Episode 60: Shop Talk: Holiday Picks

In this episode of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, our buyers and booksellers give you recommendations for getting your holiday shopping done early! Nicole, Caroline, Asia, and Susie offer a slew of great ideas for gifts for everyone on your list. Listen to their suggestions (you can see them listed here), then come in store on Festivus Friday ready to shop!

Nicole Ban is a lifelong New Jersey resident who began her bookstore career at B. Dalton. After a longstanding tenure at Montclair Book Center, Nicole made the leap to Watchung Booksellers and quickly established herself as the store's resident problem solver and tech troubleshooter, as well as cookbook and mystery buyer. Nicole is also a graduate of the French Culinary Institute.

Asia Jannah was born and raised in Montclair, and has worked at Watchung Booksellers for a total of 9 years. She is currently the gift buyer for the flagship location. Her favorite genres include dark fiction, short stories, essays and memoirs. When she’s not at the bookstore arranging displays or inquiring about customer’s current reads, she enjoys knitting, crafting, and of course, reading.

Caroline Shurtleff is the school event coordinator and a bookseller in The Kids’ Room at Watchung Booksellers. She graduated from Baylor University with a degree in English Literature. Caroline is a poetry editor at MAYDAY online magazine. Additionally, she writes and researches the show notes for the Watchung Bookseller Podcast. Caroline grew up in the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex in Texas, and now lives in New Jersey. 

Susie Sonneborn is a native Chicagoan, educator, bookseller, and Book Fairs Director with a passion for literacy and the arts. She holds a master's degree in education and social policy and has almost 20 years experience as a teacher and curriculum development specialist, integrating the arts into the core curriculum. When Susie is not coordinating school book fairs or helping customers find their "just right"  books, you can find her baking a tiny bit obsessively, enjoying nature with a big hat on, checking out cool art and performances or just hanging out with her husband and three remarkable and delightful sons.

Books:
A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.

Register for Upcoming Events.

The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.

The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.

Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica.

Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.

Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!

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Transcript

Episode 60 Shop Talk: Holiday Picks

[00:00:00] Marni: Hi everybody. Welcome to the Watchung Booksellers podcast, where we bring you conversations from our bookstores, vast community of book professionals who talk about what they do for the love of books. Thanks for joining us.

[00:00:15] Marni: I'm Marni, and I'm here with my co-producer, Catherine. Hey, Catherine. 

[00:00:18] Kathryn: Hey Marni. Hey everybody. 

[00:00:20] Marni: And this week's episode is dedicated to helping you get ahead of your holiday shopping with recommendations from our children's and adult book buyers 

[00:00:29] Kathryn: from the adult flagship store. We have Asia, our gift buyer, who also runs the Thought Daughter book club.

[00:00:35] Kathryn: And Nicole, who we've had on the show recently to talk about cookbooks, but who also buys books for the entire store. And she knows inventory like nobody else. 

[00:00:46] Marni: And from the kids' room, we have Susie, an educator turned bookseller and director of book fairs.

[00:00:52] Marni: And Caroline, who manages the school author events and runs the Young Readers Book Club and you'll see just how much love they have for every book in the kids' room. 

[00:01:01] Kathryn: And while Marni and I usually give a book recommendation, at this point of our introduction today, we're gonna give you one or two from some of the booksellers who aren't guests on today's show.

[00:01:12] Kathryn: You'll be able to find this whole list and more on our website and in the store, so you will be armed with some ideas for your friends and family when you are browsing this Festus Friday. 

[00:01:24] Marni: What's Festivus Friday you ask? That's our own annual day after Thanksgiving sale where we offer 20% off of everything in the store.

[00:01:34] Marni: So get your pen and paper, or you can use our pre-made list and get ready to shop.

[00:01:46] Kathryn: Okay, I'll start with my favorite read of 2025. It was Hartwood by Amity Gage. Uh, it is a mystery and a literary gem about being lost, about being a mother, and about finding community. And, um, she is just one of my favorite authors, and it's another beautifully written story from her. 

[00:02:07] Marni: How about you Marni?

[00:02:08] Marni: Uh, my pick for 2025 is a debut novel by Megan Cummins called Atomic Hearts. , It's a coming of age story that follows a young girl named Gerie as she navigates, um, her, uh, life with, uh, some friends and family addiction, , and her ways of survival. Also about Megan Cummins. She was a former student of, uh, friend of the store. Ann, one of our favorite authors, Alice Elliot Dark. 

[00:02:41] Kathryn: Next I'm gonna mention picks from Emma and Diane. Emma's pick of the year is Slayers of Old by Jim c Hines.

