On the shelf: Books to add to your holiday gift list

By Courtney Warren

I love buying gifts. Watching someone open a gift you meticulously chose for them and seeing they love it the best kind of dopamine. Something I’ve recently started doing is purchasing a gift, but adding in a book as an extra. I tie it with a bow to the top of the package and try to always write a note about why I chose this book for that particular person. As you prepare to give gifts this season, here are a few book suggestions. 

Picture Books
The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
Santat’s illustrations have won several awards, including the prestigious Caldecot, which is the highest award given for children’s illustrations. This story is all about an imaginary friend waiting to be found by a child. The text is delightful, and the illustrations even more so. 

Early Reader
Scholastic Acorn books, such as Do You Like my Bike
Acorn books are a recent discovery of mine, and my early reader is loving them! They are simple and fun, with cute illustrations. Many of them are in the style of graphic novels, which I highly recommend for a reluctant reader. As they grow comfortable with the graphic novel style, move them into the other Acorn books that are written in traditional prose. 

Chapter books:
Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne
These books have been around for a while. I read them as a child, and the covers recently got a revamp to make them more appealing to current readers. There are dozens in this series, including a new fact checker series that can be read alongside the fiction version of the stories. They have also recently released a graphic novel version of the series. 

Middle Grade: 
The School for Whatnots by Margaret Peterson Haddix
I read this book to a few of my students, and it’s now being passed around the middle school. We even had to order more copies because it was so popular! Max has grown up surrounded by tons of friends who always make him feel included...until he finds out it was all a lie.This is for readers who enjoy stories with multiple points of view, exciting plot lines, and huge twists in a story. 

Adult: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
This one is a big bestseller and was recently turned into a TV show on Apple TV. Chemist Elizabeth Zott battles the difficulties that are the early 1960s, and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. She meets chemist Calvin Evans and falls in love as they work to publish their work.  A few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six, where she teaches housewives about chemistry. It’s hilarious, sad, and gripping. I highly recommend this one.