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I NEED A GIFT
FOR...
CHILDREN'S, TEENS
A
GUY WHO DEFIES ALL LABELS WHEN IT COMES TO THE FLUIDITY OF
GENDER AND SEXUALITY.
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DEBBIE
HARRY SINGS IN FRENCH
By MEAGAN BROTHERS
Henry Holt and Co.
A wonderfully crafted coming of age story about a teenage
boy struggling to come to terms with addiction and recovery,
gender and sexual identity, and first love. This is
perhaps the queerest heterosexual love story ever told.
Also recommended to fanboys and fangirls of all flavors,
as it reads like a love song to the unique healing power
of fannish adoration. (Julia Watson)
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MY TWEEN COUSIN WHO JUST DISCOVERED
EDWARD GOREY.
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MEN
AND GODS: MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS
By REX WARNER
Illustrated by EDWARD GOREY
NYBR Classics
This
isn't an Edward Gorey work per se, but his art helps
to enliven the work. Rex Warner, a novelist, translator
of Latin and Greek, and scholar of classical literature,
pens his own descriptions of classic Greek tales such
as Cupid and Psyche, Jason and the Argonauts, and Theseus
and the Minotaur. The book is marketed for middle grade
readers, but the story of Oedipus is also included,
so you may want to look it over first before gifting
this, just to make sure it's suitable for your cousin.
(Yennie Cheung)
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MY
COUSIN WHO HASN'T READ ANYTHING SINCE THE LAST HARRY POTTER
BOOK CAME OUT.
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THE
TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD
By J.K. Rowling
Children's High Level Group
If
your cousin is a big Harry Potter fan, he or
she is already well aware of this Harry Potter
offshoot. For those unfamiliar with the plot of Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Tales of Beedle
the Bard is a collection of five children's tales
that plays an important part in Harry's quest to defeat
Lord Voldemort. Best of all, all of the proceeds go
to the Children's Voice campaign, which promotes underprivileged
children's rights in Europe. If
you're feeling particularly generous, you could get
your cousin the $100 collector's
edition sold exclusively from Amazon. (Yennie Cheung)
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MY DAUGHTER, AN AVID READER AND LOVER
OF FANTASY BOOKS.
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INKDEATH
By CORNELIA FUNKE
Arthur A Levine Books
Inkdeath
is the third in Cornelia Funke's popular Ink trilogy.
If your daughter isn't already into the books, buy her
all three books (including Inkheart and Inkspell)
and get her started before the movie version of Inkheart
comes out in theaters this January. The books center
on young Meggie Folchart and her father Mo, who have
the ability to bring books to life by reading them aloud,
and their adventures both in this world and the world
of Inkheart, a fantasy book written by an old
man named Fenoglio. It's a beautiful, wondrous trilogy,
especially for those who love stories, and Cornelia
Funke deserves more recognition as one of the most imaginative
writers in children's fantasy literature today. (Yennie
Cheung)
[See
the HBC review]
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MY TEENAGE COUSIN, WHOM I'M TRYING
TO WEAN OFF STEREOTYPICAL YA BOOKS.
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PRETTY
MONSTERS
By KELLY LINK
Viking Juvenile
There
are plenty of great teen books out nowadays, but if
you're trying to get someone to transition from straightforward
writing to a more nuanced style, you could always try
good teen books with authors who usually write for adults.
Pretty Monsters, for example, is the first young
adult short story collection by slipstream extraordinaire
Kelly Link. McSweeney's fans will recognize one of the
stories—"Monster," about a group of boys being
attacked by a monster while on a campout—from the
McSweeney's children's literature collection, but unless
your cousin's English teachers have been cool enough
to assign McSweeney's stories in class, he or she will
be unfamiliar with Link's beautiful but odd writing.
The best part about getting your cousin hooked on Link,
of course, is that you can always continue by suggesting
Link's books for adults, too. (Yennie Cheung)
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MY NEPHEW, WHO SEEMS TO SHARE MY INTEREST
IN DARK AND SCARY THINGS.
