Book Aunt Strikes Again

Happy holiday season, Goodreads! I'm not much a fan of Christmas (or Christianity in general), but I can't say I dislike any excuse to give and receive presents. Maybe I'm obsessed with reliving the good parts of my childhood by forcing books I liked as a kid onto my niblings, or maybe I just don't have any better gift ideas, but I bought the kids a ton of books this year. Again.

(I should add that books are hardly the only thing I buy for them. I give them treats every time I see them and mail them each several letters a month, because gift-giving is my love language.) (Wasn't the guy who wrote that love-language book also a weird Christian, though? Oh, dear.)

Thing One has once again escaped my bookish ambitions by virtue of being a Surly Teenager who Barely Talks to Me, so I wouldn't have been able to guess what kind of books he likes, even if I'd wanted to. (I got him six other gifts, instead. My parents each also got him six gifts, so collectively we could give him 18 presents. Mostly I bought him small things— a water bottle with a filter, athletic, moisture-wicking socks... But I did splurge and buy him a fancy repair kit for his beloved 3-D printer.)

Thing Two, age 16:

Thing Two, Red Fish, and I started a book club together in the spring. Red Fish chose our first book, which I then purchased to share—

The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands wasn't really my cup of tea... You can read my rather salty review of it here. I don't love historical lit, and I really don't love child abuse, so... Yeah, not for me. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay for the rest of our bookclub books, as libraries have my back covered. Shout-out to libraries. (Enjoy some filler text I'm inserting so that the formatting of this blog post doesn't get all messed up again. Is this enough? Looks like it.)

I also got her Howl’s Moving Castle (and some ChapStick) because I had yet to cave in and pay for Amazon Prime, and there was a minimum purchase requirement to qualify for free shipping. But whatever; HMC is a classic for a reason! Teen-me loved the books and was beyond excited to learn there was a Ghibli movie for the series, even if the movie is way different from the source material. Both are magic.

Then, for her birthday, I bought Thing Two a box-set containing Tamora Pierce's Immortals quartet (and candy. And some bomb-ass sterling silver earrings shaped like dragons). Most people prefer to start with the Song of the Lioness quartet when it comes to Pierce, and I get that; I love me some Alanna (I actually bought Thing One the Lioness Quartet a few years ago, when I was trying to introduce him to, y'know, the basic concepts of feminism)... But the Immortals quartet is just so much better, especially if you're an animal lover. (And the series was partially responsible for my love of teacher/student romances. Well, that, and the fact that I had crushes on half of my teachers. I've never been a fan of people in my age-range.)

Thing Three, age 13: This kid got me into reading Suzanne Collin's Underland Chronicles, which were fantastic; I highly recommend them. (I bought him all 5 of those books, so that we could read the series together without waiting for long library holds.)

Since he enjoys fantasy, for his birthday I got him...

There's not much to say about Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel that I didn't say in last year's Book Aunt post; just that it was a book I enjoyed as a kid, told from the perspective of a bat, with a particularly scary villain that always stood out to me. There are other books in this series, so I'm hoping he'll like it enough to keep reading.

See above; I talked about The Wind Singer in last year's blog post. It's an older dystopian tale about a world divided into strict classes, and a family that tries to break out of said system. They're long books with some very funny and very heartbreaking moments; I recommend it to any kid who can handle darker subjects.

For Thing Three and Red Fish, I pre-ordered copies of Chris Grine's fourth Animorphs graphic novel, The Message. (Funny, because I just got a digital copy from my library for myself.) You know the drill; I've loved Animorphs since I was a kid, I love rereading it periodically now, and I love that it's being adapted into graphic novels I can share with my niblings. That love absolutely extends to paying for physical copies so Scholastic is hopefully incentivized to keep commissioning this series. Animorphs is an incredible anti-war series that contributed to my becoming the radical leftist and environmentally conscious human that I am today... So I'm all for corrupting today's youth with outrageous morals like "Fascism Bad," "exercise your right to vote," "animals have feelings and complex inner lives" "critical thinking/ questioning authority is Good, Actually," and "all humans are equal (all means ALL)."

I also bought him a copy of John Bellairs' The House with a Clock in Its Walls, which kid-me loved (and not just because it featured an overweight protaganist who is never forced to lose weight just to be loved! Like Lewis, I, too, was (and am) a chunky, chocolate-loving bookworm with difficulty making friends). It's important for kids to read about people with different experiences than themselves (like fat people's): it teaches kids to be more empathetic.

Red Fish, age 12:

When Red Fish's family came to visit me in March, I had a few goodies waiting for her. (Okay, a lot of goodies. I like buying presents.) But amongst the candy and bracelets and stickers, I had a copy of Hatching Magic by Ann Downer-Hazell. Red Fish is obsessed with dragons, and from what I remember, this book about a wizard losing his wyvern's egg through a time portal, only for it to be discovered by a modern-day child, fit the bill.

Then, for her birthday books:

Lily's Ghosts by Laura Ruby was a fun one that kid-me liked specifically because I thought the protagonist seemed like a sexy bad-girl with a tragic past (remember: I was little when I read this. This isn't adult-me calling the protagonist sexy). She liked science and had issues with her flighty mom and then ghosts happened and she had to deal with creepy adults at gunpoint and she got to make out with a pretty Greek boy... Listen: sometimes a kid just likes what she likes, okay?

