth discovers he can fly and whip electrical balls at bad guys.)

As the tale opens, Garth is living alone with his mother and, though aware that his life is fleeting, he dreams of learning to fly a plane one day like his late grandpa, who became estranged from Garth's mother when she was a teen.

Then one day while reading in bed, Garth's life among the living is unexpectedly shortened by a night "mare."

A dead horse has snuck back to Earth from Ghostopolis and jumped through Garth's bedroom wall on top of him. Just as a ghost wrangler hits the send button on a machine that jettisons ghosts back to the hereafter, Garth and the mare evaporate in a puff of ions.