Picking out books for someone else can be a tricky task, but what better gift can you give than a journey to another world? New knowledge? A feast that satisfies the craving for words and art?

The books below are my recommendations for can’t-fail gifts this holiday season. They weren’t all published this year, but either I or my kids (sometimes all of us together) read them in 2019. I can’t wait for the bookish folx in your life to find them in 2020.

Middle Grade

The Fire Keeper by J.C. Cervantes (Disney Hyperion)

The second book of Cervantes’s Storm Runner series is, if anything, more exciting and compelling than the first volume. As Zane Obispo rushes to save his father from other members of the Maya pantheon who intend to use Huracan as a sacrifice to save their own lives, he’s forced to make a deal that may mean his own death, trust a deadly enemy, and stand up to forces thought long gone from the cosmos. The kids never let me get away with reading less than three chapters a night, usually campaigned for five or six, and sat rapt for almost two hours on a Saturday morning so they could find out how it all ended. 

The Trials Of Apollo: The Tyrant’s Tomb by Rick Riordan (Disney Hyperion)

Poor Lester just can’t catch a break, jumping from disaster to disaster in a quest to regain his godly status. In this fourth entry of the series (one more to come next year), though surrounded by friends and allies at Camp Jupiter, Lester/Apollo finds himself at the Mercy of the Triumverant who threaten not only him but also the camp and the city of New Rome – and all the people who live within. Lester and Meg have defeated impossible odds before, but the emperors have murdered Jason Grace, and if they can destroy a hero, then a mere human, even one who used to be divine, isn’t going to much of a challenge. Unless… 

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia (Disney Hyperion)

This is a very special book. Not only does it delve into African mythology and African American history and culture, but reading it is closer to listening to an expert storyteller than it is reading a novel. The cadence of the story, its rise and fall, is likely different than anything you or your kids have read before, and it is, in a word, amazing. Like all of the Rick Riordan Presents books, Tristan Strong is a journey into a world many of us know little about, and you’ll come away enriched by new characters, stories, and possibilities. It doesn’t hurt that Tristan is such a real kid, someone forced into a hero role he isn’t sure he wants, terrified but driven by the need to help those who can’t help themselves, snarky, brave, and surrounded by a team who fill his gaps and shores him up while he does the same for them. 

Graphic Novel/Manga

Black Canary: Ignite by Meg Cabot and Cara McGee (DC Zoom)

Dinah wants to fit in. She wants to be a police officer like her dad, not a vigilante like so many other heroes. But her powerful voice, which can destroy windows and high school bleachers alike, sets her apart and keeps her in trouble, making the most simple of activities a potential horror show. It’s only when she learns a secret about her mother’s history – a legacy she didn’t know was being kept safe for her – that Dinah learns she’s exactly where she’s supposed to be. 

Glitch by Sarah Graley (Graphix/Scholastic)

This graphic novel is always somewhere around the house that isn’t the bookshelf: on the couch, at the table, in one or the other kiddos’ rooms. They absolutely adore the story of Izzy, her ability to enter the world of her new video game, and her quest to save Dungeon City from the Big Boss.

But how’s a girl supposed to stay on track when she has a “real” life to keep track of, a best friend upset by Izzy blowing him off constantly, and the fact that losing lives in the game may have repercussions beyond its boundaries?

Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales by Nathan Hale (Amulet books)

Who says you can’t learn from comics! In this series, author and artist Nathan Hale brings history to the pages of his graphic novels, marking some of the most important, and most interesting, events with in-depth looks on a middle grade level. My 9-year-old is forever quoting facts he learns from his favorites and 7 has started looking for the ones we don’t own at the library. And let me tell you, it is super important for them to share their new knowledge with us. Constantly. All the time. Forever.

Young Adult

Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)

Lucky is a K-Pop star and every moment of her life is choreographed, even the ones only she and her manager see. For a long time, that was okay with Lucky; it kept life normal-ish in the storm of fame that grew around her, but now it’s sucking the life out of her as well as her joy of singing and performing. One night, Lucky decides to break all the rules and sneak out of her hotel to find a cheeseburger. Instead, she finds Jack, a cute boy who offers to show her around but fails to mention he’s a tabloid reporter looking to make his career with a story about Lucky. Chaos and romance ensue. 

With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo (Harper Teen)

Emoni doesn’t have time for romance. A senior in high school with a baby of her own, she spends the time she isn’t in school or with her daughter making money to help support her family, which consists of herself, her daughter, and her grandmother. All of that means she doesn’t have time for her real passion: cooking. When her school offers a culinary class with a trip to Spain as the capstone, however, Emoni can’t resist the opportunity, even though it doesn’t fit with her planned path of college, job, adult. Once she’s so deeply involved in what she loves, though, it’s difficult to let go. And once she meets a new boy who’s respectful of her life and boundaries, she starts to wonder if maybe she wasn’t wrong about some other things as well. 