[00:02:50] Kathryn: It's a fantasy novel about booksellers in Salem, Massachusetts, who save the world. Yes. And Diane's Pick is , the Loneliness of Sonya and Sonny by Kieran Desai. Uh, it was a New York Times bestseller, has tons of raves. Uh, was on the Booker shortlist and it's a love story, , from one of the most popular writers of our time.

[00:03:17] Marni: And , Maddie's Pick was, uh, the Correspondent by Virginia Evans, which, uh, Nicole also loved that book. It's a 2025 debut novel about a retired woman who uses letter writing to make sense of her life.

[00:03:30] Marni: Um, I know we've sold a ton of copies of this in the store already. Yeah. And I, I have a few good friends that are obsessed with this book, so it's a. A definite must read, and then a zoo's pick is Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. It's the 2025 prequel, set 24 years before the Hunger Games.

[00:03:54] Kathryn: And then lastly, I'm gonna go with, uh, a pick from Sarah. Sarah tends to love the classics and older books. Um, so she didn't pick one from 2025, but she did pick a book that was adapted into, uh, television series this year. And that book was say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keef. Uh, she said it was perfect for those interested in history, political revolution, and true crime. And I will agree that, that uh, he is an amazing writer and that show was an amazing watch. So you could, uh, read it first and then watch it, and you will not be disappointed.

[00:04:33] Marni: Enjoy the conversation and we'll be back afterward to fill you in on what's coming up in the store. 

[00:04:39] caroline: Um, good morning, this is 

[00:04:40] nicole: Caroline.

[00:04:41] nicole: This is Asia. Good morning. Good morning. This is Nicole. And welcome to our holiday Spectacular Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. 

[00:04:52] caroline: Um, we're talking about what we would recommend as our holiday gift guide today. Um, do you guys, starting out, do you consider yourself a good gift giver? A hundred percent no. Why? 

[00:05:09] nicole: Wow. I wasn't expecting that.

[00:05:11] nicole: I don't, 

[00:05:11] caroline: I feel like even though that's your job title. 

[00:05:14] asia: Uh, well, I'm the gift buyer, not the gift giver, so it's two different things. Oh, okay. But I think I'm actually, I think I do give good gifts, just not at the right time. I feel like it's a lot of pressure around Christmas and birthdays to give a really good gift, which I think kind of psychs me out a little bit.

[00:05:29] asia: But I feel like I like to give gifts just really randomly. But I'm always like, I'm really forgetful, so I never remember what anybody likes, like that kind of thing. So excuses. 

[00:05:40] asia: Yeah. I don't think, well, I hope I don't get you for the grab bag this year though. Yeah. Sorry Nicole. I'm not gonna get anything.

[00:05:45] asia: Um, I love, I, I do like gift giving. I do. Um, I never know what to give my family like, but um, I always find things for other people. 

[00:05:57] caroline: I feel like sometimes it's the closest people to you that you're like, actually, I see you every day and I couldn't think of one single thing to give you. 

[00:06:04] asia: Yeah, it's too hard.

[00:06:05] asia: Yeah. 

[00:06:06] caroline: This 

[00:06:07] asia: is too hard. Well, I guess that's where we come in because I, I love those questions. Like it's always, um, I need a gift for my husband, and then it's like, well. I don't know, your, you know, like lead a little bit more info here. Exactly. I'm sure that's, how it works here as well at the kids' room.

[00:06:24] caroline: Yeah. I've been doing a lot of gifts for, um, the children in my book clubs, birthdays. Like the parents will come and be like, they won't, they won't read anything that I tell them to read, but they've liked everything in the book club. So can you just give me things that they would like? And so then I'm curating for the kids that I know that come every month, which has been fun.

[00:06:47] asia: So does the grandmother come in and say, I need, 

[00:06:50] caroline: it's usually a parent. 

[00:06:51] asia: It's usually a parent, 

[00:06:52] caroline: yeah. But it is a lot of grandparents at Christmas time. Yeah. Looking for the holidays. 

[00:06:58] asia: Yeah. I have to say I'm a little outta touch 'cause it's, you know, separate. It's been separate, so, so I have an 11 and 12-year-old.

[00:07:07] asia: Yep. What, what are you recommending? 

[00:07:10] caroline: Are they, what are they reading? Graphic novels? Are they reading? Middle reader? Are they like crossing into writing? They, they're, 

[00:07:17] asia: they're here another step. Okay. They are reluctant readers. 

