GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008 - 46

Audiobooks Teens really do love to read, even the ones who enjoy high-tech toys and iPod music. Many audiobooks are available for digital download, and those that aren’t can be imported by teens to their music libraries for portable listening. We recommend Thirteen Reasons Why, a teen book by the author Jay Asher. Picking it out to give as a holiday gift is sure to have your teenage grandson or granddaughter looking at you with new eyes. It’s incredibly engaging, but it can be a hard book to read simply by virtue of its subject matter. The title follows the story of a young man learning about the death of a young woman, a fellow student at his high school, through audiotapes she narrated herself (this is part of why it translates so well to an audiobook format). It deals, unflinchingly, with some very adult issues that the teens of today have to grapple with on a personal level. The subject matter is very serious, but the topics are dealt with in an approachable and (importantly) not preachy or overwrought manner. It retails for about $30. If you think your grandson or granddaughter would like something a bit more lighthearted, The Angel Experiment by James Patterson is likely to be a big hit. It’s the first in a book series called Maximum Ride, about a group of young men and women who have to deal with some very unusual circumstances. All of them have grown up with unique talents and abilities, and the first book in the series finds them chased by a mysterious group that seeks to control and understand them. The group of young people has to pull together as a family, using their talents to overcome numerous obstacles and opponents in their journey to safety. The audiobook retails for roughly $23, and the fifth book in the series is due out early in 2009. kindle The kindle is a unique product from the online bookseller Amazon.com. It’s an “e-book” reader, a flat device with a special kind of screen that stores and displays books. Instead of having a backlight and acting like a laptop display, this screen acts more like a piece of paper; it only draws power when you’re turning it on, turning it off or flipping pages—which is done with large and easy-to-use buttons on the side of the device. Books for the device can be purchased from a special section of Amazon.com. As a part of the cost of the device, there’s a wireless feature that allows readers to buy new books from anywhere in the world without hooking the Kindle up to a computer. Everything is downloaded wirelessly in very little time. The Kindle is a singular offering, which retails (only from Amazon.com) for $359. PorTAble GPs device Teenagers are always on the move. If they’re driving, odds are they’re going on trips and getting lost. To give yourself and their parents some peace of mind, and to offer the teen a fun new toy, consider a portable GPS device. These are small, unobtrusive helpers, most a bit bigger than a deck of playing cards. They communicate with satellites in orbit around the Earth to pinpoint the exact location of the device. Mapping software on the GPS then offers the user a view of the area around them. Even better, they offer driving directions. Some even take into account local conditions like weather or traffic and can reroute you around traffic snarls. These devices can get very expensive—the sky is the limit. Some well-regarded options across all price ranges include the Garmin Nuvi 350 (about $200), any TomTom device (about $130), and the Magellan Maestro 4250 (about $300). The best feature: All of them speak the directions out loud, letting you keep your eyes on the road and providing you with a computerized driving companion. 46 GRAND NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2008

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GRAND Magazine - November/December 2008

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