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THE
GRAVEYARD BOOK
By NEIL GAIMAN
HarperCollins
Imagine
rewriting The Jungle Book so that it took place
in a graveyard. That's exactly what cult icon Neil Gaiman
did with his latest children's novel, The Graveyard
Book. Nobody Owens—known as Bod to his friends—lives
in a graveyard, where he is befriended by ghosts. When
he was a mere infant, his family was murdered by a man
named Jack who, in an effort to kill off all the Owens
family, continues to look for Bod. If your nephew knows
the story of The Jungle Book, he'll probably
find this a fun and certainly more macabre take on the
story. Best of all, it's a story that the two of you
can read together. (Yennie Cheung)
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MY
NIECE, WHO LIKES TO IMAGINE HERSELF GOING OFF ON ADVENTURES.
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MY
ONE HUNDRED ADVENTURES
By POLLY HORVATH
Schwartz & Wade
Adventures
are promised in the title of this new book from Polly
Horvath, winner of the National Book Award for Everything
on a Waffle. Jane is 12 years old and ready to leave
the coastal Massachusetts town where she lives for a
world of adventure. Naturally, adventure does find Jane
in the form of hot-air balloon rides and new friendships
with interesting people. If it sounds a bit like a Roald
Dahl story, good. Just don't expect the floating house
on the cover to be crawling with giant insects. (Yennie
Cheung)
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MY NEPHEW, WHO REALLY ENJOYED THE GIVER.
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THE
KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO (CHAOS WALKING BOOK 1)
By PATRICK NESS
Candlewick
Everyone
seems to like a good dystopian sci-fi story nowadays,
and The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first
in a series of thrillers about Todd Hewitt, a boy who
lives in the town of Prentisstown, on a planet where
all the women are dead. Todd is the only boy in a town
of men, and everyone can hear what everyone else is
thinking. As he flees the town, he stumbles upon a girl—a
girl who, according to the teachings Todd has learned,
shouldn't exist. (Yennie Cheung)
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MY TEENAGE NIECE, WHO IS A MODEL
STUDENT BUT ALWAYS KEEPS HER FEELINGS TO HERSELF.
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HOW
TO BUILD A HOUSE
By DANA REINHARDT
Wendy Lamb Books
Your
niece may be able to identify with Harper Evans, the
main character in How to Build a House. Harper,
too, is a bit of a superteen: She does well in school,
creates a recycling program at her Los Angeles high
school, and spends her summer in hot and muggy Bailey,
Tennessee in order to build a house for a family whose
home was destroyed in a tornado. The trouble is that
Harper is doing the latter not out of a sense of altruism
but in order to run from the problems at home. Back
in L.A., Harper's father and beloved stepmother have
gotten divorced, and her relationships with her two
closest friends—her former stepsister Tess and
best friend Gabriel—are disintegrating. Harper's
journey to regain her faith in others isn't particularly
original, but the beauty of the storytelling is the
realistic way in which author Dana Reinhardt portrays
these teens. Rather than seeing an exaggeration of teen
life, your niece may very well see herself in Harper's
feelings and actions—and maybe it'll help her open
up, too. (Yennie Cheung)
[See
the HBC review]
|
A SEVENTH GRADER WHO PREFERS SERIES
BOOKS.
