Share
Time’s a ticking! So, shop here for magical gifts for all the book lovers on your list. From kids to grandma and grandpa—you’ll find the perfect page-turners in our hand-picked gift guide.
FOR CHILDREN + YOUNG TEENS
Buckley the Highland Cow and Ralphy the Goat
With adorable photographs of Insta-famous Buckley (@buckleythehighlandcow) and beautiful illustrations, this real-life story of childhood resilience will inspire kids of all ages to overcome tough social situations and thrive. Buckley the Highland Cow and Ralphy the Goat: A True Story about Kindness, Friendship, and Being Yourself tells the charming story of Buckley, an orphaned cow, and his best friend Ralphy, along their journey to overcome barnyard bullying and loneliness, and reveals the power of resilience, diverse friendships, and loving who you are. Ages 3-7. $12.95. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
You Are Revolutionary
Author Cindy Wang Brandt’s inspiring picture book speaks to every child who sees injustice in the world, revealing they can make transformative change happen around them, that every kid is a revolutionary! Kids who are loud, kids who are quiet, kids who make art, kids who are good at math, kids with lots of energy, kids who are good listeners – all kids have what it takes to make a difference. Illustrator Lynnor Bontigao’s vibrant pictures feature a diverse group of children taking up a call to action using their individual gifts to change the world. And Brandt’s lyrical style of writing is a chant waiting to inspire children everywhere to create impactful empathy. Ages 4-7. $17.99. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Kobee Manatee Climate Change and The Great Blue Hole Hazard
The fourth in the award-winning Kobee Manatee® Children’s Educational Picture Book Series follows the beloved Kobee and friends to help cousin Quinn with her underwater bistro. However, they quickly encounter several obstacles along their journey, from a strained loggerhead turtle, a giant Portuguese Man-of-War, a venomous scorpion-fish and even a plunge into the abyss of the Great Blue Hole! A fun adventure filled with facts about climate change and climate solutions. Perfect for the young Jacques Costeau in your family. Ages 4-8. $17.99. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Board Books to Young Adult — Abrams Children’s Books for all Ages
Unleash some joy, and spread the love of reading, with one (or more) of these well-crafted books. From board books to YA, and fiction to nonfiction, you’ll be spoiled for choice, whatever age you’re gifting. For younger readers there’s board book bulldozer fun from our favorite, pop-up wizard Matthew Reinhart (What’s Up, Construction Truck? folds into a 3-D truck! $16.99) or Bananas for You! ($7.99, Hello!Lucky). Ages 4-8 will love Forty Winks ($17.99), a rollicking bedtime read-aloud about a family of mice, from bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio and deservedly award-winning illustrator Lita Judge. No doubt, Clayton Parker Really Really REALLY Has to Pee ($17.99, ages 4-8) will raise many smiles from bigs and littles alike. For the YA readers on your list, don’t miss Haven’s Secret — The Powers Book 1. Two sisters come to terms with their extraordinary powers in a new middle grade fantasy from Supergirl’s Melissa Benoist and her sister, the writer Jessica Benoist, with the New York Times bestselling author, Mariko Tamaki ($18.99). Ages 8-12 will also be drawn to the dystopian Hunting by Stars — A Marrow Thieves Novel ($18.99), a thrilling new story about hope and survival with a gotta-read cover line of “Risk everything for a life worth living.”
