Tenured college professors have been the subject of many satires and numerous diatribes against their privileged position in society; yet many students aspire to that position. The ivory tower, the life of the mind, the ivy-covered buildings where students hang on your every word: It sounds like a glamorous lifestyle. Students, however, come up against sobering realities in graduate school and in the process of applying for academic jobs. There are many applicants for each position, and sometimes their own professors — whose jobs they covet — do an inadequate job promoting their candidacy or letting students know what the job is really like.

This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories. Information on the books below came from Amazon.com’s list of children’s best-sellers; they are listed in order of popularity.