There is a book for just about every person out there. The 2019 Book Gift Giving Guide should help you decide the right book for the loved one in your life. Below you’ll find recommendations for young adults, animal lovers. parents, history buffs, readers of inspirational/self-help books and fiction lovers.
For Young Adults
Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo
“Suddenly, things seemed good and possible in a way that they hadn’t before.”
Some children’s lives are so much harder than others. They crave stability and love. Kate DiCamillo does a good job of taking her readers into the worlds of children who face tough lives. In Beverly, Right Here, she continues the story of one of the girls from the Raymie Nightingale book. Beverly’s father left when she was young, but she remembers him and misses him. Her mother drinks a lot and Beverly doesn’t feel cared for. When Beverly’s dog dies, she no longer feels anchored to home and runs away at the age of 14. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
The Michael Vey series by Richard Paul Evans
“Why is it that good always has to fight an uphill battle?”
I thought for a moment, then said, “I don’t know. Maybe that’s the point. Good things are higher up.”
Michael Vey is electric. He has known since he was young that he could “spark” electricity from his body. His father died when he was young and he and his mother have moved several times to keep his abilities secret. After fighting off a bully due to his having Tourette’s syndrome, a girl at his school tells him she has powers, too. Taylor can read thoughts. They come to realize they were born at the same hospital in the same year. A situation they both had thought was unique may actually have several members. However, as soon as they both realize there are others out there with powers, someone who has been kidnapping all the “special children” finds them out. Read the full review here.
Purchase the books here.
The Teen’s Guide to Social Media: 21 Tips to Wise Posting in an Insecure World by Jonathan McKee
“Your phone is not your problem. The problem is when we let our phone captivate us so significantly with the unimportant that we ignore the important all around us.”
Parents today are raising teenagers in an entirely different world than has ever existed. The connections with the Internet, Wifi, smartphones and social media have created new avenues for both good and bad things to happen and have created more pressure for teens and parents to find the best way to balance it all. In The Teen’s Guide to Social Media: 21 Tips to Wise Posting in an Insecure World, Jonathan McKee takes both parents and teens through practical ways to approach the world of social media without running away to an island. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
For Animal Lovers
Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson
“I lived a nightmare at Ground Zero but even a nightmare can turn into a happy ending if we refuse to give in to fear.”
Hingson’s book is a more personal story of Sept. 11, 2001. Hingson is blind and has been since birth. He has had several guide dogs and had one with him when he was working on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center that day. Roselle’s calm demeanor and his resolve not to upset her led them both to helping each other and many others escape the building shortly before the first collapse. Besides describing his experience on Sept. 11, 2001, and how it affected him, Thunder Dog also gives a glimpse into the world of blindness and how much blind people are just as capable as seeing people. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
“That which we manifest is before us.”
Enzo is a dog who knows he is more than just a dog. He understands the people around not and not just their words, but their motivations, dreams, fears and desires. He is sure when he dies, he will come back as a human and he already has plans for what type of human he will be. His owner, Denny, is a race car driver and Enzo learns about racing by watching tapes with Denny. In The Art of Racing in the Rain, Enzo is there as Denny falls in love, gets married and has a daughter. Life is hard, but wonderful, for Denny until Eve gets sick, very sick. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
“I guess I had never bothered to consider that there might such a thing as a boy, but now that I had found one, I thought it was just about the most wonderful concept in the world.”
Do you ever wish your pet could talk? If so, A Dog’s Purpose will give you a glimpse into what might be going on in their minds. The book follows a young puppy through his life with his mother and then in a pound until he is euthanized because of a broken leg. That is not where the story ends, though, but is just where it begins as the dog wakes up as another puppy but can remember his last life. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
For Parents
The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans by Josh Shipp
“One of the most powerful things to teenagers is people proving they are devoted to them.”
Parenting is hard. Parenting babies is tiring. Parenting toddlers is time-consuming. Parenting children is an adventure. Parenting teenagers is like visiting a different planet. The world teenagers are growing up in today is much different than any other generation. Parents need all the help they can get navigating this new territory. The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans is full of roadmaps and advice. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley
“Everywhere I went, in every country, people complained about their education system.”
What is the best way for a nation to educate its children? Amanda Ripley explores that question in The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way. The author looks at education systems in four countries – America, South Korea, Poland and Finland. The book is not just full of facts and statistics; it is full of personal stories from children, parents, educators and school staff on how the different education systems work. The book follows three American high school students who participate in exchange programs with Finland, South Korea and Poland. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
Have a New Teenager by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman
“The point of being a parent is not to control your children; rather, it’s to encourage and partner with them, seeing the long view and the big picture.”
Are you a parent having difficulties with a preteen or teenager? If so, you’ll find some great tips to help you in Have a New Teenager by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman. The book starts with an overview of the goals parents should have in raising their children. He reviews the three types of parents: permissive, authoritative and authoritarian. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
For History Buffs
The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin
“In account after account there runs the same thread, often the same words: There had never been anything like it.”
blizzard almost like no other hit the U.S. prairie on Jan. 12, 1888, and by the next morning, hundreds perished. David Laskin weaves the true tale through the eyes of those who lived on the prairie and those tasked to forecast the weather. Even the atmospheric conditions had to work in just a certain way to produce a storm that was upon people in mere minutes – they went from enjoy a day where a light jacket would do to not being able to see a few yards away. One of the worst tragedies of the storm was that it hit when many children had just been released from school. Many never made it home. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
“Destroying a library is a kind of terrorism. People think of libraries as the safest and most open places in society. Setting them on fire is like announcing that nothing, and nowhere, is safe.”
