If you're reading this, then I'm sure you've heard the news by now. Reading in the U.S. is becoming something of an endangered pastime. According to a massive study published last week by the National Endowment for the Arts, Americans -- particularly teens and young adults -- are reading less often and understanding less of what they read.

Why is reading no longer "done" here? Maybe it's all the techno-distractions (the study finds that literary reading among young adults, for example, dropped 17 percentage points at a time when Internet use in homes soared 53 points), our instant-gratification culture or maybe the perception that there's just nothing good out there to read (??!?).

Anyone who reads knows that these findings bode ill for the future of a civic-minded -- and civil -- society. You can download a depressing copy of the full report, "To Read or Not To Read," or its equally dire executive summary at the NEA's Website.

But rather than sit around and gnash my teeth over The Great Decline of American Literacy, I've decided to draw up a list of five really-good books that should appeal to those critical teen and YA crowds. They're all fast-paced, intelligent and have the potential to hook even the most resistant on the pleasures of reading for pleasure. In short, all of these books are books I couldn't put down. So if you know some people who aren't reading like they used to (and according to the study, it's likely), consider passing on one (or all) of these highly recommended reads right now.

The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket. If at first glance the simple prose and copious illustrations mark this series off as a "kids' book," look again. Snicket's clever allusions and sardonic wit make this series (concluded with the 13th installment on the 13th Friday in October 2006) even the most literary among us will enjoy. Case in point: an exotic Virginian Woolfsnake that the Baudelaire children are instructed never to let anywhere near a typewriter.

Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper. A classic grail-quest set in 1960s Cornwall, the land of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I hear there's a Hollywood version coming out soon, but there's little doubt that the book (the first of Cooper's five-part The Dark Is Rising series) will come out the better of the two. What should appeal to younger readers is the way the kids in this story are treated not so much as adults but as quest-worthy.

A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. There's something timelessly irresistible about Sherlock Holmes with his deft powers of detection and hapless personal and housekeeping habits. A Study in Scarlet is the first installment in a long chronicle of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, ostensibly authored by his longtime friend, Dr. Watson. Warning: the fast-paced puzzle structure makes the short stories as addicting as the opium of which Holmes occasionally partakes.

She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. The coming-of-age story of Dolores Price, whose broken home and rape at age 13 drive to her to compulsive overeating and all sorts of other insanities on the road to finding peace with herself. What's remarkable about this novel is how much you feel as though you're in her head. This book is mesmerizing.

The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis. "Girls don't play chess." That's what the janitor who lives in the basement of the Methuen orphanage tells 8-year-old Beth Harmon, when she asks to be taught the game. Let's just say that she shows him. A coming-of-age tour de force about genius, obsession, addiction and chess. Best of all, I love how it places a geeky, intellectual sport like chess at the height of hip.

Happy reading,
Elizabeth Frengel

Illustrator Shaun Tan calls his latest work, The Arrival, a picture book. I think you'll find it's a bit more than that.

For me, this complex and fascinating work occupies some other reading realm. Yes, it's full of illustrations. It's also novel length (which is why you'll find it in the graphic novel section of most bookstores). But you won't find a word of traditional text or dialogue.

It opens sensibly enough with a sequence depicting a family photograph that's inevitably plucked from the shelf, wrapped and placed in a suitcase. And so begins (and ends) the most traditional part of a story of a man who leaves his wife and daughter to look for work and perhaps a better life in a foreign land.

This is where Tan cranks up the creativity. The traveler's destination comes off as a wondrous cross between Xanadu and Oz - with fez-adorned statues larger than the colossus at Thebes and flocks of origami-shaped birds swooping overhead.

The traveler must learn to navigate the city (at one point he travels in a compartment carried aloft by a hot air balloon), speak a foreign language and find work and a place to live.

There's not much I'd like to give away about the city, the inhabitants he encounters there or the special help he receives from a strangle little egg shaped lizard. You must see it for yourself.

I promise that "reading" this book is the real voyage of discovery. The first time, I found myself flipping the pages quickly, trying to figure out what was going on. The second time, I slowed down, stopping for minutes at a time to take in the imaginative splendor of some of the full-page illustrations or details of some of the complicated frame sequences. Lately, I've been opening the book at random, and savoring whatever slice of the journey happens to lie before me.

You can see samples of Shaun Tan's other work, plus illustrations from The Arrival at his Website.

You can get your own copy of The Arrival for just $19.99. Best of all are the small details, like the richly decorated endpapers and a cover made to look and feel like a well-worn photo album, that make this a booklovers' book.

Happy reading,
Elizabeth Frengel