[00:07:21] caroline: Okay. Um, 

[00:07:24] asia: but I want them to have a book. 

[00:07:26] caroline: Okay. Were they like babysitters, club kids?

[00:07:30] caroline: Realistic? Uh, Norris's definitely 

[00:07:31] asia: more of a graphic novel person. Mm-hmm. But then she likes, you know, the summer I turn pretty mm-hmm. She read all those. 

[00:07:38] caroline: Well, that, that is kind of like what 10 year olds are reading right now. Um, like for. It's like the IT series, like she's very much about that. It is the IT series.

[00:07:49] caroline: Honestly, I used to recommend it to eight year olds, but then I realized that that's probably not appropriate. But I've been recommending people to Princess Diaries again because Oh, that's fun. Um, Meg Cabot series is like really witty and diaristic and um, it has that same like. Tone that's lighthearted.

[00:08:15] caroline: Um, for readers that love summer, I turn pretty, like that's a whole nother series to explore and there's lots of romance, but it's all kind of like, I think it's, it's like cheeky and plot heavy in the way that Ginny hah is too. Okay. So there's that. There's that. Okay. Or like a lot of kids that like, um.

[00:08:43] caroline: The Babysitters Club. There's like a, a cheerleading series called, I think the first one's, the Tryout and the Squad, which is a graphic novel, which has been really, really popular for some reason. And we have been only carrying the second book in stock and everyone's just buying the second book. And I don't know if they know that it's the second book, but we won't tell them.

[00:09:06] nicole: Is there New Raina? 

[00:09:07] asia: Or no. 

[00:09:08] caroline: So she came out with the Cartoonist club, which is like a co-author. And then there's like a cool like Rena Tmy gift book that is more of like a hardcover, um, I think it's called Big Feelings Inside the World of Rena Tmy. They're laughing 'cause I just looked at the shelf.

[00:09:28] caroline: Um, and that's more of like, like something a little bit heftier you could put under the tree. Or something good for Veronica. 

[00:09:39] asia: What's your go-to? What's your go-to picture book? 

[00:09:42] caroline: My favorite picture book right now is, um, don't Eat Eustis by Lean Cho. It's about a bear who lives in a lighthouse who catches a fish, and the fish goes through all these different antics, trying not to get eaten.

[00:09:56] caroline: Um, it's hilarious. 

[00:09:57] asia: You would love it. Yeah, it's really funny. 

[00:10:00] caroline: Yeah. It's awesome. All of her books are like, they're not trying to teach you anything. They're first and foremost trying to be funny, which is kind of what you want in a picture book.

[00:10:10] asia: Definitely. I, I do recall reading many a picture book. More than once in an evening. And, uh, there were some, I was like, please know, 

[00:10:22] caroline: the repetition, please 

[00:10:24] asia: know, gets tiring if you're not enjoying it. Like, I would always try and stand like, what do we, why do I do this one instead? Because like, you're like, this again guys.

[00:10:33] asia: This again, what are 

[00:10:34] caroline: some books on your gift guide that you would reread over and over? 

[00:10:40] asia: The uh, my gift guide. 

[00:10:41] caroline: Mm-hmm. What are the things you're recommending that are re readable? 

[00:10:45] asia: I, um, absolutely love the Correspondent by Virginia Evans. I think fiction wise, that is something you could give to anyone, honestly.

[00:10:58] asia: Um, your aunt, your grandmother, your mother-in-law, um, it's, it's a, a, a novel told in essays and it's just. How, you know, learning about this woman and her connections to other people via the letters. Um, and she has this odd relationship with Joan Didion, um, which I don't know where the author came up with that, but it's just like a delightful read.

[00:11:24] asia: And, um, the character just, she, you know, she feels so real that, uh, I mean she was real, but, um, that I loved, absolutely loved. I 

[00:11:36] caroline: think any essays has to have a weird relationship with Joan Didion. Oh, really? Is it? Yeah, because she's like a titan of the form. 

[00:11:44] asia: Totally agree. Never read Joan Didion, so, oh no.

[00:11:47] asia: How about you? What about you? Do you, well, everyone has a go-to. What's your go-to you think? 

[00:11:52] asia: Um, I don't know. This year I've been reading a lot. A lot of old books this year, but I did read a, a very small, I can't believe I'm saying this. I love this very small nonfiction book because I'm very known to like, not read any nonfiction, but I read the new Jenny Beck book, things that Disappear.

[00:12:11] asia: It's like that really tiny little pocket size book that's all about losing things. Um. Just in general, it's about people, places, items. There's like one essay where she talks about losing a block of cheese from her refrigerator, which was really interesting. But I think that's also a really good re readable book because , there are always things in those, even though the essays are so short you don't notice.