|
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Buy
it from
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or
Powell's
|
PERCY
JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS BOX SET
By Rick Riordan
Hyperion Books for Children
HATTER
M: THE LOOKING GLASS WARS VOLUME 1
By FRANK BEDDOR, LIZ CAVALIER, and BEN TEMPLESMITH
Automatic Pictures
The
seventh graders I taught earlier this year went nuts
over the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books
and The Looking Glass Wars. Two students, Brendon
and Caroline, used to argue over whether to call the
main character of the former Percy or Percival. As for
the latter, Brendon's best friend Jeffrey was so enamored
by the books that he donated the first book in the series
to my classroom so that other kids could become fans
of it, too. Unfortunately, only the Percy Jackson
series has had a new novel out this year (The
Battle of the Labyrinth), but Hatter M,
a graphic novel companion to Frank Beddor's The Looking
Glass Wars, will tide over fans of the series. If
you're an adult gift giver, you'll also be glad to know
that your seventh grader will be learning a bit about
mythology and literature with these books, too: The
Percy Jackson books are based on Greek mythology,
while The Looking Glass Wars are based on Lewis
Carroll's classic tales of Wonderland. (Yennie Cheung)
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MY TWINS WHO LOVE PIRATES AND ARE JUST
LEARNING TO READ.
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THE
CASTAWAY PIRATES: A POP-UP TALE OF BAD LUCK, SHARP TEETH,
AND STINKY TOES
By RAY MARSHALL
Illustrated by WILSON SWAIN
Chronicle Books
The
Castaway Pirates sounds right up your twins' alley—and
best of all, you'll probably have fun reading it with
them. This pop-up book is about a group of five pirates
who have sprung a leak and try desperately to plug the
boat before they are eaten by a pursuing shark. (Yennie
Cheung)
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MY NIECE, WHO WILL TURN NINE IN JANUARY,
LIKES TO PLAY PIANO AND SOCCER, AND IS ANNOYED BY HER LITTLE
BROTHER.
|
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|
RAPUNZEL'S
REVENGE
By SHANNON HALE
Bloomsbury
Scrappy
young female protagonists are always in much demand
in children's literature, and Newbury Honor author Shannon
Hale is always good for providing a modern twist to
the traditional fairy tales of damsels in distress.
With Rapunzel's Revenge, Hale sets her sights
on the infamous girl with the absurdly long hair. In
this case, however, Rapunzel trades frilly gowns (the
preferred look of distressed damsels) for a cowgirl
look and a curiosity that condemns her to the hollow
of a tall tree. Together with Jack (of beanstalk climbing
fame), Rapunzel breaks out of her treetop tower to save
the day—from what, you'll just have to read and
find out. (Yennie Cheung)
|
FOR VAMPIRE FANS
MY
WELL-READ FRIEND WHO IS MORE THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
THAN IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
|
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THE
NEW ANNOTATED DRACULA
By BRAM STOKER
W. W. Norton
You'd
be hard-pressed to find anyone on your gift list who
hasn't read or at least seen an adaption of the classic
story, Dracula. But the real fun of this annotated
version is, well, the annotations. Alongside the original
novel, which is timeless and enjoyable in itself, editor
Klinger presents more than 1,500 historical footnotes
that delve deep into the legend of the most famous vampire
of all time. With so much information and fresh explorations
of the text, chances are you'll learn something new.
Bonus points: the hundreds of images ranging from Victorian
sketches to modern Hollywood film stills and the introduction
by Neil Gaiman. (Jessica Sycz)
|
A TEENAGE VAMPIRE FAN WHO PREFERS
FICTION AND HISTORY (WHO HAS READ THE TWILIGHT SERIES
AND ANNE RICE).
|
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|
DRACULA'S
HEIR
By SAM STALL
Quirk Books
At
88 pages, this interactive mystery may seem a bit childish
or silly to a teen vampire fan, but it could also be
a fun way to play with classic literature. Dracula's
Heir begins ten years after the events of Bram Stoker's
iconic vampire tale. Jonathan and Mina Harker are happily
married and living in England, but their friend Dr.
