Books: the best gifts

even at the last minute!

I don’t like the “last-minute shopping” discourse around Christmas because for goodness’ sake we still have ten days and most of us normal folks have been working, fighting off post-election depression, and trying to keep our lives together (maybe I’m just speaking for myself here). But I’m not worried about holiday shopping because it’s easy enough if you live near a good bookstore. Favorites like McIntyre’s, Flyleaf, So and So, and BBGB not only have tons of good books, they also have booksellers who would love to help you find the perfect present for everyone on your list. I’m very into shopping local (especially right now), want nothing to do with A*azon, and would prefer not to go to the mall. Plus, our local bookstores (and toy stores like Glee Kids, Alley Cat, and Pittsboro Toys and Books) consistently give back to the community—not just by being there and creating jobs but also by donating to local schools and literacy programs, collecting for relief efforts, and hosting community events.

So we thought today we’d share some of what we’d shop for (and what we’ve been reading) that you could source (with maybe one exception) at your local bookstore, either by buying it off the shelf or by putting in an order.

Perennial kids’ favorites (that kids will not likely have already):

-The Mog Treasury (for young cat loves)

-Lilly and Friends (sweet and funny mouse stories for young readers)

-Merci Suarez books (perfect middle grade fiction)

-Little Witch Hazel (like Frog and Toad but with a witch. Great fashion too.)

-Nothing Special (wonderful grandparent-grandchild summer story by Desiree Cooper)

-All Thirteen (for sports fans and people who like nonfiction survival stories)

-Any book of world records is very popular with my kids

-What the Dog Knows (Young Readers Edition) for dog lovers and nonfiction fans.

-Your Pets’ Secret Lives for animal lovers, fans of grossout facts, and nonfiction readers.

-Any graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier

Bea’s recent favorites:

For my birthday, Harriet and my dad got me The Squad by Christina Soontornvat and Joanna Cacao. It’s the sequel to The Tryout, a graphic novel about a Thai-American girl named Christina trying out for the cheer squad. The Squad has Christina in eighth grade, with two new best friends who have tried out for the squad but haven’t made it. They decide to try out again, and this year Christina is sure she’ll make it. And Christina’s life is going great—until her parents tell her they’ve decided to get divorced. Not the typical cheerleading book. It’s about family stuff, friendship, and being yourself. So good I finished it on my birthday! I told my family I was still reading it the next day so they wouldn’t think I’d read it too fast. I really like the illustrations and have read this book three times already.

From one of my best friends, I also got the four-book set of YA novels The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, who wrote The Inheritance Games (another favorite). The main character, Cassie, has always been great at profiling people. She can figure out the tiniest details about you with just one look. She hasn’t thought about it that much, until one day the FBI comes knocking and tells her she’s been selected for an elite crime-solving program. But what she doesn’t know is that she’s going to be living with other teens with mysterious gifts. I love this series just because of all the murder-mystery suspense, the twists and turns, and the way Barnes invests in all the characters, even the background characters. If you’re not sure someone would like this set and they haven’t read them, maybe start with The Inheritance Games?

Over thanksgiving break I went to Reston and while we were there we went to a giant JoAnn fabrics store and got a magazine called The Complete Guide to Knitting and I love it! It has patterns for all abilities from beginner to advanced, and there might just be a present for somebody I’m making using this book. If you don’t know how to knit this is the book for you—it has patterns, but also guides (with photos) on how to knit. It also has more complicated stuff like stranded color work, entrelac, and so much more!

(We cannot find a link to this UK-published magazine but the magazine looks like this:)

Magazine-wise, the girls have loved their subscriptions to Ranger Rick and The Week Junior (thanks, Nana and Grandpa!)

Harriet’s recent book faves:

Mrs. Katz and Tush: What I love about this book is that it’s so sweet because it’s about two neighbors, one young and one old, who adopt a stray kitten. It has some sadness, but a lot of fun and love, with some Hebrew and Yiddish words. It’s really cool that it can also teach you how to take care of a baby kitten, like making toys and yarn balls. The kitten grows up to be a cat who has kittens and the young neighbor grows up to be a dad who has a baby too. I like the way Patricia Polacco draws cats, and I like the way she draws dancing. It just has so much care in it.

Eloise at Christmastime by Hilary Knight: It’s rhyming and has so many details, like how Eloise runs around the Plaza, skittering around and getting (kind of) in trouble. I like how her pets Skipperdee and Weenie are hiding in so many of the drawings.

When I Have a Little Girl by Charlotte Zolotow and Hilary Knight*: It has so much love, but a little bit of naughty. The little girl imagines how she’ll be as a mom, which is basically letting her kid do everything she wants to do (staying up late, having parties, growing her hair long, and going out to restaurants). It’s a really sweet book and I love it—it also has kittens because if you can do what you want of course you’d adopt a lot of kittens!

(*we got our copy used on Thriftbooks—not sure if it’s out of print?)

Belle & Harriet:

On Sarah’s and Joanna’s (at McIntyre’s) recommendation, we are reading Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, who has been compared to Tolkien (!). Also getting this exciting fantasy book for one of the cousins.

Belle’s picks:

After Lore Segal died this year at 96, I picked up Other People’s Houses, her semi-autobiographical first novel about Lore, a child who flees Vienna on the Kindertransport and immigrates to London, then a farm colony in the Dominican Republic, then New York. I think the narrative quality I most admire is the ability to write about the darkest things with wit and lightness; to show how people even facing evil or great strife are still themselves. Get this one as a gift for yourself—it’s worth it for the astonishingly true last line alone.

Segal also wrote the wonderful children’s book about family storytelling, Tell Me a Mitzi, which was reissued by the NYRB and which I think I’ll send to our new neice.

I also loved The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich and will be giving it to at least one of my besties. How to describe this book and everything that’s in it? Set in Argus, North Dakota against the background of the 2008 economic crisis. It’s about sugar beet farming, geologic and human-scale time, climate change, a mysterious and tragic accident, a great big wedding, and a teenage love story. The kind of novel you can’t wait to return to at the end of a long day, or a short one.

You could also buy a (signed!) copy of Plant Pets at McIntyre’s!

You cannot go wrong with a children’s book or book of poetry by the great Nikki Giovanni.

Other local ideas:

For grown-ups who love to write, give a gift card to Redbud Writing Project. (They do online classes too!)

For kids or grownups, what about a gift certificate to a local ice cream shop or gelato or boba shop? Last night we tried Jeremiah’s Italian Ice and I thought it would be so cute to give the girls gift cards with a promise to take them each for ice cream with a friend while I read a book at a separate table.

You could always give a gift subscription to the FTT! (I guess that’s also a gift for us but we’re working on big things for the New Year!)

Are you going to the Donald Davis storytelling event next Sunday at McIntyre’s? Donald Davis is a treasure of North Carolina, and the annual ticketed event supports the CORA food bank.

How about y’all? Do you like to give books as gifts? Any favorites this year?

Love from the FTT.