[00:12:34] asia: So that would be a really fun book to like reread over and over again to catch the smaller things that she's talking about. It's very, very pensive, but it's also very funny. Like I think she incorporates humor in it really well, which I really enjoyed, and it's something you can read very quickly, which for me, I like

[00:12:56] asia: What would you say for like the, the non-book reader? 

[00:13:03] asia: Wow. That's always, to me, that's always really hard. 

[00:13:07] asia: That's the hardest part. I think, you know, it's easy to recommend books to a reader. You know, someone who's a reader who likes history or politics or that kind of thing. I always find it hard to, when when someone says they're not a reader, 'cause then immediately you're like, well geez, I dunno.

[00:13:26] asia: You know what? I think for someone, for someone who doesn't really know what to read, I think a fun book recently has been. Um, atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reed. I think that sold a lot throughout the summer, but I think it's kind of having a resurgence now.

[00:13:38] asia: Like a lot of people are picking it up again, which I think is a good, um, it's a good like light read to give to somebody who if they don't know what they're in the mood for too, that's a good book to read. 

[00:13:49] caroline: I think that Taylor Jenkins Reed has been like a big author for people to pick up reading again, like the popularity of her.

[00:13:57] asia: Yeah. 

[00:13:59] susie: Hey. I'm Susie. I'm so glad to jump in with you guys. Okay. It's great to be here. 

[00:14:04] caroline: Susie's jumping in and we were talking about what's the difference between, um, somebody not reading and that they're too young to read, and what's the difference between a reluctant reader and all those categories.

[00:14:18] caroline: Like parallel to that is somebody coming in being like, my friend just had a baby. Mm-hmm. I don't know what to get them. It's like the first baby in my friend group or whatever. What would be a first starting out baby gift? 

[00:14:33] susie: Yeah. For me, I'll, I.

[00:14:35] susie: Always, I think ask them if they want something for like right now, like a board book that's very durable. Or do they wanna help build that baby's library into the future? Um, I'm always sort of. Mm, speechless when people say, well, the baby can't read. And, um, of course they can't. We understand. But I like to go for books that are really for the parents.

[00:15:03] susie: So, um, books for example, like when I was raising my. First baby. The first night that he came home, we read The Big Red Barn by Margaret Weiss Brown. And as a result, that book was so therapeutic for me and it has such a near and dear place in my heart because the language and the tranquility of it, another one like that is Mem Fox.

[00:15:27] susie: Um. What is that time for bed? It was coma is voicing it too. Oh my gosh. I, my girls 

[00:15:34] asia: loved both of those. 

[00:15:35] susie: They, they're so soothing, they're lyrical, they're simple. Um, so when somebody feels they a lack of confidence shopping for a baby book, um, I talk to them about like books that will.

[00:15:48] susie: Okay. Make the parents feel good. So books that are really lyrical, beautiful, peaceful, reassuring. Um, and then there are books like that that you come up can grow with that I can mention like a big shout out to Amy Huss, who carries the torch forward from the amazing, um, Elsa IC who did the Little Bear series and, um.

[00:16:14] susie: Lobel who does frog and toad, these, these books and stories where you just feel so stable, you feel secure, and, and the world is good and they're beautiful. So, um, I often with. People who are giving gifts, um, to children in particular who are like pre literate. So I often tell the gift giver, what can you think of anything about the parents that they like?

[00:16:41] susie: Because we can be so creative and clever and, and bring joy to the parents so that it's almost like a nudge and a wink. You know, maybe a parent who loves to hike and loves nature and you give the child a book that they really are passionate about as well. I think that's a really fun way to. Go in an artist, a, an engineer, a doctor, you know, it's very fun to do that.

[00:17:03] caroline: I feel like that's my instinct too, when somebody's feeling a little lost, is to go the lullaby, the lyrical route, the soothing safety kind of genre in, um, board book. My. My new favorite suggestion has been the John Classon like box set. I love those of the, your island, 

[00:17:22] susie: your forest, your farm. Your farm is my, again, like we're talking about carrying the torch forward.

[00:17:28] susie: I feel like this new series by John Clason, it has his signature iconic, um, illustrations with like every, you know, inanimate object has his, those eyes that he does. Um. He has a formula. And I mean that in the best of ways for these books. Right now there's a trilogy, what, um, Caroline just said, and my favorite of them is your farm.

