Squirrels hide nuts for the long winter. Bears pack on fat for hibernation. Here at Sixoh6, we prepare for winter by stocking up on books. To help you find the best books to gift this holiday season, we’re sharing guest posts from some of our favorite parents of babies and toddlers, children, and teens. We’ve asked our guest bloggers to share books on a theme of their choice. We hope, whether you are young or old and whether you have a lot of books to give this year or just a few, you’ll find something here that delights you and that you’ll enjoy a Jólabókaflóðið (“Yule Book Flood”) this winter.

This week’s guest bloggers are Ruby, age 8, and her sister, Saffron, age 11. They live in Pennsylvania.  In second and fifth grade, respectively, they recommend buying a child a series of books so that they can read them all at once, somewhat like binging on a TV show on Netflix.  The trick? Finding a book series good enough that you can’t read just one!

Today, we hear from Ruby. Be sure to pop in later in the week to hear from Saffron, too. 

Rebecca

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Ruby recommends Star Wars books, such as Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown, Darth Vader & Son (also by Jeffrey Brown), and Star Wars: Original Trilogy Graphic Novel by Alessandro Ferrari.

Jedi Academy, according to Ruby, is funny, the #1 reason to read it.  The pictures are really cool and are funny.  The book series is about a guy at Jedi Academy school who is learning how to be a Jedi knight.  He doesn’t do a very good job because he’s weird, in a good way, like herself.  She would give it an A.

Darth Vader & Son has the best ever known funny pictures.  A comic book by the same author as Jedi Academy, it follows Darth Vader as a single father raising Luke and Leia as children.  It includes funny things about Darth Vader taking care of Luke when he is young. It has quotes from the movie.  One of the funniest comics is when Darth Vader says, “Luke, clean up your room this instant!”  She would give it an A++++++

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Star Wars: Original Trilogy Graphic Novel is a new book, which can be bought by each episode separately, or in one lovely hardback book ready for gifting.  It has all three original stories (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) from the original movies.  Ruby has cross-checked the graphic novel with the movies numerous times, often pausing the movies to make sure the graphic novel is adhering to its predecessor.  One instance where the movie and graphic novel do not line up is when Luke, in the second part of the graphic novel, says, “I can’t reach it, I must use the Force, I can do it” but he never says it in the movie.  Ruby says it’s a cool book.  She would give it an A.

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Want to read more book suggestions for and by some of our favorite kids? Check out these:

Want to read more in this series? Check out Erica’s picture books about St. Nicholas and St. Lucia and O’s books about wild animals.