It’s We Recommend! In which we post a request that's been sent to us, and do our best to get that person the right book. Know a kid who needs a book to read? Send his or her likes, dislikes, favorites, quirks, and any other reading information that might be helpful to us at thediamondinthewindow (at) gmail (dot) com, and we will think on it, and pose it to our oh-so-helpful readers. And look in the comments—all the best recommendations are there.

We're on a roll! Yet another person is looking for the right book, and by god we aim to give it to her.

This is another request that was given mostly orally (as opposed to writing in, you know), so understand that the following is perhaps not exact, but we're trying to get the essence here:

The Young Lady in Question is going into fifth grade, is extremely interested in science, in space, and in scary things. HOWEVER. Some books, and of course movies, have been deemed too scary. She is known to have scared my grown friend with creepy story about someone being skinned alive (eek!), but she agrees that the fifth Harry Potter movie might be too much for her. She loved the Harry Potter books, but was disappointed when they veered to (she thought) excessive coverage of the characters' romantic yearnings, and kissings, and stuff like that. In the Harry Potter universe, she found the Weasley twins to be enormously entertaining.

In short, my friends, she is a mass of excellent contradictions, and she fully expects, I am sure, that none of your suggestions will work. Let's prove her wrong, shall we?

My first impulse was to suggest both the Warriors and also the Tamora Pierce Circle of Magic series, as they're wild and amazing but not terrifying. However, on second (third? fifth?) thought I have a new idea, based on her admiration for the Weasleys. Because to me that means one thing: she wants things to be funny. Magic would be good too. And no romance. Can we do it? Maybe? How about this? (And yes, know that this is entirely courtesy of one persistent commenter who brought Sir Terry to our attention years ago, and we have been big fans ever since.)

It's funny! It's weird! There are so many in the series you'll never run out!

And yet—I'm not sure, part of me thinks that she wants more slapstick, right? Oh help me, excellent readers! If you have any ideas at all, put them in the comments, and do this kid a favor.