[00:17:53] susie: Um, they're in the second person. So it says, this is your barn, this is your tractor. And they go on like that. But each piece feels like you could pick it up with your thumb and. Forefinger and I feel like so many children like reach out, like they're looking through a window in a car and you'll see them pinch something in the horizon.

[00:18:15] susie: And I feel like these books capture that immediacy and at the end of each of the books, like I said, it is a formula of the best sort. They each go and now they're all going to sleep. And you can go to sleep too and think about what you'll do there tomorrow. Yeah, they're the best. They are, they are. The new, um, A goodnight moon. They're, they're your, oh, everyone's gonna give them goodnight moon. So you gift giver, give them either your island, your forest, or your farm. 

[00:18:45] caroline: They are a really nice, like, um, it feels like the, the stage lights rise and then fall in the course of the book. Mm-hmm. So it has a nice cadence, truly.

[00:18:55] caroline: Um. Okay, but what about you guys? What about a nonfiction reader or , what do you do with like a category You don't usually read 

[00:19:06] asia: Aisha. You wanna, you wanna tackle 

[00:19:08] asia: that? A category that I don't normally read 

[00:19:09] caroline: essays. I mean, you suggest that 

[00:19:11] asia: I know, but I'm like, I'm the only person that reads them.

[00:19:15] asia: Essays are fun though. I think I actually always do suggest people. Nonfiction wise, especially if you don't wanna commit to a memoir or you don't really know what someone is interested in, because memoirs are so personal. I always think that essays are better to give because they're. Based on the topic and less based, more on the topic and less than the person.

[00:19:36] asia: And so if somebody really likes a certain subject, then if there's a collection of essays on it, that's a good thing to recommend also, because if you don't really know the person and you don't know what their reading habits are and how busy they are, essays are always helpful because you can pick them up and put them down so you don't need to read the whole thing in a linear way.

[00:19:55] asia: You can kind of like go back to them. So I think essays are always fun. Um. I always recommend Trick Mirror by Geo Tolentino. That's the only essay book really, that I recommend to everybody because it's so funny and it's so, it's so relatable in a lot of ways. I haven't, I really, that's a book I should reread.

[00:20:12] asia: I haven't read in a long time. But You reread it recently, right? 

[00:20:15] caroline: I listened to the audio book recently. Yeah. She reads it. Yeah. Um, because I wanted to reread it as well. What about for like the hobbyist? I feel like we always, when it comes to gifts, it's like the first question is always like, what hobbies do they have?

[00:20:29] caroline: Like, what are things that you pay attention to? Gift buying for hobbies or Nicole, like cookbooks is like your domain as well. 

[00:20:40] asia: It is my domain. There's so many. And preparing for today. I was trying to. Uh, make a list and there's just so much, um, even within cookbooks, \ like, how proficient are they at cooking?

[00:20:53] asia: Are they like a super foodie? In that case? Maybe. Um, the new book, uh. By the author of Salt, fat, acid Heat, which is good things. And so she has a lot of information there as well as recipes and like goes well beyond just, you know, a cooking, you know, like a recipe. Um, so I would say that for that, uh, cooking, um, there's this great, which I would be think would be a great hostess gift.

[00:21:24] asia: Um, New York Times cooking came out with a appetizer deck, which they're. Laminated recipe cards and. Picture on one side, recipe on the other, other, and it's just a great, who doesn't love appetizers? That's so cute. Funny. Yeah. Who doesn't love appetizers, right? Mm-hmm. Like love appetizers. We have lots 

[00:21:43] caroline: of like little like, um, oven MITs and like dish towels and stuff too that, yeah.

[00:21:48] caroline: Oh my gosh. We, Nicole and I 

[00:21:50] asia: have a lot of fun picking out the kitchen related gifts together, but we do have, we have tea towels and ceramic sponge holders and salt and pepper shakers. Things that you would never even dream of working at a bookstore, measuring cups. 

[00:22:02] asia: Yeah. All of it. And I think, I think that's like, that's where you can bundle a gift.

[00:22:07] asia: Mm-hmm. Like you can get a cookbook and like a really nice tea towel to go with it, or a baking book. And we have, we have cookie stamps. Stamps and which are really fun. Like fun measuring cups. Yeah. And like we have a really like great assortment of I would say fun, kitschy. I agree cooking stuff as well.

[00:22:29] asia: There's a lot of, there's like cooking related games and puzzles too that you could pair with cookbooks, but we have a lot of other things too, like crafting books. You can pair with craft kits. We have punch needle kits or tie eye t-shirt kits and stuff.

[00:22:43] asia: So we have a lot of cool things that you can put together as like a whole gift for someone. 

