Happy December! Here are some mostly quick takes on the books I read in December – so many good books! I hope your winter season is filled with lots of cozy reading.

Picture Books

• Every Monday Mabel by Jashar Awan – A small child goes through her very careful routine every Monday morning, culminating in sitting in her chair by the window just in time to watch the garbage truck go by. I purchased this for a young nephew and can see why this is on so many end-of-the-year favorites lists.
• All You Can Be With ADHD by Penn and Kim Holderness. Illustrated by Vin Vogel. Little, Brown and Company, 2025 – This rhyming picture book welcomes kids to the ADHD clubhouse, going over how bad a diagnosis can feel, some of the many problems experienced by people with ADHD, and also its strengths and some famous people who have it. The book is astonishingly detailed in its descriptions given how little text there is, while staying upbeat. As the mother of two ADHDers, I teared up at just how much this book gets it. The illustrations are also a lot of fun, showing kids of diverse skin colors, with sneaky ninjas and squirrels in almost every picture.

Early Chapter

• Jo Jo Makoons: the Used-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley. Illustrated by Tara Audibert. Heartdrum, 2021
• Jo Jo Makoons: Fancy Pants by Dawn Quigley. Illustrated by Tara Audibert. Heartdrum, 2022
• Jo Jo Makoons: Snow Day by Dawn Quigley. Illustrated by Tara Audibert. Heartdrum, 2023

Do early chapter books count towards my Indigenous author reading goal for the year? Even if the trio only counts as a single book, I’d been meaning to read these since they came out, as they’re by Dawn Quigley, who would have been one of our keynote speakers at the sadly-canceled KidLitCon of 2020. Jo Jo is a spirited and irrepressible 7-year-old living on a fictional Ojibwe reservation. Though she’s full of energy and means well, she misreads social cues to a degree that has people constantly shaking their heads at her, making her fit in well with classic early chapter book heroines like Junie B. Jones. Jo Jo’s stories are funny and heartfelt and shine a light on her Ojibwe culture , including words in Ojibwemowin and traditions like bringing food to elders and children playing inclusive games. Spirited and cartoony pictures for Tara Audibert add to the kid appeal. I wouldn’t read more of the series just for myself, but I’ll certainly recommend them to kids looking for fun realistic books for this age.

Middle Grade

• Super Great Kids’ Stories by Kim Normanton. Bloomsbury, 2025. Read from an ARC provided by the publisher – I’ve never listened to the podcast of the same name, but I do love a good collection of folktales. This is a solid collection of international stories from five continents and Oceania, many though not all retold by storytellers from that region of the world and each section illustrated by an artist from that region. The stories are meant to be read aloud with someone, with full color art and dynamic text throughout, as well as tips for the storyteller such as suggested voices or traditional story openings from that part of the world. There are also some insert circles with backgrounds on the story for listeners. I could wish that all of the storytellers came from the background the story is from, but the stories are solid and I appreciate that the backmatter includes information on the storytellers and where they found each of the stories they told. There were only a few pages of full-color art in the ARC that I saw, but it is beautiful, and I’m sure the finished version is even better.
• Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien. HarperCollins, 1999. Growing up, my family had an older edition called The Father Christmas Letters. I’ve talked before about how much I loved it and how it influenced my perception of Santa growing up. This year, I read through the letters again. This newer edition includes more of the personal notes to Tolkien’s children and the full images of all the original letters in their beautiful calligraphy, as well as the letters typed out for easier reading. I wish the book designers hadn’t put so many decorative images behind the typed text, but I still love the letters themselves.
• Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford. Read by Chris Henry Coffey. Recorded Books, 2017 – Another Christmas reread, and still a delight.

