best books
Gift Books for Favorite Kids
Long ago, when my nieces and nephews first came on the scene, my husband suggested that we stake out territory as the aunt and uncle who always send books for gifts. It was the perfect decision. We love the kids, and books, and giving. We live far from our families, so it was harder to create bonds with kids we seldom saw, and being book-senders gave us an identity that would have been diffused if we’d sent a toy one year and toe socks the next. … Continue reading
Perfect Book Gifts! (For YA and Little Kids)
One of my favorite projects is picking out books for my nieces and nephews for Christmas each year. I have conversations with my husband about the kids and what they’re into lately (soccer, theater, Halo, art, wilderness, princesses, philosophy). I talk to my own kids about their cousins. I have email conversations with some of my sisters about what books their little kids have already read, and I scroll back through my own favorite reads of the year.
The ideal book is a perfect match for the… Continue reading
99 Favorite Reads, Picked by Teens
The teens who named their favorite books for this list include athletes, honors students, non-readers, incarcerated girls, a prom queen, loners, computer game players, gay and straight teens, teens from the coasts and in between, teens of many races, artists, and writers. Their choices made the list (alphabetically) regardless if the books were award-winners, banned, popular, controversial, new, or classic. The sole criteria: these books are favorites. 
1. Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak 2. M.T. Anderson, Feed 3. Anonymous, Go Ask Alice 4. Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler, The… Continue reading