[00:22:50] asia: That is for sure. And let's not forget like. Cocktail books and like so many coffee books do we have mug, we have mugs, right? Coffee, we do have mugs. We have fun coffee mugs. Um, by 

[00:23:03] susie: the way, for, um, grownups, um. You know, like, I'm sure you have already talked about a lot of this, but you know, when you're just kind of fishing around with, with a customer and you're like, do they have a dog?

[00:23:17] susie: What do they like? Um, I'm sure so many people are gonna say yes, they do have a dog. Um, for the person who you don't know their reading taste or maybe they're not really a reader. Um, Myra Kalman's Beloved Dog, is a book I go back to. Again and again, it's all of her beautiful paintings. That's a really good one, and her incredible, clever, quirky wit and personality, and I've given it when people are grieving for a lost dog, I've given it for the holidays. It is so special. She is so special. Pretty much anything she does, I recommend, but um, especially like she's also, so to me truly New York. Um, I really love that and I think that even anybody listening try to remember to just even come in and look at some pages of that book

[00:24:12] susie: I think you'll leave with it. Yeah. She has really great, great art and everything. 

[00:24:16] caroline: They came out last year, but one week in January by Carcin Ellis. That's a good New Year's book, like gift in that you didn't see someone during the holidays. You're gonna see 'em in January. Um, one week in January is she illustrates a like section of her diary from like 10 years ago.

[00:24:38] caroline: . And she like re , animates it with current illustrations and she's a forward, about, recognizing some of the, the, like the joy and the innocence of like, I think she wrote it when she was in her twenties and so she was like halfway embarrassed about the writing and then halfway kind of like, um.

[00:25:03] caroline: Felt precious about her younger self. So it's like a nice internal conversation of self, which is like a good January theme. 

[00:25:11] nicole: Mm-hmm. 

[00:25:13] caroline: And Carson Ellis also does children's books. She does. She has some great children's books. I think that, I don't wanna, I don't wanna brag, I don't wanna compare the numbers of all the stores, but we have to be one of the top sellers of Wildwood, her husband's series that she illustrates.

[00:25:31] caroline: Call him Moo series. It's like this, like chunky middle reader, that it's for the avid reader, it's for that kid that's read everything. It's whimsical, but it's also got like kind of the like staunch literariness of . CS Lewis of like a lot of those like kind of classic works. Mm-hmm. It's really weird too, 

[00:25:56] susie: and it has deckled edged pages.

[00:25:58] susie: Yeah. It feels very soft and special. Yep. Beautifully illustrated. Definitely. Can I give a shout out to certain books that I think everybody would love? Yeah, like in terms of in the kids' room. Um, so I didn't know this about myself till I started to work here, but I really love nonfiction and um, especially for kids and I love interactive books where kids who are.

[00:26:24] susie: Becoming more intellectually rigorous and, and independent readers can still have lift the flaps. Um, so US Born in general, um, they're a publishing company that does great educational stuff, but it's really cool. Like you can learn about weather and storms. You can read about the body, you can read about do animals talk to each other, you name it like they're in outer space.

[00:26:52] susie: Um. Truly every topic, pretty much. There is an Usborne book for it and the Usborne books come into kind of degrees of. Deep dive. So they have a first look series that would be great for toddlers, and then, um, they go deeper. So you could do that even up to like, you know, say, um, a seven or an 8-year-old.

[00:27:17] susie: Um, and then from there, a lot of kids adore the DK eye witness books. They come in what is called Pocket Genius. So, you know, kids love small things. Pocket Genius will, you know, fit in the palm of your hand and it's everything. It's. Elements, it's horses, dogs, cats, dinosaurs, sports, cars, you name it, minerals.

[00:27:38] susie: Did I say that? And um, they also do like, um, the large format book. And I think what kids love about them is their photographs. They're not, um, drawings, they. Photographs and so kids just endlessly leaf through these books and then they have a grownup or somebody read to them. The parts that explain certain photographs, but these books, like my family became so dogeared, they were used and loved for.

[00:28:08] susie: Easily five years each because they grow with the child. They might start as something where somebody reads aloud to them and then they become something that they're just like becoming an expert on independently. And it's also really handy as a grownup to become so well informed about something your child has a passion for.

[00:28:28] susie: And that's what happens with books like that. Um, a few other releases. New releases that, um, this year I want to hand to people frequently. There's a beautiful book called Today where I love that one. It's perfect whether you could read to yourself or if somebody read it to you even just once, then you would be able to read it to yourself.

