December 2025 – Mom Read It

Braided Roots: a foundation of family

Posted on December 16, 2025December 15, 2025 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Braided Roots: The Interweaving of History, Family, and a Father’s Love, by Pasha Westbrook/Illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight, (Nov. 2025, Orchard Books), $19.99, ISBN: 9781339015385

Ages 4-8

A girl’s father braids her hair, helping her get ready for school. His strong hands weave the strands of her hair with colorful ribbons as he tells her stories of her ancestors, the Freedmen who walked “that beaten-down dirt path from Mississippi to Oklahoma”, the Trail of Tears. Her braid is a link to generations of family and their strength. Past and present weave together in this lyrical tale inspired by the author’s childhood. Braided Roots is a story of resilience, of family, and of enduring love between a parent and child. Goodnight’s digital illustrations are filled with warmth and love; moving between images of past and present, she returns to a father’s hands and his daughter’s hair and pair beautifully with Westbrook’s emphasis on the braid’s tenacity: “Our hair is our history… It tells us who we are, where we come from”. An author’s note provides further context. An excellent choice for collections.

Let’s Split Up gives all the YA creeps

Posted on December 13, 2025 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Let’s Split Up, by Bill Wood, (Sept. 2025, Scholastic Press), $14.99, ISBN: 9798225006143

Ages 12+

A horror-thriller for teens that’s heavily influenced by the Scooby Doo gang, Let’s Split Up starts with a bang: a town’s power couple, football player Brad and cheerleader Shelley, are found murdered in an abandoned mansion. Rumors immediately start circulating that they were murdered by the Carrington Ghoul, a ghost of the angry old former resident. But things aren’t adding up for Jonesy, Cam, Amber, and new girl Buffy. They start poking around, conducting their own investigation as the body count goes up and more secrets come to light, but that only serves to put themselves in the killer’s sights. They’re going to have to crack this case or risk being next on the list. There are some fun nods to the original Scooby gang here and there in the story, but these characters are more relatable to a new group of teen readers: Jonesy and Cam are two teen boys working through emerging feelings for one another; Amber is bisexual and trying to get her parents to understand that she can like both guys and girls; Buffy’s reasons for moving to the town just aren’t adding up. There are some tense, creepy moments that thriller and horror readers alike will enjoy, and it’s a quickly paced novel that makes for good weekend reading.

Have a horror or thriller reader you need to buy a gift for? Pair this with a card game like Don’t Get Stabbed! or Psycho Killer.

Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Non-Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

All I Want for Christmas is… a pile of awesome books!

Posted on December 9, 2025December 9, 2025 by Rosemary Kiladitis

It’s that time of year, everyone! If you’re stumped on what to get the kids, tweens, and teens in your life, books are always a great gift. I’ve been reading some good stuff lately, so I’ll be spotlighting them here. I bet they’d each look lovely in a stocking or wrapped up with something a little extra.

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Father of Modern Fantasy (Pocket Portraits), by Don Marshall, (Nov. 2025, Adams Media), $17.00, ISBN: 978150722417

Ages 12+

This was my first foray into the Pocket Portraits series, and I am HOOKED. The fact that the very nice person at Simon & Schuster asked me if I wanted to look at a Tolkien biography makes me think this was serendipity, for starters. First of all, the book is so beautifully crafted. It’s a small book – about 6″ x 4.5″ – and will fit into a coat pocket as easily as it will tuck into your bag. The die-cut cover is sturdy and feels great in your hands, and the book cover’s portrait of JRR himself is beautifully showcased by the die-cut. I was in love from the second I took the book out of its envelope when it arrived.

If you have tweens and teens who balk at biographies – you know I do! – this Pocket Portraits series is for them. J.R.R. Tolkien: The Father of Modern Fantasy captures key moments in Tolkien’s life, interspersed with quotes and brief excerpts from his work and interesting facts. Marshall is known as the Obscure Lord of the Rings Facts Guy and is an excellent choice to create this easily readable, informative, and comprehensive overview of Tolkien’s life and work. Beginning with Tolkien’s childhood, Marshall identifies the moments in his life that influenced his work: the loss of his parents in childhood; the trauma of World War I; falling in love with his wife, Edith; his friendship with C.S. Lewis. Readers see Tolkien’s lighter side as Marshall touches on his reputation as a prankster, and we read about his letters to his children, particularly his son Christopher, who carried on his father’s literary legacy.

There are several other Pocket Portraits books in the series, with more on the way. And they fit easily into a stocking! (I checked.) There’s no shortage of LOTR gifts out there: wrap up a set of the series or check out some creators on Etsy to find the perfect companion gift!

The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, (May 2025, Scholastic Graphix), $16.99, ISBN: 9780439895309

Ages 9+

Shaun Tan’s classic is available in paperback release, and this is a modern classic that deserves a spot on every shelf. A moving story of immigration with a touch of the fantastic, The Arrival is told with beautiful pencil illustrations that resemble old sepia photographs. A man leaves his wife and daughter, traveling by locomotive and steamship to… a new world. In Tan’s universe, images we are familiar with: Ellis Island, families sleeping on crowded trains and ships, close-ups of frightened and hopeful faces, share a world with fantastic creatures both adorable and dreadful. Completely wordless, Tan’s illustrations speak volumes as we see the man struggle with learning a new language and the companion animals that seem to accompany the residents of this new land. Tan taps into the immigrant experience in a way that reaches readers’ hearts as well as their minds. An Author’s Note goes deeper into Tan’s inspiration. Pair with a sketch pad and pencils for a budding artist.

The Arrival received multiple awards, including a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Locus Award; it was designated a 2007 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Picture Book of the Year; received the 2008 Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book (for the French edition), and received recognition from The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books.

The Great LEGO® Puzzle Book: 120 Creative Building Challenges, by Jacob Berg, (Sept. 2025, No Starch Press), $16.99, ISBN: 9781718504226

Ages 8+

No Starch Press is my go-to publisher for LEGO books. They have such fun and inventive ideas. When I received a robotics grant from work, I loaded my shelves with No Starch LEGO Mindstorms books. They’re that good. Now, we’ve got The Great LEGO® Puzzle Book, chock full of the coolest building challenges. There are 3-D challenges; fill the hole challenges; create your own challenge type challenges, even challenges that test readers’ ability to match shadows! Every challenge has full-color photo illustrated walkthroughs with detailed descriptions of bricks needed to compete in each challenge. Tips throughout keep builders’ brains working with thought-provoking suggestions. If you have LEGO groups at your library, this is the perfect book for a group challenge activity.

If you’re putting this on your holiday shopping list, pair with – what else? – a fun LEGO set! Consider getting the “classic creative” sets that just include random bricks so your recipients can dive right into some of these challenges.