This is the coolest pop-up book I have ever seen. These aren’t your dinky little pop-up pages, these are amazing worlds and islands and forests with such an amazing amount of detail. Have a boy who’s reluctant to read? Relive this classic Barrie tale through new eyes—I guarantee he won’t be able to tear his away from this beautiful book. And you’ll have a hell of a lot of fun playing with it too.

Poor duck is bored. There’s nothing worse than a bored duck. This is the story of how said duck gets excited by creating a Corn Maze. Sound stupid? Well, it kinda is but it’s also pretty cute. I read this to my 3 year old niece and she loved the pictures and the sound effects throughout. So it’s a good bet for the little ones you read to but are starting to pick up on things themselves.

Ever wonder what the bears thought of Goldilocks? Well, this book is supposed to tell you but it doesn’t really get into the details. What it is, is just a solid retelling of the Goldilocks story with a teensy bit of opinion from the bears and amazing illustrations. That’s what really makes this book special. I especially love Goldilocks with her crazy hair and big cheeks. If they don’t have/know the story—a good gift.

These are the cutest! These are Little Green Books which means they’re cloth books made from cotton and recycled fleece. They are machine washable and packaged in cardboard boxes made from 100% recycled material. How do you not love that? Plus, the stories themselves are adorable. The books tie in together as they’re both about monkey and panda. Adorable and a great gift for a baby or an expectant mother.

I’m sure someone on your list has asked for this book or one of the sequels. This is the original story of the lovely teen who falls in love with a vampire and they must learn how to make their love possible. Teenage girls are drooling over this crap (with the movie out in theatres currently) so how is the book itself? Mediocre. It doesn’t really get interesting until about half-way through once Bella finds out he is a vampire and not just a super-hottie with a temper. The writing is so-so but decent. Meyer has really created an obsession here, and it’s not so much with her talent but with the story and characters. Teenage girls love Edward and wish they would find a guy willing to do anything for them as well. Trust. I teach teenagers and I’ve been hearing all about it for months now. But hell, I’m all about getting the kiddies to read so get them all the books in the series and be happy when they’re sitting down with their nose buried in a book and not the Wii (which is what I’m getting for Chirstmas, woo!)

This is one of the most unique, disgusting, enthralling and gripping books I’ve ever read. How is it possible this is ----first novel? The entire first section made me want to stop reading but I couldn’t. It describes a horrific car accident and burning and then the treatment of a burn victim in extreme detail. The man in the accident was once a porn star which seems weird but creates a link between him and his physical body that is quite fascinating. It’s incredible. This is one sentence within the first 25 pages and it’s perfection, “The sibilant sermons of the snake as she discoursed upon the disposition on my sinner’s soul seemed ceaseless.“ Could you come up with a more brilliant example of alliteration? I think not. Don’t worry it’s not all written like that. This book needs to be nominated for some sort of an award or I will freak. Loved it. I am giving it 6 stars because it’s that good. I am buying this for several people for Christmas. Don’t tell them.

I love Carmindy on What Not to Wear. She’s sweet and likeable and really can turn some of those fugs around. But I found this book to be completely patronizing and self-indulgent. While she is a pretty face, why do we need to look at huge photos of her through the book baffles me. I prefer to see photos of real women transformed. Also, if she called me honey or girlfriend one more time I was going to put the book through my drywall. The back section has some of her favourite products which is now of course totally dominated by her Sally Hansen line. Yes, she’s talented but I found her annoying here. I can see some people enjoying this. Perhaps makeup novices or older women who really like her on the show but it wasn’t for makeup whores like me who know most of this stuff already. Bleh.

So I know she’s been compared to Rachael Ray because her meals are quick, but I just don’t think Sandi Richard compares. She has some good ideas and some of her meals come out tasty but for me, she relies too heavily on pre-packaged foods. It’s okay to do that once in a while but a lot of these things are quite high in sodium. For example, in her recipes she calls for salad dressings, pre-cooked bacon strips (ew), cream of mushroom soup, etc. What’s so fabulous about Rachael Ray is that the majority of her recipes, you’re making everything from scratch. It’s much yummier and healthier that way. That said, I can see how this cookbook would appeal to busy parents who also want to get their kids involved in the cooking. Richard has a lot of useful info in the start of the book and most of her recipes are family-friendly. So I’m giving it a good rating even though I’m all about the Rachael Ray. Sorry Sandi.

So don’t hate me but I didn’t love A Complicated Kindness. I found it slow and thought it was difficult to connect with the main character. The Flying Troutmans on the other hand, I loved. This book was sweet and funny and I loved the characters. The best one is Thebes, the most interesting eleven-year-old I’ve come across in a long. The story is simple: Hattie gets dumped by her Paris boyfriend and comes home to her sister Min, who suffers from mental illness and has two kids, Thebes and Logan. When Min is checked into a psych ward, Hattie takes the kids on a road trip to find their dad. What happens in the book isn’t so much plot-driven although it’s enough to keep you reading. It’s the descriptions of the characters that really hook you and you really want to know what’s going to happen to these kids. Highly recommend.

Most of us have a vague knowledge of the Romanov’s and the Russian Revolution. What’s usually mentioned is Anastasia, the daughter, and if she could still be alive. This wobbly historical fiction focuses instead on Tatiana, another daughter, and tells the history through her eyes. The author has taken may liberties with fact here but the basic info is accurate and I do love me a historical fiction since I feel like I’m learning. This one isn’t great and the beginning in particular is quite shaky. The writing is very disjointed and lacks flow. She jumps from one incident to another quickly without much exposition. It all improves about halfway through as Tatiana gets older and the family has to run. I won’t ruin the ending for you but I think the idea of her choosing this daughter is a little silly since historically she is killed with her family. Anywho, it’s a fun read but not a great one.