[00:28:51] susie: It's oversized hardcover. Um, uh, a child wakes up, what am I gonna do today? And there's so many pictures of what, um, they might eat for breakfast. And you learn about all these different foods, what they're gonna wear, and then there's a lineup of all these little boys and girls wearing all these different outfits.

[00:29:09] susie: Can you guess what they're gonna do today? And it just goes through the hole today. Why do you love it? 

[00:29:15] caroline: I like that too because it's one of those interactive ones of kids like to point and like, um, be involved in the stories. I think it's a good way to bring them in in that way. Mm-hmm. Did you mention Tuck Me In?

[00:29:30] caroline: No, we had Nathan Pile to the store, but so that's been a big. 

[00:29:34] susie: Tuck me in blends, um, fiction and nonfiction. The moon is telling a goodnight story basically to the beaches, and it's explaining how, um, the tides came to be. And, and and they're like, no, tuck me in. No. Tuck me in with the water. How come we can't both be tucked in at once?

[00:29:56] susie: Well, because then the fish wouldn't have water to swim in. And so they negotiate. The moon negotiates with its two children basically. And um, they take turns playing in building sand castles while the other is tucked in. They end up talking about magnetic pull. It becomes very sciency, but it is the sweetest.

[00:30:15] susie: Bedtime story. And then there's a book called at this time around the world and it tells exactly what's happening, um, all over the world. Like it gives you an idea of the time zones in all of these different countries. And I feel like that is like kind of nerdy, amazing.

[00:30:39] susie: The illustrations are so cool. Yeah. In that book, they're great. Yeah. And kind of sophisticated. Yeah. They're not like pink and Yeah, blue. 

[00:30:47] caroline: Yeah. 

[00:30:48] susie: Very. Yeah. 

[00:30:49] caroline: What else is on your list, Nicole? What else did you wanna get to? 

[00:30:52] asia: Oh my goodness. I don't know. Often when I, I make these lists, it's more of, well, what do I want?

[00:31:00] asia: Um, because really, you know, I'm a book addict and so I walk around the store, I'm like, Ooh, I want that. I want that. No one buys me books for Christmas. So, or for well understood. Or the holidays in general, like I should say, I shouldn't say Christmas, just because that's what I celebrate. Yes, in general, I do not get books, but, uh, one top one that I really want is, uh, New York Times Puzzle Mania.

[00:31:25] asia: So they put together this very like, sleek, sexy hardcover, um, all the different digital game games that you can play online in a, in a nice hardcover book. And even at the back there's like a giant foldable crossword puzzle, which you can like, just like a jigsaw puzzle you can probably lay on the table and.

[00:31:45] asia: Everyone can kind of participate, but it's very nice and if anyone is listening that I know. That is what I want. Hint, hint, hint, hint. 'cause I mean, I'm addicted to, to puzzles personally. Um, another one I think is really nice. It's a new format. It's called New York City Storefronts , the Compact Edition.

[00:32:05] asia: And it's a, just illustrations of all these , places in New York that you can. Go to. And for the first time I was looking at it and it was like, Ooh. I would go there and I would go there and it's almost like a bucket list of like, that's so cool. Like visiting New York, which I like to do with my girls.

[00:32:20] asia: Like, what's someplace that we can go and that'd be great. We can just look at this book. And it's not just restaurants, it's all these different places and it's beautifully illustrated. I'd love the illustrations. 

[00:32:30] caroline: It's like going to the movies and getting previews. It's a little preview. Yeah. 

[00:32:33] asia: For sure. Um, so I really like that.

[00:32:36] asia: That's like something anyone could possibly enjoy. Um, and you were saying like the, I think it's kind of underrated, but every year they come out with the Best American series and those are great go-tos for people who have certain areas of interest but don't. You don't know what, like science and nature writing or essays or food writing or short story like science fiction, mystery.

[00:33:07] asia: I think that's a good like sample selection of something that someone might like. And um, I like, we've been referring a lot and I just wanna point out that this time of year publishers, it's their job. Like they put out what's popular the fall season. Uh, are the, the big, the like the big guys like in mysteries, it's John Grisham and Louise Penny and Harlan Cobin and Lee Child, Dan Brown.

[00:33:38] asia: Like, everyone knows those are, it's like easy everyone. You can easily sell those, but I just want to. To say that our, the Backless titles, and that's a lot of what we're talking about, those are the ones that we make sure we have on hand because those are the ones we love. Those are the ones we love selling.

[00:33:58] asia: And to that end with gift giving, I always tell people, well, what do you do like to read? Like, what, what is your favorite book? Because why not give that to your friend? Mm-hmm. I love this book. You should read it too. 

