Books (for Boys) Books (for Girls) Books (for Moms)

Thank you to both Rachel Balducci and Jenny Uebbing for allowing me to share and link to their book lists.  Just in time for St. Nicholas Day gifts...happy shopping and reading!

Books for Boys 
(as gathered by Rachel Balducci's Instagram Readers)

Michael Vey series                                  Calvin and Hobbes (my addition, a family fave!)

Blake and Mortimer comics                    Ranger's Apprentice: The Early Years (current fave)

Redwall                                                   Tin Tin Comics  

Lord of the Rings                                    Mike Lupica sports books

Narnia                                                      Gary Paulsen books

Percy Jackson                                          Raymond Arroyo's books

Tom Sawyer                                             Eragon series

Mysterious Benedict Society                   Wings of Fire

Freddy the Pig                                          Percy Jackson series

I Survived series                                       Land of Stories

Treasure Island                                         Dragons Love Tacos

Swiss Family Robinson                            Gregor the Overlander

Kidnapped                                                 Rangers Apprentice

Hardy Boys                                               Brotherband

The Green Ember                                      Rising Above

Hatchet                                                    100 Cupboard Series

My Side of the Mountain                         The Sign of the Beaver

Swallows and Amazons                            The Chronicles of Prydain

The Impossible Quest                               Peter Nimble

Books for Girls 
(as gathered by Rachel Balducci's Instagram Readers)

The Penderwicks                                         Boxcar Children

Nancy Drew                                                Thea Stilton

American Girl                                             Happy Hollisters

Trixie Belden                                              Betsy Tacy

The Bernadette Series                                 Lemony Snicket

The Land of Elyon                                      Indian in the Cupboard

Wingfeather Saga                                       Black Stallion

Ella Enchanted                                           Shadow Children series (my addition!)

Green Ember                                             Babysitters Club

Shoe books                                                Little House

Chime Travelers                                        Mary Poppins

Land of Stories                                         Meet the Austins

Doll People                                                The Littles

The Mitchells                                            Dear America Diaries

Ivy + Bean                                                 Mysterious Benedict Society

Ramona                                                      Narnia

Book Scavenger                                         Rising Above

Sisters Grimm                                            Judy Moody

Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place        The Borrowers

All of a Kind Family                                  The Rescuers

The Princess and The Goblin                    E. Nesbit books

The Princess and Curdie                             Marguerite Henry horse books


The following book recommendations come to us by way of Jenny Uebbing at Mama Needs Coffee.  Please read her post here for more detailed descriptions about each of her picks, and thanks to Jenny for letting me repost them here!

Fiction lite (suitable for beach, plane ride, or mindless late-night consumption*)

• Everything written by Rosamunde Pilcher, but especially: The Shell Seekers, Winter Solstice and Coming Home

• Some Kate Morton recommendations: The Secret Keeper, The Lakehouse, The House at Riverton, The Distant Hours, and The Forgotten Garden

• Within the Walled City by Virginia Evans

• A Portrait of Emily Price by Katherine Reay

• What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Aspirational self improvement/business memoirs/human interest:

• Capital Gaines by Chip Gaines

• The Magnolia Story by Joanna Gaines

• The Gratitude Diaries: How a year of looking on the bright side can transform your life by Janet Kaplan

• Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkel

• The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine Aron

• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

• Reading People by Anne Bogel

• Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist

World War II novels set somewhere in Europe:

• In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen

• Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

• Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

YA Lit that won’t make you want to scratch your eyes out: 

• Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

• Wonder by Rachel J. Palacio

• When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhyi Menon

• The Selection Series by Kiera Cass

Religious/Spiritual reads:

• Books by John Eldredge: Waking the Dead, Walking with God, and Fathered by God 

• The Family that Overtook Christ by M. Raymond

• Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson

• The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher

• Out of the Ashes – Anthony Esolen

• Strangers in a Strange Land by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

• God or Nothing by Robert Cardinal Sarah

• The Christian Meaning of Human Sexuality by Paul M. Quay, S.J. (edited by Joseph Koterski, S.J)

• The Holy Spirit, Fire of Divine Love by Fr. Wilfrid Stinissen

Nonfiction:

• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance 

• $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer

Fiction:

• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

• The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

• The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

Borderline recs (proceed with caution depending upon sensitivity):

• Small Great Things by Jodi Piccoult

•  The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

• Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty

• The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

• Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
• Sleeping Giants by  Sylvain Neuvel

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