As the holidays draw closer, you might be looking for an idea of what to give the readers in your life. Well, you've come to the right place: our annual “books to gift” list.
Two of Boswell Book Company's book buyers stopped by the Lake Effect studio to share some of the titles that stood out this past year. Jen Steel specializes in children's books, while Jason Kennedy has book recommendations for adults.
"For 2025, I feel like escapism has really solidified in readers’ minds," he says. "Romantasy has been really big, you have some other speculative series — anything that can take people away from their day-to-day, they’re flocking to those. I've also noticed in some of my reading and some of [my book recommendations] that there's a lot of looking at where our world is going and should we go? A lot of those kinds of questions."
"I would say dragons [are big] this year," adds Steele. "Every month this year it felt like there was a new dragon book. I read a few and they were a lot of fun — completely different from each [other]. I would also say I'm noticing certain middle grade books being turned into picture books."
Jason Kennedy's Picks
Dungeon Crawler Carl Series by Matt Dinniman
"It's a story where your main character, Carl, ends up living through basically the end of the world," Kennedy says. "There's a space conglomerate that's evicting all the humans from this world ... and he gets a chance — along with hundreds of thousands of other humans — to go through a dungeon to see if they can survive."
"This book takes place a little bit into the future from where we are, where they have developed the technology to take two minds and merge them into one body," Kennedy says. "[The main character] was against this the entire time, but decides that when she gets the news about her [mother's Alzheimer's] that she wants to merge with her."
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
"This is a kind of a 1970s dystopia," Kennedy says. "It's looking at a world where World War II never ended — it basically just kind of fizzled. So you don't have this reconciliation with science, and we don't get the morals and ethics worked out. So, science is still kind of, you've got the mad scientist who will still do these experiments because nobody's really keeping track of them."
Alphabet in Motion by Kellie Anderson
"I would say this is my kid's book for adults, and it's very delicate. The author, Kelly Anderson, she worked on this for years and years, and she did so much paperwork and everything like that. It's a history of the alphabet, and she kind of puts the alphabet in motion so as you go through ... you learn a lot about where letters came from, ancient times to all the way to now."
Jen Steale's Picks
"This has a modern classic feel," Steale says. "I love just taking the jacket off, I love the illustrations, it almost gives like a Studio Ghibli kind of vibe. [Murray's] world building is fantastic. This is the best dragon book I've read this year."
The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri
"This one is the winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. I really enjoyed reading about a part of World War II that you don't often read about. It's set in Iran in 1941, which was a neutral country, sandwiched between British and Soviet occupations. This story follows a brother and sister who are recently orphaned as they set off to join a nomadic tribe ... and during their journey, they find a Jewish boy who's hiding from Nazis — so there's danger up ahead."
Zip Zack Wippety Wack: A Sharing Story by Matthew Diffee
"Zip Zap Wickety Whack is an engaging story about sharing," Steale says. "It starts with a goat and a sheep, and they both say 'baa.' And one says, 'well, that's what I say; you can't say it' ... and so, they go back and forth and they learn about sharing. It's really fun. It's the best picture book to read aloud, and if you have multiple children you're reading to, they can all pick a part."
A Snow Day for Amos McGee by Phillip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead
"It's a winter picture book with our favorite zookeeper, Amos McGee," Steale says. "It's A tender-hearted look into the anticipation of waiting for that first snowfall ... and finally, the day comes where Amos and the animals get to enjoy it, so he gets to make a snow angel with the turtle, stand around with the penguin and enjoy the feel of the snow, make a snow owl with the owl. It's just, it's so sweet."
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