These Witches Don’t Burn Isabel Sterling (Razorbill)

Hannah is a witch. So are her mother and father. Her grandmother. Veronica, her ex-girlfriend. A fair number of people, actually, more than you might expect. It’s no big deal. 

Until she and her friends find the remnants of a blood ritual during a high school bonfire and signs of dark magic start appearing around Salem, including attacks on Veronica and others. Until the people around Hannah find themselves in danger, bad things happening to good people who happen to have magical abilities and the coven powerless to stop it. 

YA Graphic Novel/Manga

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (First Second)

Prince Sebastian is about to be married off. Frances, a talented seamstress and designer is stuck working for someone else in a job she hates. When they meet, Frances discovers a secret Sebastian has been keeping from the world: he wears dresses and attends fashion events all over Paris as Lady Crystallia. Frances has the ability to make her friend even more fabulous and have her designs seen by the most fashionable folks in France, but it means keeping Sebastian’s secret and also having to watch him play a role he hates for his parents. In turn, Frances is attached to Sebastian and eventually stifled by his silence and his needs. Will they be able to reconcile? You’ll have to see for yourself.

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen A.F. Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw (First Second)

Mads is pretty happy with her life . . . until the moment she isn’t. Until she realizes her father has been keeping a secret from her for years, one that affected her relationship with her grandparents. Until she realizes the reason she doesn’t want Adam from next door to kiss her is because she wants to kiss her best friend Cat. In her conservative, small town where everyone goes to church on Sunday and no one wants to be different, Mads discovers she no longer fits and isn’t sure she wants to. But pulling away comes with its own set of complications she isn’t sure she’s ready to face. 

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (First Second)

Frederica loves Laura. Laura says she loves Freddy too but keeps breaking up with her. Freddy isn’t sure what that means since, in the end, Laura always comes back, at least for a little while. Freddy’s best friend Doodle keeps warning Freddy that one day, Laura is going to break her heart for good but Freddy can’t believe that and starts to pull away from her friends, especially Doodle, when Doodle needs Freddy the most. 

Is Laura worth it? A mysterious medium says “no.” Advice columnist “Anna Vice” says no. But giving up that first love? It’s hard, and Freddy is so sure everything will work out. Right up until it doesn’t. 

Adult Fiction

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Anchor)

Korede’s sister, Ayoola, is many things. Among them is a sociopathic serial killer. When Ayoola calls Korede to help her cover up the murder of a third boyfriend, Korede does what she’s always done: cleans up the blood, helps dispose of the body, and makes sure her sister’s social media is up to date, making everything appear normal. 

When the man Korede has been in love with for years asks for Ayoola’s number and Korede tries to warn him off, he calls her jealous and ignores her hints and pleas. Ayoola isn’t going to change, but will Korede do so to save the kind doctor she works with and has dreamed about? 

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Tor)

Lesbian necromancers in space. That’s it. That’s the blurb. 

Nah, I’ll give you a little more but if that doesn’t pique your interest I’m very sad for you. 

Gideon has been raised by the Ninth House. They were neither happy about it nor particularly kind, but they saw to her basic needs and taught her how to use a sword. Harrowhawk, a legitimate heir to the Ninth, has  been cruel and a serious brat, but Gideon can give as good as she gets and she’s a survivor, especially when escape is on the horizon. 

Alas, Gideon’s efforts are foiled again and she’s stuck until Harrow comes to her with an intriguing position: the Emperor has called the heirs of all the houses to Canan House in order to see which of them is worthy of being elevated to the position of Lictor – immortal necromancers second only to the emperor himself. If Harrow is going, however, she, like the other heirs, needs a Paladin to accompany her and offers the job to Gideon in exchange for freedom at its conclusion. Wary of Harrow’s sincerity but seeing no better way to escape the Ninth, Gideon agrees. Which is when the adventure really begins. 

Muir has crafted a rare jewel in Gideon the Ninth: science fantasy that flows seamlessly and still manages to create living, breathing characters with individual personalities, desires, and failures. This is one of the best books I read this year and I’ve recommended it to pretty much everyone, and now I’m recommending it to you. The second book in the series comes out next spring and I literally cannot wait.  