[00:34:11] susie: So true. 

[00:34:12] asia: I, yeah. When you don't know, right. What do you love? Like, and that's kind of the LA like, I kind of get around to that.

[00:34:18] asia: Well, what, what's something that you've read recently that you really liked? Maybe you can give that, 

[00:34:23] caroline: because then it's the gift of like a shared experience 

[00:34:26] asia: For sure. Then you can talk about it and that you can say, oh, I just finished reading it. You were like, you know, and it kind of sparks a discussion.

[00:34:33] asia: That's 

[00:34:34] asia: true. I also think the back list is good to give because it's something that if you go anywhere else, you won't, nobody's gonna hand you that like, or you're not gonna see it out on the table necessarily, or you're not going to just reach for it and grab it and go like it's nice to read something that probably you wouldn't look for.

[00:34:50] asia: Or to be recommended something that you normally, you're like, oh, I would've never picked that up. I would've never read that. So that's, that's what's fun to me is that kind of having the challenge of something like, or if it's someone who is a really big reader and someone's like, I have no idea what to give them.

[00:35:05] asia: They've read everything new, then you can try something maybe that is not as well known, which I think is nice. Mm-hmm. Because then you could discover something like, wow, I really like this author and I've never really. Kind of explored their titles before or something, so I think that's really nice 

[00:35:24] asia: indeed.

[00:35:26] asia: I mean, I have lists and lists of books. There's just so many things, and I think that's a lot of things. Part of the conversation that can't really have with a, a computer is like when we, when you come in, we're talking to you, we we're really trying to figure out what it is. That you want. Yeah, and there's, lists and lists of mm-hmm. Books and entertainment and film and even theater. We always get the question. Asia, they, they love, uh, Broadway, sell. Broadway. Do you have any books on Broadway? Broadway. Broadway. Finally More 

[00:36:01] caroline: Kids books on Broadway, right? Yeah. Always 

[00:36:03] asia: get that is something. And they're actually is, did you see there's, it's called, um, history Hiding Around Broadway and, oh, I haven't seen that yet.

[00:36:11] asia: It's on the table. Cute little hardcover, nice illustrations. And it's arranged by theater. So it's the different theaters in the Broadway, uh, area and the history of the theater and what shows have run there. And I think that's, it's really, they find the followers finally got it. Like, we need a book. 

[00:36:31] caroline: Yep.

[00:36:32] caroline: Yep. I think final thought, as much as we can do gift guides for genres. Of types of readers. The real experience of coming to your indie bookstore is that we are going to make sure that you find exactly what you want. And it's probably not gonna be the same thing that we told the person right before.

[00:36:53] caroline: You'll not be, we're really, we're specializing it to the person in front of us. Mm-hmm. And, um, that's really like the best kind of gift is the personal one. And so. That's, that's our holiday gift to you, a personal book recommendation. And any final thoughts? 

[00:37:12] asia: I just, there is something for every single person in your life at the bookstore.

[00:37:16] asia: There really is. Just if you think there isn't, there 

[00:37:18] asia: totally is. Yeah, there is. And looking around the kids room here, there are, oh my gosh, yeah. So many pens and markers and coloring and games notebooks. Like I, I. I'm excited being in here. Yeah, 

[00:37:33] susie: and the truth of the matter is like the best thing for us is when you come in and you give us these requests to find something that's so bespoke, that is so customized for the person that you wanna give it to, it excites us to help you.

[00:37:48] susie: So please come in. We love it. Yeah, 

[00:37:51] caroline: we 

[00:37:51] asia: love the challenge. 

[00:37:52] caroline: Alright, well happy holidays and we'll see you at the store.

[00:37:56] Marni: Thank you Asia, Nicole, Caroline and Susie for joining us and for sharing your great recommendations and as always, showing us your love of books. Listeners, you can find links to all these books on our website and in our show notes. 

[00:38:09] Kathryn: Don't miss our festival. Friday and Small Business Saturday Sales this weekend.

[00:38:14] Kathryn: On Friday, we offer 20% off everything in both stores. And on Saturday and Sunday, 20% off books only. Plus on Sunday, Marni and I will be recording another special popup episode of the Watchung Booksellers podcast at 54 Fairfield. We welcome all our listeners to stop by and share their favorite read of 2025, and then we'll air that next week for you to listen to.

[00:38:38] Marni: You can get details and tickets for all of our events, story times, and book clubs through our newsletter show notes or at Watchung books sellers.com. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.