The book tree at the library’s Chandler Booktique, a great place to browse for books and gifts, with proceeds supporting the library.
Visit the Booktique for great gifts
As a librarian, I’m passionate about reading and recommending books I love to other readers. In fact, many of you may have been the recipient of one of my enthusiastic and spontaneous book talks about some awesome book I’ve read recently, or listened to the conversations I host between readers on the library’s podcast, HUSH.
At the holidays, I love giving books as gifts. Those special gift-wrapped book recommendations aren’t necessarily what I like to read. When I give a book as a gift for the holidays, it’s important for me to give a book that the reader will enjoy.
Don’t know what books to buy for people on your gift list?
These recommendations use personal appeal factors to focus on WHO the gift is for more than WHAT the book is about.
- For any elementary school kid on your shopping list who likes codes and puzzles and computers and math – Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang
- For your 10 year old nephew or cousin who might like comics, or space stories, or bathroom humor….all in the same book! — Space Dumplins by Craig Thompson
- For your teenage niece/nephew/sibling who is so over the holidays and the family that they’d gladly join the circus, but who secretly loves you all — Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
- For your teenager who is developing an interest in mythology but has a quirky sense of humor and likes a good twist on a familiar thing — Anansi’s Boys by Neil Gaiman
- For that friend who won’t stop singing Hamilton lyrics and talking about Lin Manuel Miranda – Hamilton: A Revolution by Lin Manuel Miranda and Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
- For your niece in her 20s or 30s who loves Dr. Who and Star Trek and Supernatural and every other show – so much that you aren’t sure what she is into these days, but you are sure she will be passionate about it! — The Fangirl Life: A Guide to All the Feels and Learning How to Deal by Kathleen Smith
- For anyone on your gift list who is absolutely in love with BBC’s Sherlock or CBS’ Elementary — The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- For your video game loving, book avoiding husband (who will read, given the right book) — Console Wars by Blake J Harris
- For your history buff dad – consider packaging it with a good bottle of scotch — A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage
Compiled by Lissa Staley with suggestions from a community of readers including Meredith Snepp, Diana Marsh, Lisa Brown and Marian Rakestraw
Lissa Staley
Lissa Staley helps people use the library. She is a Book Evangelist, Trivia Emcee, Classics Made Modern book discussion leader, NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison, and frequent library customer. She loves her kids, being a librarian, living in Topeka, and helping people form connections and community. (She's the Community Connections Librarian!) She reads a new book every few days, but is enjoying the audiobook of "Empress of Forever" by Max Gladstone, the ebook "When We Were Magic" by Sarah Gailey and is eagerly awaiting John Scalzi's "The Last Emperox" in April!