Christmas Gifts for the Constant Reader
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but I love the anticipation of Christmas. I love how excited the kids get, how everyone just seems to be in a better mood, all the music, but most of all...gift giving! As a kid, it's the gift getting that seems to be the theme, but now that I'm older, I love putting thought and time into choosing gifts for family and friends. So today, I'm coming at you with a gift guide for the reading child, teen and adult!
For Kids-Picture Books
This list consists of books I read and enjoyed as a child, books I've read to my various preschool classrooms, and books by authors I know or that I'd like to support. Favorites will include a short review
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
All books in the Amazing Grace series were some of my favorites as a child, but the first one I received as a birthday gift when I was seven years old.
Synopsis: Grace is a young girl who loves to dance and perform, but when she signs up for the part of Peter Pan in the class play, she's told she can't because she's black, and she's a girl.
Jamaica's Find by Juanita Havill
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr., Eric Carle
Chika Chika Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
Beautiful, Beautiful Me by Ashley Sirah Hinton
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
No me asusta!-Don't Scare Me! by Reina F McKenzie
Princess Hair by Sharee Miller
Happy Hair by Mechal Renee Roe
Bright Eyes, Brown Skin by Cheryl Willis Hudson
For Kids-Chapter Books
The Trouble Trio by Reina McKenzie
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
This was my all-time favorite book in the third grade. I read it back-to-back something like nine times within a few months.
Synopsis: When Marty Preston comes across a young beagle in the hills behind his home, it's love at first sight—and also big trouble. It turns out the dog, which Marty names Shiloh, belongs to Judd Travers, who drinks too much and has a gun—and abuses his dogs. So when Shiloh runs away from Judd to Marty, Marty just has to hide him and protect him from Judd. But Marty's secret becomes too big for him to keep to himself, and it exposes his entire family to Judd's anger. How far will Marty have to go to make Shiloh his?
Starring Grace by Mary Hoffman
Puppy Patrol Series by Jenny Dale
This was another one of my favorite series as a child (1st-4th grade). The series follows the adventures of a family with three children who run a dog kennel. Perfect for the animal or dog lover!
The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake
Out of My Mind by Sharon M Draper
Stella By Starlight by Sharon M Draper
Warriors Series by Erin Hunter
After the third or fourth grade, I didn't read as much as when I was little, but this series rekindled my love for reading for the next ten years. I zoomed through the first book in something like two days, and from that day forward, I could read about 100 pages in an hour. Perfect for someone who loves adventure, suspense, animals, and long series. The original series is about 6 books long, though there are now spin-off series.
For Teens
This list consists of favorites I read while in Jr High and High School. Books recommended for older teens (15 or 16+ yrs) will be starred**
Most books are suitable for the adults on your list as well!
None of the titles listed are romance novels.
Stepping Out of Line by Reina F McKenzie
Sweet Escape: The Story of Malia Pearson by Reina F McKenzie
Who Am I Without Him by Sharon Flake
This book is a compilation of short stories about young girls and the boys or men in their lives. I read it as a freshman in high school for a book club discussion, and loved every minute of it.
Sold by Patricia McCormick**
A Step From Heaven by An Na
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers
This book still ranks as one of my favorite of all time--even if I kept calling it The Vanishing House by mistake due to the house on the cover. Mystery, riddles and puzzles, adventure...this book has got it all! If you want a good read that will leave you wondering what's next, The Vanishing Game is for you!
Synopsis: The bond between twins is unmistakable. For Jocelyn and Jack, that bond was all they had. But now Jack is dead. Then Jocelyn receives a letter from Jason December-the code name Jack used when they were children. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn's childhood crush. But Noah isn't the one contacting Jocelyn. Together they decide to return to Seale House, the frightening foster home where all three of them lived together. Seal House has more secrets than they could have ever imagined. And it suddenly seems possible that Jack faked his death, that the letter and the riddles that follow are cryptic clues leading to his real whereabouts. But someone else is looking for him-someone dangerous. Jocelyn and Noah must race to find Jason December. That is, if he's alive.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner
Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Enclave Series by Ann Aguirre
Gone Series by Michael Grant**
This is one of the most intense book series I've ever read. The story is set in a town in California near a nuclear plant where one day, everyone over the age of 15 vanishes, and these kids are left to fend for themselves and create their own society from scratch. All the books in this series are several hundred pages long, and worth every single one.
Identical by Ellen Hopkins**
Burned by Ellen Hopkins**
Smoke by Ellen Hopkins**
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Legend Series by Marie Lu
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Every last ounce of me did not want to read this book, nor did I want to like it. I knew it was about kids with cancer. I knew it was about kids with cancer dying. I just wasn't about it. But the eloquence with which this book is written, the development of the characters, the twists and unexpectedness in the story--it's a must read for everyone.
Panic by Sharon M Draper
When I was 16, I actually got to meet Ms. Sharon M Draper by accident! I happened to be downtown Naperville, passed by an independent book store, and saw a sign in the window that said she'd be
there later that afternoon for a book signing! She signed my copy of her latest novel, Panic, to "Reina-the author."
Synopsis: Diamond knows not to get into a car with a stranger. But what if the stranger is well-dressed and handsome? On his way to meet his wife and daughter? And casting a movie that very night—a movie in need of a star dancer? What then? Then Diamond might make the wrong decision. It’s a nightmare come true: Diamond Landers has been kidnapped. She was at the mall with a friend, alone for only a few brief minutes—and now she’s being held captive, forced to endure horrors beyond what she ever could have dreamed, while her family and friends experience their own torments and wait desperately for any bit of news.
Hazelwood High Series by Sharon M Draper
Portal Chronicles by Imogen Rose
For Adults
This list consists of books I've read since going away to college. Most are books a teen would most likely enjoy as well
Stepping Out of Line by Reina F McKenzie
Sweet Escape: The Story of Malia Pearson by Reina F McKenzie
Copper Sun by Sharon M Draper
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
I've read excerpts from this story all throughout middle school, though I read the book as a whole in high school for my senior year research project. The stories that follow a set of mothers and daughters
is beautifully written, and this is a book I have recommended on several occasions.
Synopsis: Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.
Zombie Illinois by Scott Kenemore
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Genesis by Octavia E Butler
Boy,Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
Blackass by A. Igoni Barrett
Complete Grimms Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The fairy tales in this book are the Disney classics we grew up on--Cinderella, Snow White--but the originals are not watered down with singing, and cute little animals. This collection was only about $20 on Amazon (Now there's a leather-bound version for $17...the perfect holiday deal!), and is one of the coolest collections I've read in my adult life thus far. It was purchased for a class, though I still bust it out from time to time for fun.
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas,
Reina