On April 29, 1986, the Los Angeles Public Library caught on fire. Most likely arson, the person responsible was never caught. When it was extinguished after seven hours, 400,000 books were gone and 700,000 books were damaged. Microfiche melted, a patent collection was ash and the historical building was damaged. It was a tragedy I had never heard of until reading The Library Book. The history of the fire, along with the importance of book, libraries and shared history are discussed in this non-fiction book. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
Dead Wake by Erik Larson
“The track lingered on the surface like a long pale scar. In maritime vernacular, this trail of fading disturbance, whether from ship or torpedo, was called a ‘dead wake.’”
In my understanding, the sinking of the Lusitania was a key factor in the United States entering World War I, but history tells a different story in Dead Wake. It was two years after the sinking and the deaths of many American citizens that Americans finally fought with their Allies in Europe. The morning the Lusitania left its port in America, a notice from Germany was published in papers warning that “vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to destruction.” The ship sailed anyway. There was even British intelligence that could have been used to warn the captain of the Lusitania that a U-boat was near it, but the information was never passed along. Tragedy resulted from both action and inaction. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
For the Inspirational/Self-Help Reader
I Hear You: The Surprisingly Simple Skill Behind Extraordinary Relationships by Michael S. Sorenson
“More often than not, people who vent or complain already know how to handle their current situation – they’re just looking for someone to see and appreciate their struggle.”
We all just want to be heard. At least, that’s what Michael Sorenson builds his book around, with many, many stories to back up his claim. I Hear You: The Surprisingly Simple Skill Behind Extraordinary Relationships gives readers tips on how to make any relationship better by slowing down and listening in order to validate the person you are talking with. It seems simple, yet it takes practice and intention – and it can change each of your relationships. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
“For the sake of this book, a defining moment is a short experience that is both memorable and meaningful. (‘Short’ is relative here—a month might be a short experience in the span of your life, and a minute might be short in the context of a customer support call.)”
Our lives our made of moments. As the song in Rent says, each year has 525,600 minutes in it and we fill it with the mundane, the exciting and the dreadful. We tend to remember the highs and the lows, but it we don’t have many of those, then the time seems to meld together and we don’t remember much of what happens on a day-to-day basis when we look back. The Power of Moments suggest we need to intentionally create more meaningful moments in our lives to live fully. It can be a simple as using the good China for a birthday meal to making a person’s first day on the job a welcoming event instead of an afterthought. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
“It’s been freeing to focus on what works for me rather than what’s wrong with me.”
The Four Tendencies looks at how people meet expectations – internal ones like New Year’s Resolutions and external ones like work deadlines. Upholders meet both fairly easily. Obligers meet external well, but not internal. Need to have outside accountability so internal expectations are external. Questioners only do things for a good reason, which makes all expectations internal. Rebels only do what they want to do when they want to do it. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
For the Fiction Lover
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
“I’m saying that when you really love someone, sometimes the things they need may hurt you, and some people are worth hurting for.”
Two paths of fame emerge in Daisy Jones & The Six. On one path, Daisy Jones grows up in LA with dreams of being a singer who sings the songs she writes. While she dreams and writes, she gets caught up in the rock ‘n’ roll scene doing drugs and sleeping around. When she gets a chance to get noticed for her voice and looks, she find out that she must put forth the effort to finish her songs and not just rely on getting by. Then, there is the struggle of falling in love. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Just Fine by Gail Honeyman
“The voice in my own head – my own voice – was actually quite sensible, and rational.”
Eleanor’s life thrives on a routine – well, thrives might be the wrong word. It’s a rather boring life, but it’s a life Eleanor can handle. The less emotion in her life, the better. She doesn’t know how to deal with being happy or sad. She can handle being bored. She works, eats, listens to the radio, reads and drinks vodka – over and over again. Until one day a coworker follows her as she leaves work and they see a man fall unconscious and they both help get him to the hospital. Her routine slowly gets shaken up from then on and she can finally find a way to deal with why she is the way she is. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
“Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.”
She didn’t know anything different when she was little, but the townspeople called her family and those who lived near her, “Swamp Rats.” She had three older siblings and a mother and father, but there was always turmoil in the house. Her father was loud and abusive when he was drunk, so Kya learned her way around the marsh and how to hide when her father was on a tirade. Her mother finally reached her tipping point one day and walked away from the family. One by one, each sibling left until Kya enjoyed a few short months of peace with her father. Then, when she wasn’t even 12, he left her, too. Read the full review here.
Purchase the book here.
Bonus book suggestion: My book
The Ring by Sarah Anne Carter
“Such a well written love story. I sat down to start reading it one night and couldn’t put it down. I read the entire book in one setting. I’m an avid reader of love stories and this is one of the best I have read.” – Amazon review
Amanda knows three things about her life – she loves living in Tacoma, she wants to be a teacher and she will never marry a man in the military. Yet, when Lucas comes into the coffee shop where she works wearing a flight suit, he starts to change her mind about her future. She is determined to just be his friend, but the chemistry between them is undeniable and their relationship survives through two deployments and him being on work trips almost half of the time. After they get married, they move across the country to Charleston, S.C., and Amanda finds a job, which helps somewhat with the loneliness of Lucas being gone a lot. She thought she was prepared for life as a military wife, but then she starts finding out the true sacrifices military families make.
Purchase The Ring on Amazon here.
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Do you have any suggestions to add to the 2019 Book Gift Giving Guide? Share below!