Kim’s #GiveABook Holiday picks

For my 6-year-old daughter: 

THE SNOW QUEEN: A POP-UP ADAPTATION OF A CLASSIC FAIRY TALE by Hans Christian Andersen (Author), Yevgeniya Yeretskaya (Illustrator) — Like most girls her age, my daughter is “Frozen”-obsessed.  While the original tale is darker than the Disney version, I think she’ll enjoy seeing where the whole idea came from.  She also LOVES my crusty old mildewy pop-up version of SLEEPING BEAUTY from when I was a kid.  The illustrations in THE SNOW QUEEN are much more beautiful and elaborate and I think she’ll be in awe of it.

For my 9-year-old son:

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LITTLE KIDS FIRST BIG BOOK OF WHY by Amy Shields — My son is in 3rd grade, but he’s on the Autism Spectrum and doesn’t quite read at grade level.  He is obsessed with the National Geographic joke books (Can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard “Why did the chicken cross the dusty road twice?”  “Because he was a dirty double-crosser!”)  He also loves Science.  It’s his favorite subject.  I think he’ll really enjoy the bright beautiful photos in these books as well as the layout which will be easier for him to read the cool information.  And his aunt has him covered on more joke books!

For my mother: 

THE INDIA FAN by Victoria Holt — I’ve mentioned several times in the past that my mother and grandmother instilled my love of books through their collection of gothic romances by Phyllis Whitney, Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt.  Recently, I asked my mom for what remaining books she had so that I could reread them.  In her search she realized that she’d given away her Victoria Holts while she was downsizing and she sounded somewhat regretful. When I was searching for more of my favorite Phyllis Whitneys to read on my Nook, I was disappointed to see that most of them are not available in ebook and are all out of print.  But when I searched for Victoria Holt, I was thrilled to learn that Sourcebooks Casablanca had reprinted a bunch of them into beautifully packaged trade paperbacks.  I’m buying this one for my mother so that she can reread a favorite too.

–Kim