2020 Holiday Gift #kidlit Recommendations

          

In this wild year it's wise to place holiday gift orders even earlier than usual. This is the week to help small bookstores make it through the pandemic. You can help ensure which stores make it through to this time next year by placing your holiday book orders from small a small business. I recommend 

Books of Wonder

or 

Chop Suey Books

Bookshop.org  is another excellent choice for supporting local stores. 

For remembering how wonderful the world is in this dark time:

If You Come to Earth  by Sophie Blackall.

This isn't the first time a Blackall title has been my favorite of the year. The spreads in this book are phenomenal. I'd recommend this for 3-7 year olds. It has a feel similar to an old school Richard Scarry book in that you'll spot something new each time it's read. If I could only recommend one title this year this is it. 

You Matter by Christian Robinson

Robinson can do no wrong and this book continues his streak of excellence. His images and messages are filled with joy. This title is best for ages 2-6 or so, but could be enjoyed by older children as well. If you're looking for a fun art activity to do with tiny children Robinson's Making Space video series, created early in the pandemic, offers an opportunity to interact with the material of a children's literature creator your family may not yet be familiar with. 

For your favorite toddler or preschooler:

      

Storytelling Math

This adorable new board book series by author Grace Lin combined simple toddler-friendly stories with basic math concepts. 

  

Seasonal Titles by Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek

With the addition of this year's Summer Song, the season books by husband-wife duo of Henkes & Droznek are complete, making this an ideal year to gift the set to a little one in your life. The lilt of the text makes these great bedtime selections, but toddlers and preschoolers will also enjoy poring over the pictures. 

Animalphabet & Counting Creatures by Julia Donaldson and Sharon King-Chai

Pair these concept books by British author Julia Donaldson, of The Gruffalo fame, for an exciting romp through earth's wonders. The cut-paper pages do require some grown-up supervision, but the delicacy is worth it. Toddlers and Preschoolers will be entranced. 

Lilly & Friends Treasury by Kevin Henkes

Speaking of Henkes, a Lilly & Friends Treasury was released this fall. With their gentle illustrations and relatable storylines I've yet to meet a 3-6-year old who isn't a fan of the "mouse" books. Owen was the favorite in my home. Find yours!

For the animal fan:

 

Homes in the Wild  and Play in the Wild by Lita Judge

Journey through animal habitats through these engaging titles, which explore the similarities animals and humans share. 

In the Woods by David Elliott and Rob Dunlavey

2020's David Elliott poetry selection has shown up on several Caldecott Medal shortlists. Pair it with his other animal and dinosaur related titles for a gentle introduction to poetry with some animal facts thrown in.

    

 

For the young scientist in your life:

The Kitchen Pantry Scientist : Chemistry for Kids: 

Homemade Science Experiments and Activities 

Inspired by Awesome Chemists, Past and Present

by Liz Lee Heinecke

We use Heinecke's books frequently at the library when planning S.T.E.M-based programs, and they are also popular with our homeschool families. How much fun would this book be packaged with the materials needed for a few of the experiments? 

Cityscape by April Pulley Sayre

If you prefer your science a little less hands on, look no further than April Pulley Sayre. This year's newest title, Cityscape, introduces S.T.E.M. concepts through photographs of architecture and other urban elements. All of Sayre's titles offer great nonfiction picture book content. Being Frog is a personal favorite. 

Grow: Secrets of Our DNA by Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton

A nonfiction picture book about DNA? Who doesn't want to read that? Hmmn, maybe I spend too much time around children's books. Hand to the kid ages 6-10 who wants to know all the things. 

Off the beaten path picture book nonfiction:

The Fabled Life of Aesop by Ian Lendler and Pamela Zagarenski

With an admitted bias towards "books about books" this title is probably my favorite nonfiction selection this year. The images are etherial and the content works on several levels. Including short versions of Aesops better known fables, as well as information about the storyteller himself this one is appropriate for ages 4-8 and even some literary big kids!

Among a Thousand Glass Flowers by Evan Turk

Picture books about lesser known artists are my jam. Fortunately children also enjoy them quite a lot. This one features the life of Marietta Barovier, who lived on the island of Murano, in the early Renaissance. Hand to artists ages 6+. 

For graphic novel fans:

El Deafo the Superpowered Edition! By Cece Bell

If your middle grade readers are unfamiliar with El Deafo they are in for a real treat. This title, which made history by being the first graphic novel to win a Newbery Honor in 2015, is the semi-autobiographical story of the author, who is hearing impaired. Here's a 2015 Washington Post piece about the book if you'd like to know more. The Superpowered Edition contains 40 pages of additional content, which weren't published in the original book. 

Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright

This title marks one of the few times I'll recommend something I haven't personally read yet. Like many graphic novels, it flew off our library shelves before I had the chance to peruse it! Like Johnson's The Parker Inheritance this book appears on every "Best of the Year" list I've seen for 2020 so far! 

For Middle Grade (4th-6th) readers:

 

Front Desk and Three Keys by Kelly Yang

I haven't handed Front Desk and this year's sequel to any kid who didn't enjoy them. 

