NOVEMBER IS HERE! Like many busy moms, it’s time to open our Google calendars and sigh. Fall is in a new phase of busy with school events, parties, daylight savings time, shopping, transitioning from soccer to basketball schedules, and the kids being inside much more is enough to make any busy parent want to crawl under the covers and hibernate early!
To account for the busy, this week’s recommendations for the stack are SHORTER!
Join the Conversation: You may have heard about this one!
Some great things come in tiny packages like this week’s recommendation, Claire Keegan’s, novella, Small Things Like These. This 2022 Booker Prize finalist packs a punch in just 128 pages! Historical fiction with heart, this book is set in 1986 in wintry Ireland. Bill, his wife and five daughters are living a simple but good life, but Bill wonders how life could be different. If you love “It’s a Wonderful Life” and want a story that will warm your heart and ready you for the holiday season, this one should be added to the stack!
Start the Conversation: Be the one with the fun suggestion
At just over 200 pages, Love & Saffron by Kim Fay is another short novel that will warm your heart as the evenings grow darker sooner. Fans of Lessons and Chemistry may enjoy this smart and tender novel about two women in the 1960s writing letters back and forth about food, love, and relationships. A lovely story of friendship told through letters (epistolary).
Young Readers: A picture book the whole family will enjoy Sometimes we all need a bit of a reminder to unplug and focus on what is right in front of us! Authors’ (and married couple) Brady Smith and Tiffani Thiessen picture book, You’re Missing It! is the perfect cautionary tale about what we may miss if we are glued to our devices!
Middle Grade Readers: Tween readers will crack this one open
Popular author, Stuart Gibbs, brings us a great middle grades series that begins with, Once Upon a Tim. Tim, a peasant boy wants so badly to be a knight! This funny, illustrated novel is perfect for readers who love a pun, and for parents who want a book where the main character is always trying to do the right thing. Introduce your tween to a new series and add book 1 to the stack!
We love an illustrated novel: more words than a graphic novel but some illustrations to engage, younger independent readers.
YA Readers: A read that will vibe with your teen
An oldie but goodie, Eragon by Christopher Paolini, is just enough adventure to capture any fantasy lover’s attention. Fans of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter will love meeting Eragon and his newly hatched dragon! And, good news: The long awaited 5th book in the series is coming out early November! Murtagh takes place one year after the initial series concludes and old and new fans will confront a new enemy with our favorite Dragon Rider! Slip book one onto the stack and enjoy this as a family read!
Celebrating Native American Heritage Month with Kids