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Sparkle (5)
Books are my favorite thing to give as gifts and when my nieces and nephews were young it never failed that they would get a book under the tree from Aunt Karen. I tried very hard to match books with their interests but I learned an important lesson in gift giving through the years -- books will be better received by even reluctant readers if you pair it with something else. Here's a gift guide with 10 books that teens will enjoy and a little something extra to wrap up with them.
The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas
When Rose's mother dies of cancer she leaves Rose a brown paper bag that is labelled "Rose's Survival Kit." Inside the bag there is an iPod, a picture of peonies, a crystal heart, a paper star and a paper kite. It looks at grief and loss but also love. Can love come out of loss?
Pair with: Assuming your teen already has a something to play music on, a customized iTunes playlist of songs that mean something to the both of you. If they don't have an iPod, the iPod shuffle is a reasonable $49.
Hannah Ward is a nineteen-year-old dancer in the Manhattan Ballet Company. Her life is devoted to ballet as she balances rehearsals, performances and backstage relationships. No ballet company is complete without some backstage drama. Then Hannah meets a musician named Jacob and she starts to question her devotion to dance. What would it be like to live a normal life?
Pair with: Tickets to a dance performance in your area. Depending on your area this could be a bit of a splurge item or not. I've personally spent up to $90 for tickets and a little a $10 for a spectacular modern dancer performance. If your local area doesn't have many dance performances look for DVDs about dancing, such as Center Stage.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Thirteen-year-old Conor awakes at seven minutes to midnight to find a monster outside his window. That would be unusual to many people but Conor is only confused because it's not the monster he's been expecting. It's not the monster from his nightmares, which have been occurring ever since his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. This monster is more wild, more feral. What does it want from Conor? A Monster Calls is a special book, not just because of its content but because of its origins. The idea originated with Siobhan Dowd, who thought of it following her breast cancer diagnosis. After her death Patrick Ness completed the book.
Pair with: A monster t-shirt from Threadless.com. I rather like their Perfect Timing t-shirt.
The First Day on Earth by Cecil Castellucci
Mal lives on the fringes of his high school social scene. He is not the happiest of boys, he feels like he doesn't fit in anywhere. But he loves the idea of the world and the idea that there may be more life out there. Then he meets Hooper, who claims to not be from Earth... and who may be going home very soon. But it's more than about aliens and whether or not there may be life on other planets. It's a book that will especially speak to teens who have an absent parent.
Pair with: For fun -- a map of the universe. For kids who will identify with the absent parent parts of the book? A coupon book full of things the two of you will do together over the next year to be cashed on their schedule.
I am breaking one of my rules here. I try not to suggest books that are not the first book in a series but my resistance crumbles with it comes to the Clockwork Century series. The series retells the American Civil War with a steampunk twist. And zombies. In this fourth novel features air pirate Andan Cly and his decision to be less... piratey. Can he manage to get past the Southern Forces and obtain the Ganymede, a prototype submersible?
Pair with: The other books