Flooded by Ann E. Burg

This prose novel marks the other "haven't read it yet" recommendation on my list. I haven't gotten my hands on this one yet, but the reviews are solid, and it gets bonus points from this PA native for bringing middle grade readers to the story of the Johnstown Flood. Strong recommendation for historical fiction fans from 4th grade and up!

Everything Comes Next by Naomi Shihab Nye

This title marks the 2nd of this list that brought me to tears. The treasury comes from award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye and is a collection of her best poetry. Give this one to poetry fans and writers from 5th grade up. 

While this strange year of primarily teleworking did not offer me as many chances to peruse the #kidlit world as I may have liked I still spend way more time there than your average bear. If you need additional book title recommendations may I offer you the incomparable Betsy Bird. 

Crafty Little World

Aunt Carol is the reason my husband asked “what’s with the kissing?” when we were engaged. My mother’s family is very German American. What that means in this context that you get big hugs and kisses from extended family upon greeting and exit, and then zero physically demonstrative affection is shown for the rest of the visit. This in no way reflects the love that exists. 

To my sister and I,  Aunt Carol, the mother of 3 boys, was the aunt who cheerfully braided our hair during visits, and who made us doll clothes. She was the aunt who crafted and quilted and liked to haunt thrift sales for furniture and home décor items. She was the aunt who brought me a tiny dollhouse sized globe once when I was hospitalized, and who was always interested in discussing whatever crafty venture I was in the midst of. She was also the aunt in whom I could see myself, more than any other relative. She showed me that it was okay to be the one who found thrifted furniture and turned it into something beautiful with paint or fabric (long before home-décor blogs and HGTV shows made it trendy), and the closest example I had to what it meant to “get out” of our tiny rural town and make a life elsewhere.

She was also the aunt who, while as far as I know didn’t have an athletic bone in her body, became the enthusiastic soccer mom who sacrificed days off and family vacation time to the thing her kids were passionate about, and the aunt who, at the funeral of my much adored Nana, handed me a cousin’s newborn and calmly said “you need to hold a baby.” She was right.

When I was a kid I found Aunt Carol’s home exotic. While I have an older brother, he lived with my dad for much of our childhood, and Aunt Carol’s house was filled. With. Boys. There were bunk beds, and soccer balls and Playmobil figures. There were my 3 rowdy cousins who wrestled so violently that things would sometimes break. Aunt Carol did radical (to my mind) things like hang her handmade quilts on the wall!  When her family bought a modest home in a Pittsburgh suburb and then added a master suite I was fascinated (and not a little jealous). I’m fairly certain that their master suite was the first one I ever saw outside of TV.

  

Aunt Carol did not suffer fools gladly or brook any nonsense. I have a clear memory of standing in her kitchen one morning during a visit looking around with a very teenage “where’s breakfast” look on my face and being pointed towards the cereal in the cabinet and the bowls and told “this is a self-serve house.” That one never needed repeating. She was the aunt who would yell “the bus is leaving” before everyone needed to pile in a station wagon for an outing, and who herded my mom, Nana and I along on dozens of trips to her favorite bargain haunts of Gabriel Brothers, or T.J. Maxx, neither of which were my idea of a good time (the boys, assumedly having their own manly endeavors to attend to, were generally exempt).

When the news arrives that my beloved aunt, my mother’s only sister, my big sister’s godmother and frankly one of my favorite humans, will likely pass away within the week I try to think instead of the visit my mother, sister and I took to see her just over a year ago. The homes of my aunts and uncles have always felt comforting, like finding an old sweater, the one you thought you gave away, and snuggling into it, and this time was no different. Aunt Carol was clearly struggling a bit, but she was so happy to see my sister and I.  She told me us about what was happening with her children and grandchildren and discussed tablecloths (of all things) with me after we visited a sale at her church.  That weekend brought unprecedented rain and flooding to PA and I remember a distinct sense of it feeling like the end of the world as I watched shoppers pick over antiques with rain dripping on them, but the skies cleared within a few days and life moved forward.  I thought I’d return to Pittsburgh and visit with Aunt Carol again in 2019, but time got away from us, and once again it feels just a little bit like the end of the world. I’ll wake up tomorrow and my 12-year old will ask me to braid Christmas ribbon into her hair.  My 15-year old will once again ask me to explain extended family math, by defining cousin identities with clues like “which one took Lena down to the creek at Joel’s wedding?”

As I attempted to finish writing this through tears and a growing sense of frustration, I found myself angrily typing: “write a better ending. This one sucks.” I wanted to say something profound about the portrait of my mother and aunt that once hung in my Nana’s living room. The one where they both have clear expressions and fabulous wings of hair.  I wanted to write something about how much I loved Aunt Carol and that I’ll be thankful to carry that with me. I wanted to write something about how she and Uncle John raised a beautiful family and gave their kids a firm moral foundation, and about how she was such a caring nurse.  I wanted to write about how her voice was always soft and modulated and how seeing her always made my late Nana feel close by, and how she loved to have a baby on her lap. I wanted to share all of this and more, but all I can say right now is . . . write a better ending. This one sucks. 

Author’s note: Aunt Carol passed away peacefully with family nearby a few days after I wrote this.