John Seward is tracking a string of crimes that sound
familiar to the Harkers. In addition to the novella,
the book includes removable features that allow readers
to solve the mystery as they move through the story,
including a private journal, a death certificate, and
a newspaper. (Yennie Cheung)
|
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THE
COFFIN CLUB (VAMPIRE KISSES #5)
By ELLEN SCHREIBER
HarperTeen
The
Vampire Kisses series is allegedly darker than
Twilight, but it's still very much a teen vampire
romance between goth girl Raven and her vampire boyfriend
Alexander. In The Coffin Club, Alexander has
left the rather unfortunately named town of Dullsville,
and love-struck Raven has to figure out what to do with
herself; naturally, it leads to trouble. What kind of
teen vampire romance would it be without a troublesome
mortal botching things up, right? Note that this book
is the fifth installment of the series, but if your
teen vampire fan hasn't read the other books yet, HarperTeen
also recently packaged the first three books in the
series in a nice, convenient little box set. (Yennie
Cheung)
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MY NIECE, WHO LOVED TWILIGHT
BUT HATED BREAKING DAWN.
|
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|
THE
HUNGER GAMES
By SUZANNE COLLINS
Scholastic
I
have a feeling your niece and I might get along. If
she's still willing to think of Stephenie Meyer as someone
with a viable opinion, have her try The Hunger Games,
which Meyer and several other sci-fi/horror writers
(including Stephen King) are fawning over. The book
takes place in a dystopian society called Panem, which
hosts the annual Hunger Games, a televised event in
which 24 teenagers chosen by lottery fight for survival
in a kill-or-be-killed arena reminiscent of Koushun
Takami's Battle Royale. When Katniss Everdeen's
younger sister is chosen for the Hunger Games, Katniss
sacrifices herself by volunteering in her sister's place.
As expected in a YA book, Katniss also finds herself
in a bit of a love triangle with two of the male contestants,
but the action of the Hunger Games is the real crux
of the novel. The book is the first in a projected trilogy,
so expect the popularity of this book to skyrocket like
the Twilight series, too. (Yennie Cheung)
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ALL OF MY FRIENDS WHO NEED TO
GET OVER THE TWILIGHT SERIES.
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SOOKIE
STACKHOUSE BOX SET
By CHARLAINE HARRIS
Penguin
There
is vampire life outside of Twilight, of course,
and though none of it is coming to a theater near you,
the Southern Vampire series has been making its
rounds on television screens all over the nation. Those
familiar with the series will probably already have
this set of seven books from Charlaine Harris's Sookie
Stackhouse books. If not, they may know it better
as the series that inspired HBO's show True Blood,
starring Anna Paquin. (Yennie Cheung)
|
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|
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE
By TRISHA TELEP, Editor
Running Press
If
your friends are familiar with the vampire/paranormal
romance, they'll recognize a few of the names in this
book of 30 short stories. But chances are good that
if they're foaming at the mouth over Twilight,
they haven't much experience with the genre outside
of Stephenie Meyer's vampire lite books. Despite the
title, not all of the stories are about romance, but
they all have vampires and cover the usual vampire acts,
including transformations and immortality. (Yennie Cheung)
|
MY GOOD FRIEND, WHO LOVES TRASHY
VAMPIRE ROMANCE AND HAS BREEZED THROUGH ANITA BLAKE AND TWILIGHT,
BUT COULDN'T TOLERATE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE.
|
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Buy
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|
UNDEAD
AND UNWORTHY (QUEEN BETSY BOOK 7)
By MARYJANICE DAVIDSON
Berkley
THE
GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDEAD
By KIM HARRISON
Eos
As
it turns out, my good friend Leona Smith is an expert
on the trashy vampire romance scene, and she has suggested
two different vampire romance series, which include
the books named above. MaryJanice Davidson's Queen
Betsy focuses on a shoe-crazy secretary who is killed
on her thirtieth birthday and discovers that she is
the queen of the vampires. According to Leona, the books
work because it's "that nice bit of fluff that doesn't
require much thinking. This is definitely not a dark
series. The love interest is sufficiently hunky and
the sex scenes follow romance novel etiquette without
getting too erotic-ish." Kim Harrison's series, The
Hollows, isn't about vampires per se, but it does
take place in a world where the majority of the human
population was killed by biologically enhanced tomatoes
(insert Attack of the Killer Tomatoes joke here),
leaving behind preternatural beings such as vampires,
pixies, and the like. The protagonist is a witch who
works with a vampire side kick (who, apparently, is
either going to bite her or jump her). Leona adds, "This
one is a little bit more complex and slightly darker
but don't worry your little head; it will still probably
give you mental cavities." Enjoy. (Yennie Cheung)
|
DESIGN, FASHION
A
CLOTHESHORSE WHO JUST GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE, SO SHE'S ON
A TIGHT BUDGET.
