Books, Books for Everyone!

The holidays are approaching and what better gift than the gift of imagination and wonder?

That’s right, we bookish types need to spread the book love!  And I have a list of books for EVERYONE on your list!

For the Littles…

It is NEVER to early to start the love of words and reading with your kids.

One of the best first books is Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book.  We have this in board book and it’s definitely one of Eddie’s faves since he was itty bitty. Now, at 2 and a half, he knows all his letters and has memorized the sing song way this book goes through the alphabet.  Many times we will let him take it to bed and we can hear him “reading” it to his Lamby: “big B, wittle b. what b b?” (Big B, little b, what begins with B?)

Another wonderful book (also Dr. Seuss, actually) is Hop on Pop.  There are nights when we read this book more than twice.  As a teacher I love it because it’s got really great sight words, and it’s an early easy reader.  Eddie already recognizes the letters, and now we are talking about how the letters make words.  Sometimes, he can remember them and “read” to me!

For the elementary crowd…

My nephew, Jack is just turning seven and is an avid reader.  I cannot TELL you how proud this makes me!  He asked for two series of books for Christmas this year:  The Goosebumps series (which my brother actually reads with him) by R. L. Stine and the American Chillers series by Jonathan Rand.

RL Stine just keeps pumping out the Goosebumps books!

American Chillers seem creepy to me, but the kids LOVE them!

And I didn’t forget the girls! The Judy B Jones book by Barbara Parks are HUGE with elementary girls.

I so wish they had these when I was in elementary school...I wore out ALL the copies of my Ramona books!

And both boys AND girls will love Nate Rocks the World by Karen Pokras Toz (psst.  Coming soon…like TOMORROW… there will be a FULL review of this book!).

For the middles…

Some of the best books written are for young adults (YA Lit).  I don’t know what it is, but the messages and the writing are amazing.  I wish when I was in middle school, more of this genre was around.  It’s fairly new, and today’s tween readers definitely win because of it.

Now, I know I could stick the Harry Potter books and the Twilight books or the Hunger Games here…but I feel like those have probably been pushed enough.

No, I have some old faves for you to buy your tweeners.

First, you canNOT go wrong with The Giver by Lois Lowery.  It is a wonderful story about what would happen if all we knew was “happiness” and all memories of “before” were stored by one person.  For some reason, it’s been controversial over the years about whether or not it’s appropriate for kids, and I say it is 100% appropriate.  In fact, in our district, it’s required in 8th grade.

I really also believe that every single pre-pubescent girl NEEDS to read Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret.

honestly. every girl needs to read this book no less than a million times.

I also think Monster by Walter Dean Myers is an important read for middle schoolers.  It’s a series of journal entries by a boy who is on trial for being an accomplice in a murder case.

The teens…

Again, I could totally recommend Twilight or The Hunger Games books here; my students are all OVER those lately, but here are some others they might just enjoy…

Anything with vampires or werewolves.  No, seriously. That is what a LOT of the girls are reading.

Things with zombies are cool too.  You will probably get ultimate cool points if you gift The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Another one my high schoolers tend to devour is the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  It’s one about an outsider kid…kids love it.

And lastly, a wonderful book for the teen crowd is The Curious Incident With a Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. It is told from a first person point of view of a teen with aspergers (a type of autism).  It is VERY true to character and extremely well-written.

For the adults…

I don’t know a single male out there who doesn’t like Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.  Yes, it’s a movie with the super hot talented Brad Pitt, but first it was a book.  A really good book.  And if you can imagine, even better than the movie.  I know.  The movie is awesome, but the book is better.

Every time someone asks me for a book recommendation either for themselves or for a book club, I always first say Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio. It’s the story of a young girl living in Eastern Kentucky in the 50′s with her grandparents.  And she has tourettes syndrome.  It might be one of the best books I’ve ever read.

And lastly, one of my favorite feel-good, all over happy book series is the Mitford Series by Jan Karon.  I was first introduced to the books about 10 years ago when I was doing my student teaching.  I was wary because the idea of a “Christian book series” didn’t sound very appealing to me.  At all.  I am in to books about screwed up families with dark secrets that are even more screwed up (see above books).

The Mitford series follows Father Tim, a minister in the small town of Mitford, as he finds love in his late years, adopts the most unwanted and neglected boy, and takes care of a whole town full of characters.

Perfect books for curling up with on a chilly winter evening.

So there you have it!  A holiday shopping guide for all the readers on your list!

Did I miss someone or some book?  Let me know!