Not to be over anal or anything, but I think a better translation would be, "Cinq Cent Plus Tard". But still, gotta love the in jokes. > [2] Some of the authors are friends of this guy, too. There's an > in-joke in one of the books ["Magician's Ward"], where some books in a > library were pulled out by a would-be thief. One of them was "Apres > Cinq Cent Ans". > I almost hate to recommend these books, seeing as how every bookstore and movie theatre in North America is promoting them, but the Harry Potter series really isn't all that bad. I enjoyed them quite a bit, actually. The Belgariad by the much maligned Eddings is pretty good. The first and best of his 'hunt for the blue stone and meet people' series of series. If you're going to introduce the lad to C.S. Lewis, then by all means let him read about Vlad as well, just to balance out Lewis' subversive content :). I enjoyed some Kipling, when I was his age (and yes, I still kipple). And you know what I really liked, when I was his age, my subscription to Analog magazine. Great birthday presents! -Scott