And since she’s on her own sojourn, Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road”.

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier: It’s just good. It takes a lot for me to get pulled in to a book, and this one is one of those.

Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov: Or really anything by Nabokov. But this one pulls you in on the first paragraph.

Tom Levenson’s books (Einstein in Berlin, Newton and the Counterfeiter). Nonfiction that’s awesome. You can find Tom’s blog and discover other short writings and observations too.

I also second (third, fourth, whatever) the suggestions for Douglas Adams books and Carl Sagan books. And Catch 22. And… well there are a lot of great suggestions here. I’ll be picking some of these up soon.

Other things I would recommend only to kids actually interested in science:
In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat by John Gribbin
The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav

The author of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves is M.T. Anderson, not “Candlewick”, as you’ve listed.

(Candlewick is the publisher, as you’ve correctly indicated.)

The Whole Shebang by Timothy Ferris is pretty good, but I am biased as he was a grad school professor of mine.

Also, I think Carl Sagan is one of those scientists who really conveys well the wonder of science, and what makes it fun, and what makes it interesting. I have a whole stack of his books and have to say The Demon-Haunted World and Pale Blue Dot are among his more personal; Cosmos of course is his best known, Comet was less good.

And for history, two books that I think should be read side by side. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations and Guns, Germs and Steel. The latter will show some of the former’s weaknesses, but I don’t write Landes off completely as most of his book is really good.