FOR ALL THE COOKS
The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids
Know any young Potterheads? Help them make magic in the kitchen with easy, friendly recipes designed for kid chefs and inspired by the Harry Potter series. The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook for Kids: 50 Magically Simple, Spellbinding Recipes for Young Witches and Wizards is a hardcover cookbook packed with 50 delicious recipes, easy step-by-step instructions, and spellbinding full-color photographs.From breakfast all the way to dessert, this book makes any meal or snack extra special, with recipes like Cauldron Cakes, Acid Lollipops, Sticky Toffee Pudding and more. Ages 10 and up. $17.95. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
The Official John Wayne 5-Ingredient Homestyle Cookbook
Do you have a John Wayne fan on your list? Who knew The Duke liked to cook? This warm, welcoming cookbook presents many of the Duke’s favorite family recipes, all created with five ingredients or less. We think this makes the perfect gift for that guy who likes to keep it simple. $22.99. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Plant Food is Medicine
This cookbook-and-more goes into detail on the health benefits of being vegan, then helps you get started by providing recipes. Plant Food is Medicine is filled with delicious recipes from smoothies to wraps to noodles and even sweet treats. If there’s even a little interest in learning about a vegan lifestyle, this book is the perfect way to dip a toe in the water. Author, and founder of Choice Superfood Bar and Juicery, Nastasha McKeon, has always had a passion for making plant-based foods that are not only delicious, but are also incredibly nutritious. With a strong emphasis on superfoods, the book contains over 100 plant-based, gluten-free recipes that are sure to tantalize their taste buds. $40
New Comfort Cooking (January 4, 2022)
Do the fitness-oriented folks on your gift list need new Keto recipes? Then you’re going to want to make haste and pre-order this gem to help them kick off the new year right. By Austinite, Masterchef Michael Silverstein, the book specializes in recipes of our guilty pleasures made into new low carb favorites. No longer worry about unfulfilling, flavorless ingredients because these recipes are designed to help us feel and look our best. $21. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
FOR THOSE LOOKING TO IMPROVE
Dogtography: A Knock-Your-Socks-Off Guide to Capturing the Best Dog Photos on Earth
With a first chapter called “Speak Dog,” you can immediately understand why the book’s author Kaylee Greer is one of the world’s most in-demand dog photographers. Whether you’re a professional looking to up your dog photography game, or an amateur striving to take better pictures of your four-legged best friend, Dogtography is your guide to crafting jaw-dropping photographs that are exploding with personality. Plus, it’s packed with tips and tricks, tried and true methods, and the author’s best-kept secrets. From $35.99. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
The Travel Photography Book
In Scott Kelby’s book, your favorite shutterbug will learn how to take professional-quality photographs when you travel, using the same tricks today’s top photographers use. This isn’t a book of theory—full of confusing jargon and detailed concepts. This is a book on which button to push, which setting to use, and when to use it. With 200 of the most closely guarded “tricks of the trade” for travel photographers, this book will have them shooting dramatically better-looking, sharper, more colorful, more professional-looking travel photos every time. $23.99. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Own Your Greatness
Have you ever felt like your successes are attributed to luck or the help of others? Ever had feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence despite your education, experience, and accomplishments? Sometimes imposter syndrome can get the best of us and hold us back from reaching our fullest potential. Own Your Greatness gives us tools like interactive exercises and activities to help recognize and overcome this imposter syndrome. With this book, the reader will acknowledge the skills they bring to the table, realize their worth and understand that they truly deserve to live a happier and more successful life. $15.95. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
The Self-Love Workbook
Accepting yourself for who you truly are is the key to happiness. With practice and exercises, this step-by-step Self-Love Workbook helps guide the reader to that path of finding peace, acceptance and learning to love ourselves. The book makes it easy to track progress as we transform who we are, and the way we see the world. $15.95. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
BOOKS FOR ARMCHAIR ADVENTURERS + TRAVELERS
History Along the Way
Texans love stories, and the 15,000 roadside markers along the state’s highways and byways testify to the abundance of tales to tell. History along the Way by Dan K. Utley and Cynthia J. Beeman recounts the narratives behind and beyond more than one hundred Texas roadside markers. Every part of Texas gets a visit in this anthology of select sites, making it easy for travelers—both the armchair and touring varieties—to enjoy and learn about the fascinating nooks and crannies of history captured in all their variety by the roadside markers of Texas. $25. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
The Hunt for Mount Everest