Teen

• Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley. Read by Isabella Star LaBlanc. Henry Holt, 2025. This latest book by the author of Firekeeper’s Daughter takes place mostly in 2009, 5 years after the events of that book and before Warrior Girl. Lucy Smith was raised by her white Catholic father and told that her unknown mother was Italian. After he dies, though, she’s thrown into the foster care system. In the present day the story starts with Lucy living on her own, knowing she’s being followed but not precisely by whom. One very clearly Native Mr. Jameson comes to meet her there, telling her she is Native American and that he can help her find her family. But can a young woman battered by her past trust a stranger, even a seemingly well-meaning one? This is a mystery/thriller, with explosions and all kinds of foster care-system ickiness. I chose to listen to it to hear the Anishinabemowin that I figured would be there pronounced, but I think I am too sensitive to listen to thrillers as I found myself just anxious a lot. I am pretty wimpy that way, though, and this book has characters I really believed in, as well a look into how the foster care system exploits Native children in particular. Daunis and Jamie are bigger characters here that they were in Warrior Girl Unearthed, which I appreciated. Highly recommended.
• Escape from St. Hell by Lewis Hancox. Graphix, 2024 – This was my kid’s pick at a recent bookstore trip. They’ve already read it at least twice and wanted me to read it as well. This is an honest account of YouTuber Hancox’s post-high school life, as he starts university and spends a lot of energy trying to figure out what it means to be a man and what kind of man he wants to be. At the same time, he’s failing to notice the effects his self-absorption is having on his friends and on the rest of his life. The topic is pretty serious, but the drawings are fun, as are regular side bars with his anxiety levels and man points, and interruptions with advice from his current self. This is the sequel to Welcome to St. Hell, which my teen also enjoyed but I have yet to read.
• Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen. Random House Graphic, 2025 – I’m always excited to see a fairy tale retelling – and this beautifully illustrated graphic novel remix was as thoughtful as I’d expect from Trung Le Nguyen. It tells the story of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” as presented in a children’s play, alternating with the story of Jelly (the Angelica of the title) as she works through burnout from overcommitment and grief over losing her grandmother. Her biggest comfort is sending messages to someone writing for the lead of her local theater’s signature play, Per the Bear from The Bear Prince. But who is actually writing for the account? So many common issues – I was going to say teen issues, but dealing with burnout, grief, friendships, and finding a safe space to let go of your image are issues relevant to everyone. I’m trying to recall if I’ve read another “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”-based story since East by Edith Pattou – have you?

Adult

• The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal. Tor, 2018 – A reread. I don’t see much about my emotional response in my review from the first time I read it, but I was tearing up a lot this time around, and still laughing out loud at parts.
• Behooved by M. Stevenson. Bramble, 2025 – I went into this expecting a really light and fluffy romantasy. And yes, it has a lot of laugh-out-loud moments and a few steamy scenes – but it’s also the story of two people forced into a political marriage who are nonetheless determined to do the best they can by their different countries. Duchess Bianca knows she was sent to marry Crown Prince Aric of the neighboring kingdom both to prevent war and because her parents consider her too weak to be worth keeping at home because of her chronic health condition. Prince Aric isn’t at all a fan of hers – but was also told that his bookish ways made him unfit for the crown. When Bianca accidentally turns him into a horse in an attempt to protect him from an assassin on their wedding night, it seems like this will make things even worse. But it’s just a first step…
• Wyrde and Wayward by Charlotte E. English. Frouse Books, 2019. Purchased ebook. – This Regency fantasy was my first book from this Lamplighter’s Discord author. Gussie Werth has the dubious honor of being one of the very few members of the notorious Werth family not to have a Wyrde – a magical skill that could be something as inconvenient as being able to turn into a Gorgon or something slightly more useful, like being able to freeze someone temporarily. Gussie is long past old enough to be married, but has never been permitted to leave the family estate, so she’s actually somewhat excited when she’s kidnapped by the family of a woman who used to be her grandmother’s best friend. Magic, mayhem, and complicated families filled with quirky people abound in this witty story that hints at the possibility of romance to come. I’ve saved the second book to my wishlist, though I’m trying to make myself wait until I read more of the first books I’ve saved to my ereader before I go out buying more.

• Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope. Read by Shayna Small. Redhook, 2024 – Jane Edwards had such a traumatic experience when she and her father and sister were forced to leave their town in the 1920s that she hasn’t been able to talk since, relying on sign language and writing. A decade later, they’ve made a new home in all-Black Awenasa, founded by a formerly enslaved man who saved for decades to build a safe place for his family and others like them. But “progress” is coming for them, as a new dam will flood their town. Jane isn’t sure what to think – but when she sees a man she remembers dying violently in her old life walking in and out of the river while staying dry, her curiousity insists that she investigates. This will upend her beliefs, force her to revise her opinions of her past self, and step out of her fear. It’s filled with small-town personalities, ancient African gods, and fantastical other worlds. Shayna Small does a beautiful job bringing the voices of the characters and the time period to life, with accents ranging from Southern to African.
• Chai and Cat-tales by Lynn Strong. Independently published, 2024. Purchased ebook – This came up in a cozy fantasy sale, and I am not one to resist tales of magic, tea, and cats, particularly when it comes with a Middle Eastern setting and disability rep. This is a trio of stories from the perspectives of three different people, including a mostly nonverbal stray kitten. The whole thing is heart-warming in the best way, and I was delighted to see that the sequel is on Hoopla… though see my earlier statement about my ereader being full of unread first books.
• The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older. Tor, 2023 – I asked a librarian friend at my home library for recommendations for one of my niblings, which I then checked out to read first. I wasn’t able to buy it for the nibling, but I did very much enjoy reading it. This is a sapphic gaslamp sci-fi mystery, which sounds like way too many adjectives but works together quite delightfully as a scholar of Old Earth and a probably spectrum-y investigator pair up to solve a missing persons case on Jupiter, while reviving their university romance. I’ve been having a problem with series, but I read the first two nearly together and have the third book on my shelf already.

• Time Anxiety : the Illusion of Urgency and a Better Way to Live by Chris Guillebeau. Crown Currency, 2025. ISBN 978-0593799550 – Do you ever feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything you need to do? (That would be me, every day.) Or that time is running away from you and you’re sure there’s something more important that you should be doing with your life right now? Most of us, it turns out, feel at least one of these nearly all the time. This book looks at how to cut down what you feel you need to do and really look at your priorities to help you feel more satisfied and less anxious. It’s one that I’d probably need to use as a long-term project to get the most benefits out of, but it was still helpful as a one-time thought exercise.
• It Rhymes with Takei by George Takei, Steven Scott, Justin Eisinger, and Harmony Becker. Top Shelf Productions, 2025 – George Takei stayed closeted for years, fearing for his career and safety. Here, he returns with the same team that put together They Called Me Enemy to tell his life story through the lens of his coming out, his gay identity, and the political activism that has been part of his life from the beginning. I had a little trouble getting going with this, but once he joined Star Trek I was hooked and kept wanting to share anecdotes with anyone around. My love also read and enjoyed this.
• 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-tech World by Jean M. Twenge. Atria Books, 2025 – I know I’m not the only one who struggles with a teen who’s on their phone all the time and is much more depressed than before they got the phone. I put this on hold as soon as I saw it in the library’s new book email. And… I have some mixed feelings. Dr. Twenge presents a lot of evidence for the benefits of keeping technology away from kids and teens as long as possible – waiting until high school to give them phones, giving them dumb phones at first, keeping tech out of the bedroom, and balancing all the time restrictions and parental controls with more real-life experiences like driving, jobs, and in-person time with friends. It’s all good stuff, but hard to implement when I already have a 16-year-old, and her hard-and-fast rules are hard to align with our normal coaching parenting style. I did successfully limit screen time over break, though, with positive results once the initial protests died down.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts – what have you been reading lately? Have you read any of these books yourself?