The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller (Ecco)

I adored Miller’s second book, Circe, but I have always had a special place in my heart for Achilles and Patroclus, and The Song of Achilles hit on all the elements of the myth I love most. Modern scholarship has framed the relationship of the two men as close friends, perhaps lovers at times, but I’ve always wondered: Would Achilles go so mad with grief at the death of a friend or even a lover as he did when Hector killed Patroclus? I don’t think so. I think that madness came from true adoration, deep love, grief, and guilt, which is the Achilles who lives in these pages. It was also satisfying to see both men portrayed with emotional range: Patroclus angry, Achilles kind, etc. As Miller said in a talk I went to recently, the epics hint at the people behind the legends but never fleshes them all the way out, and this story, even if you do know the ending, is all the more compelling for those insights. 

Adult Graphic Novel/Manga

The Way of the House Husband by Kousuke Oono (VIZ Media)

The Yakuza’s most dangerous killer walks away from his status and the pools of blood to become a house husband. He takes cooking classes, goes to the market, buys his wife little gifts from her favorite manga, and does his best to stay out of trouble. If he managed, it wouldn’t be much of a story, though, so of course he encounters old enemies still gunning for him and, worse yet, old friends who cannot comprehend why someone would relinquish badass status to make bento boxes, program Roombas, and fold laundry. 

I could not stop giggling while reading this manga. It’s . . . just so damn perfect. 

I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up by Naoko Kodama (Seven Seas)

Morimoto is happy with her life. She has a career she enjoys, freedom from obligation beyond her own desires, and doesn’t have to worry about anyone else. Her parents, however, are less sanguine and have decided it’s time Morimoto found a husband. 

Cue a run in with an old friend from university down on her lucky and between jobs. She offers to move in with Morimoto and marry her in a civil ceremony to stop Morimoto’s parents from interfering further, thus solving both problems. As the two women settle into a shared life, however, Morimoto begins to realize that perhaps the marriage isn’t as much of a sham as she intended. 

Heathen Vol 1 by Natasha Alterici and Rachel Deering (Vault)

Aydis is a Viking warrior and an outcast, and she is on a quest with her talking horse Saga to rescue the Valkyrie Brynhild from imprisonment, fighting any monster or demon who attempts to bar her way. And, Aydis has decided, once she has recruited Brynhild to her cause, she’ll fight her way through an age of warfare, suffering, and misogyny to take down the god-king Odin.

Adult Nonfiction

Double Bind: Women on Ambition edited by Robin Romm (Liveright)

Despite it being the 21st century, the traits that make men ambitious are the same ones that induce talking heads to call women “shrews,” “nasty,” and “abrasive.” How, then, are we supposed to make any progress in society? How are we to find true equality? Men aren’t expected to balance ambition and family, so why does society continue to demand that women do?

The essays in Double Bind examine the titular paradox from a variety of viewpoints and starting points, each author reaching her own conclusion while, collectively, peeling away the layers that make ambition a dirty word when applied to women. 

The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas (NYU Press)

Do you see yourself in fiction? In fantasy, particularly? If so, you’re lucky. People, especially women of color find their analogues in genre fiction cast either as the sidekick, the sacrifice, or the villain. And only recently, though still rarely, as the hero. 

Thomas explores this subject in The Dark Fantastic, and reading her book has completely changed the way I read genre fiction. I notice omissions, shorthand, and the use of tropes in a way I never have before. I’ve started looking for a wide range of authors, both in terms of finding genre fiction by authors of color and those who write from a cultural viewpoint different from my own. I’m a better reader for having read The Dark Fantastic and I think you will be to. 

Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

When J. Paul Getty died, he left a massive endowment to a foundation that would turn a disused property in Malibu into the home of one of the premiere classical art collections in the country. In the 1950s, when the Getty Museum was founded, this was extremely important to the state of California, which was considered by the rest of the nation – and the denizens of the great East Coast museums like the Met and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts – to be a cultural wasteland.

Where did the collection come from, though? Some of it was from Getty’s personal collection, about which he was very conscientious: any whiff of theft or smuggling and he would reject the piece. The museum founded in his name, however, was far less so and the acquisition of many of their most famous pieces depended on false provenances, shady warehouse deals, and more than a little outright falsehood. 

Chasing Aphrodite not only takes a look at the Getty’s practices but also places them within the larger context of artifact acquisition, policy, and the evolution of both between the 1950s and the early 2000s. 

Yes, it’s nonfiction, but it reads like The Thomas Crown Affair and provides whole meals for thought on the persistence of colonial ideals into the 21st century, who has the right to what history, and that maybe Killmonger had the right idea at the beginning of Black Panther.

Enjoy your browsing. And make sure you get something for yourself; after all, you’ve put in the work, you deserve a reward.

Happy Holidays!