This year marks the 100th anniversary of discovering Mt. Everest, and author Craig Storti—who lived in Nepal and trekked the Himalayas—expertly guides readers to the pivotal moment when the last remaining major prize in the history of exploration was finally claimed. Telling the story of the 71-year quest to find the world’s highest mountain, climaxing in 1921 when two English climbers became the first people ever to set foot on the mountain, it is a story of high drama, two disastrous wars, great political and military bungling, and larger-than-life characters—all playing out against a backdrop of the most spectacular geography on earth. $24.95 hardcover/$13.99 Kindle. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Trip Tales: From Family Camping to Life as a Ranger
This hilarious new book details how early childhood and family camping adventures inspired the author, Rosanne S. McHenry, to become a park ranger. It will have the outdoorsy types on your nice list laughing and crying at the antics of the characters as they engage in comical adventures in some of the most beautiful parks the West has to offer. From $7.99. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
The Impossible Road Trip
Filled with color photography, entertaining site descriptions and histories, and five unique infographic map illustrations, The Impossible Road Trip: An Unforgettable Journey to Past and Present Roadside Attractions in All 50 States by Eric Dregni is your ultimate look back at America’s most famous—and quirkiest— roadside attractions, past and present. $35. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Outlandish: Walking Europe’s Unlikely Landscapes
Arctic tundra in Scotland, primeval forest in Poland, Spanish deserts, and the fathomless grasslands of Hungary—acclaimed travel writer Nick Hunt traverses enigmatic landscapes with a twist of travel, nature, and history. These environments highlights abundant wildlife and a tapestry of history—with reindeer nomads, desert wanderers and Paleolithic cave art. Outlandish brings readers to the fantastic worlds of Europe—perfect for armchair travelers. $19.49
BOOKS FOR THOSE THAT LOVE A GREAT STORY
Gone to Dallas: The Storekeeper 1856-1861
Climb aboard an 1856 Dallas-bound wagon train and join a plucky female protagonist for the journey of a lifetime in Laurie Moore-Moore’s richly entertaining new book. Far from your average historical novel or western, Gone to Dallas is a tale of migration, betrayal, death and dreams—peppered with real people, places, and events. With a cast of interesting characters and more bumps and hazards than a wagon trail, and not just a book for Texans, it tells the unforgettable story of a formidable frontier woman in the context of true Texas history. Paperback $17.95. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Hezada! I Miss You
The last Midwestern traveling circus is due to arrive in a village it has visited for a century of summers. Like the village, the circus is on its last legs. It’s down to one elephant and a handful of acrobats. The circus boss’s sweetheart is dying. The former starring act is recovering from cancer. The assistant, Frank, plans to retire after this show. Meanwhile, twins Heza and Abe wander the hot fields and roads, waiting for the circus or anything better. This novel by Erin Pringle explores tradition, love and suicide—set under the fading tents of small-town America and the circus. $20. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
The Land of Short Sentences
A young woman relocates to an outlying community in West Jutland, Denmark, and is forced to find her way with the locals. She’s juggling her roles as mother to a newborn baby and advice columnist in the local newspaper. In this understated and hilarious novel, Stine Pilgaard conjures a tale of venturing into new and uncharted land, of human relationships, dilemmas, and the ways and byways of social interaction. Preorder for March 2022 release. $16.99. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
FOR ROMANCE + RELATIONSHIP LOVERS
How The Body Works The Dark: New and Revised Poems
How the Body Works the Dark: New and Revised Poems shows poet Derrick C. Brown digging back into the work with fresh insights and new revelations that only come from stepping back from the scene and engaging as an outside observer. These new poems and edits strengthen the haunting, funny and erotic collection of love poems, fitting within the book as if they’ve lived there all along. $16. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Love, If That’s What It Is
Terri runs off with a lover, abandoning her children and her marriage of 20 years. Her husband is left to take care of their two daughters, who are each falling in love for the first time. These four people start to question their identity outside the nuclear family. Author Marijke Schermer gives a kaleidoscopic view of a divorce, entering the heads of not only the spouses, but also of the two daughters and their new lovers. $12.99. Buy This Book on Amazon (#CommissionsEarned)
Cover photo courtesy Any Lane from Pexels
This article contains affiliate links (#CommissionsEarned)
One of the pleasures of publishing a lifestyle magazine like Texas Lifestyle Magazine is that we receive invitations to attend events, travel and review products. We accept and write about a small fraction of these offers, always with a view to what would be interesting or helpful to our readers. You may notice that our reviews are generally positive, which is because we don’t enjoy writing negative ones, and therefore choose only to write about the things we can recommend without reservation. Some we recommend, we receive an affiliate commission for at no additional cost to you. We’ve never received monetary compensation in exchange for a positive review.