You can read my review for The Ghost of Fossil Glen by Cynthia C. DeFelice here, but basically it's a mildly spooky series about an 11-year-old girl who is contacted by various ghosts (some good, some evil, some canine) that she has to help put to rest. I first read this series in audiobook format when I was little, driving on a road trip with my parents. I kind of regret getting this one for Red Fish, because it's a bit more childish than I remember, and she's already reading past a high school level.

I've talked before about how Inkheart by Cornelia Funke is my all-time favorite children's book, and for good reason: the writing itself, the word-choice, is beautiful. Flowing and lyrical. I love books that almost read like poetry (with the caveat that there is still a plot. Much as I enjoy them, pretty words with no substance does nothing for me). The plot for this one? A girl and her mysterious father go to stay with her strict, book-loving aunt, only to later be kidnapped by villains directly from a fictional novel. Magic and mayhem ensue.

Thing Four, age 11:

For Thing Four's birthday, I bought him a box-set of the first three Chet Gecko mysteries by Bruce Hale. (Also Pokémon cards. And candy. And a Roblox gift card. Gift-giving is my love language, damn it!) Anyway, these books are a punny, reptilian spin on the detective noir genre that gave kid-me a lot of chuckles. I probably won't be buying Four any more books, unless they're cook books— he's a math and science-minded munchkin who prefers doing to reading. Lesson learned.

Blue Fish, age 9:

When the Fish family visited in March and I had the smorgasbord of goodies on the girls' bunk beds, I included Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park for Blue Fish. This is an interesting story about a Korean-American girl who chooses to do a silkworm project for her American science fair; it's a story about heritage, racism, friendship... And kid-me was amused by the between-chapter segments wherein the protagonist "spoke" to the author herself.

Then, for her birthday...

My Big Sister Is So Bossy She Says You Can't Read This Book by Mary Hershey seemed like a natural fit for Blue Fish, since, well. She does have a bit of a bossy big sister who often steals the limelight. (I love all my sisters and nieces, but as a youngest sibling, myself, I definitely understand the feeling!) This book is a combination of funny and sad as our protagonist struggles with her (lack of) friends, her tumultuous relationship with her sister, and the recent death of her grandfather. Being a tween is hard.

Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles is a book my third grade teacher bought as a gift for me, specifically, which I've always loved her for. Ruby is struggling with being alone in her small southern town after her grandmother takes an indefinite trip to Hawaii, but at least she has chickens to raise and a weird new girl to maybe befriend. Once again: complicated relationships with frenemies, one shockingly sad scene, and some grandfather-related trauma make up the background.

Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesley M.M. Blume is yet another story about a lonely, bookish girl (I'm starting to see a pattern in my preferred childhood literature) who has an awkward relationship with her very famous pianist mother. Cornelia makes friends with her eccentric, elderly neighbors and their dogs, and much of the book is her listening to the Somerset Sisters' wild life stories.

Like with Thing Four, I don't think I'll be getting Blue Fish any more books... I've been a tad selfish, only considering what I would have liked as a child, and not necessarily what they want; who they are as people. (We're learning and growing!) Blue Fish is a very active bambina who prefers sports and theater to reading, and that's okay!

Bonus! She's a sibling, not a nibling, but I bought Sibling2 some graphic novels for a challenge that she was trying to complete. (Note: I don't really enjoy reading graphic novels or western-style comics. I'm more of a manga gal. Sometimes I'll do it, but it's not my favorite medium in which to consume stories.)

I read Killing Stalking by Koogi back when it was still being updated regularly online... I paid to read it chapter by chapter, so Sibling2 should consider herself lucky to have the first 10 chapters in one pretty little book. It's dark and utterly messed up; gore and rape and all that jazz. (You know; exactly what you (I) want from a webcomic!) As the title suggests, it's about a Korean guy who obsessively stalks his crush, but unfortunately, that guy turns out to be a serial killer. What are the odds?! Kidnapping, maiming, and toxic gay "romance" ensues. It's a fun time!

I read the first few volumes of Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV on Hoopla, but I never finished it because I have the attention span of a gnat. But I enjoyed what I did read! Mass gory child death abounds in this series as we follow a mysterious monster hunter. She tries to solve this child-killing nonsense. Whether she succeeds, I never found out, and I probably never will. As I said before, I like when cartoons and comics are as gory as possible. Show me the guts! Show me a fetus or an eyeball! Thrill me, chill me, fulfill me! This series did not disappoint.

Easily the most reputable of the graphic novels I gave to Sibling2 was Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan. It has, y'know, a really creative and compelling sci-fi plot with themes of racism, slavery, and prejudice and the responsibilities of parenthood, yada yada. There's also a hot, topless woman with 8 spider legs, so that's pretty cool. I read the first few of this series when I lived with a roommate who was obsessed with them. Again: I'll probably never finish the series, but what I did read was some good stuff.

Aaand... That's a wrap! Those were all the books I bought for blood relatives in the last year. (I'm not including the stuff I bought for friends, because then I'd be here all day.) Again: in this upcoming year, I'm going to try to give more personal gifts based on what people actually want, not what I want to give, so I don't think I'll ever write another Book Aunt post. Goodnight and good luck, see you, space cowboy, or whatever sign-off you deem most appropriate.

* For clarity: Things 1-4 are the children of Sibling1. Red Fish & Blue Fish are the daughters of Sibling2. Don't get your Dr. Seuss references crossed.