I’m departing from my usual thoughtful post this week to share some books I’m excited about that I think would make fabulous gifts this year. Some of these are from my company (there will be a coupon code coming on Black Friday for those!), some are just ones I’ve read this year.
This week we’re going to focus on those…
FOR THE KIDS
Picture Books
When God Made Color
This is a really interesting perspective on the creation story, focusing on the colors that came into existence as God went through each day–and ending with the variety of hues He used when He made us. The artwork is GORGEOUS (done by a professional fine artist), the message is fabulous, and I really loved looking at creation through a new lens. This is a great book to read aloud with the little ones in your life!
Isaac’s Ice Cream Tree
This one is pure fun. 😀 There’s no overt spiritual thread, just a really cute story that enforces how important it is to give rather than receive, and the value of believing in the impossible. In this case, “the impossible” is a sugar maple that, when it snows, turns a little boy’s gift of treats to the tree into giant balls of ice cream. Reinforces colors and days of the week and is sure to delight one and all!
Middle Grade
Benjy and the Belsnickel
I know I mentioned this one last year, since my daughter did the illustrations. 😀 It’s a really fun story (boys will enjoy it!) that’s great for the holidays especially, about the Pennsylvania-Dutch tradition of the Belsnickel (think Santa, but who punishes wrongdoing instead of rewarding good behavior). Book 2 will be coming out next spring!
Being Zoey series (for girls)
Melody Carlson is an expert, no question. And this series for middle school girls is fabulous. Written in a fun voice, these stories are relevant and timely while still being entirely entertaining for girls aged 8-12.
Keeper of the Lost Cities series
My friend Stephanie recommended these, and I got the first few for my niece for Christmas last year–and she LOVED them. I haven’t read them myself, but I love it when a series is a big hit!
Young Adult
Heart of a Royal
PRINCESS BOOK!!!! Need I say more? 😉 This one is from our company and is SO much fun. A great story, fabulous characters, and the voice is amazing.
Within These Lines
Yes, okay, it’s by my best friend. But it’s also AMAZING. Every teen (and adult) should read it! It’s set during WWII, focusing on the internment camps in California where Japanese-Americans were sent.
The Thing with Feathers and Meet the Sky
McCall Hoyle’s books leaped to the top of my daughter’s loved-it list this year. She read them at the beginning of the year, but she still talks about them–and when she spotted a hardback of Meet the Sky on sale the other day, she grabbed it, even though she already had an advance reader copy.
The Charmed Life Series
Jenny B. Jones is another sure-win author with my daughter. 😀 Can’t go wrong with any of them, but this omnibus collection has kept her busy for quite a while, and happily so!
The Lunar Chronicles
I listened to these on audio at the same time that Xoe was reading them in paper, and they were so fun! They’re not inspirational, but they’re clean, and thoroughly engrossing. I thoroughly enjoyed me, so did she, and we loved chatting about them together too.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
I'm reading Heart of a Royal right now and LOV. ING. IT!!!