|
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|
THE
LUCKY GUIDE TO MASTERING ANY STYLE: HOW TO WEAR ICONIC
LOOKS AND MAKE THEM YOUR OWN
By KIM FRANCE and ANDREA LINETT
Gotham
Rather
than indulge her dreadful Forever 21 habit by getting
her a gift card for clothes, subtly suggest that she
become more practical with her spending habits by getting
her The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style. A
companion to the magazine's popular shopping guide,
this book teaches readers about the basics of any wardrobe
(jeans, a trench coat, the all-important little black
dress) and how to work them into various outfit styles
and trends so that people can look fashionable without
breaking the bank. (Yennie Cheung)
|
MY SISTER WHO LOVES HOME DECOR BUT COULD
USE A LESSON OR TWO IN GOOD TASTE.
|
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it from
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|
DOMINO:
THE BOOK OF DECORATING
By DEBORAH NEEDLEMAN, SARAAH RUFFIN COSTELLO, and DARA
CAPONIGRO
Simon and Schuster
Domino
magazine was first launched as a sister magazine to
Lucky, providing readers a stylish and modern
look into home décor shopping and furnishing. Like the
Lucky Shopping Manual, The Book of Decorating
teaches readers how to put together a beautiful, elegant
home, whether their tastes be traditional or eclectic.
Full of lush photographs and expert decorating tips,
this makes for a great style guide from a trusted name.
(Yennie Cheung)
|
MY BEST FRIEND, THE FASHION
MAVEN WITH A PRETTY RAZOR SHARP SENSE OF COMEDY.
|
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it from
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Buy
it from
Amazon
or
Powell's
|
FREAKIN'
FABULOUS: HOW TO DRESS, SPEAK, BEHAVE, EAT, DRINK, ENTERTAIN,
DECORATE, AND GENERALLY BE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE
By CLINTON KELLY
Simon Spotlight Entertainment
FASHION
INSIDE OUT
By DANIEL VOSOVIC
Watson-Guptill
If
your friend is a fan of reality television fashion,
Clinton Kelly and Daniel Vosovic should be household
names. As co-host of TLC's What Not to Wear,
Kelly makes his living telling women exactly what he
thinks of their atrocious wardrobes. In his first solo
book, Freakin' Fabulous, Kelly teaches women
not only how to dress well but live, well, fabulously—all
without busting their budgets. Vosovic, meanwhile, was
a finalist on season two of Project Runway and
remains one of the show's most popular contestants.
In Fashion Inside Out, Vosovic goes behind the
scenes to learn how the fashion industry works, from
inspiration to runway. Along the way, he interviews
style legends such as Diane von Furstenberg and Project
Runway faves such as the perpetually amazing Tim
Gunn. If your friend is a stickler for humor and quality
writing, Kelly's book may be a better bet (Kelly has
a master's degree in journalism and is known for his
wit), but Vosovic's more likely to be insightful. (Yennie
Cheung)
|
MY
SISTER WHO'S A GRAD STUDENT IN CITY PLANNING; SHE LOVES FOOD,
ART, AND ALL THINGS SCANDINAVIAN.
|
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|
GREAT
IKEA: A BRAND FOR ALL THE PEOPLE
By ELEN LEWIS
Marshall Cavendish
It's
a book about Ikea! Lewis, a writer for Financial
Times and The Guardian, explores Ikea's evolution
from a local Swedish brand to the world-wide force it
is today. Apparently the whole thing involves a training
academy. (Marie Mundaca)
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