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BOOK CRUSH, For Kids and Teens, Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Interest, by Nancy Pearl, Sasquatch Books, 288 pages, $16.95 in paper.

"Only You Can Save Mankind" sounds like the perfect book for parents to give their 10-year-old, especially if that 10-year-old is looking forward to a summer of computer games, but his parents would rather have him read.

"Only You Can Save Mankind" is about a boy named Johnny who discovers that the aliens in his computer game are real.

But once the child finishes reading "Only You," then what? Is there another book that might entrance him just as much? That might keep him reading for another week?

This is where "Book Crush" comes in. "Book Crush" is librarian Nancy Pearl's sequel to her popular books for grown-ups, "Book Lust" and "More Book Lust."

In "Book Crush," Pearl lists the classics as well as the new and popular titles — and she also went out and interviewed real kids to find out what they were reading. Her list includes more than 1,000 titles divided into 118 categories.

"Only You Can Save Mankind" comes under the category of "Kids to the Rescue," which lists eight other stories that sound delightful enough to lure any child into the printed page. (Pearl describes "Whales on Stilts" like this, "Who could resist a book that begins, 'On Career Day, Lily visited her dad's work with him and discovered he worked for a mad scientist who wanted to rule the earth through destruction and desolation.'")

Within the age group of youngest readers, she lists animal books in alphabetical order — from aardvarks to wombats. ("Angelina Ballerina" can be found under "rodents.") Her next category is called "B is for Baby," where there can be found six storybooks to help a child adjust to becoming a big brother or sister. There are categories for picture books and Christmas books and counting books, too.

For middle-grade readers, ages 8 to 12, Pearl comes up with categories such as "adventure," "coming of age," "twins" and "before and after Harry Potter" — which suggests "The Wizard's Map," "The Well-Wishers," "Five Children and It" and dozens of other books about magical happenings.

Teen readers are offered categories such as "mysteries," "short stories," "memoir," "immigrants" and "refugees," "Not Your Parent's Comic Books" and "Cry Me a River" — which promises sad but satisfying fiction.

In her introduction, Pearl tells us what books meant to her when she was a child.