Well, it’s coming up to the holidays and I’ve started to make my list and fill it in. As a starting point, I went through all the books and DVDs and gadgets I’d reviewed on Boing Boing since last November and looked at what had been the best-sellers among BB’s readership, figuring you folks have pretty good taste! As I was taking a walk down old review lane, I realized that many of you would probably be interested in seeing these lists too, so I’ve turned them into a series of blog-posts that I’ll be sticking up, one per day, for the next week or so. Today I’m starting with kids’ media and media about kids and child-rearing. Later this week, I’ll do fiction, nonfiction, comics and graphic novels, CDs and DVDs and gadgets and everything else, one a day. Hope this helps you with your holiday shopping as much as it’s helped me with mine!
Baby’s First Mythos
(C.J. Henderson)
Cthluhoid picture book
Original Boing Boing post
Invention of Hugo Cabret
(Brian Selznik)
Award-winning steampunk graphic novel for kids
Original Boing Boing post
Good as Lily
(Derek Kirk Kim)
Ass-kicking girl-positive graphic novel for young readers
Original Boing Boing post
The Plain Janes
(Cecil Castellucci, Jim Rugg)
Funny, spirited little story about a gang of girls named Jane at a strait-laced high-school, rejected by the mainstream, and their art adventures.
Original Boing Boing post
Little Brother
(Cory Doctorow)
My bestselling young adult novel about kids who hack for freedom
Original Boing Boing post
The Starry Rift
(Jonathan Strahan)
Science fiction anthology for teens
Original Boing Boing post
St. Trinian’s: The Entire Appalling Business
(Ronald Searle)
Ronald Searle’s original dark, weird and hilarious St Trinian’s comics
Original Boing Boing post
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need
(Daniel H. Pink)
Optimistic and iconoclastic career guide in manga form
Original Boing Boing post
Alice in Wonderland Tattoos
Alice in Wonderland temporary tatts
Original Boing Boing post
Freakazoid – The Complete First Season
The best TV cartoon since the Max Fleischer era, on DVD
Original Boing Boing post
Boy Proof
(Cecil Castellucci)
A compassionate young adult novel about a weird, smart, angry girl
Original Boing Boing post
Cycler
(Lauren McLaughlin)
Smart YA novel about sex and sexuality
Original Boing Boing post
My Mother Wears Combat Boots: A Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us
(Jessica Mills)
Kick-ass punk-parenting book
Original Boing Boing post
How to Ditch Your Fairy
(Justine Larbalestier)
Hilarious kids book about the problems with fairies
Original Boing Boing post
Nation
(Terry Pratchett)
Moving and sweet young adult novel about science, superstition and decency
Original Boing Boing post
ABC3D
(Marion Bataille)
The best pop-up book in the world
Original Boing Boing post
The Baby Sleep Solution: A Proven Program to Teach Your Baby to Sleep Twelve Hours a Night
(Suzy Giordano)
The best parenting book I’ve read
Original Boing Boing post
How Children Learn
(John Holt)
Cllassic of human, kid-centered learning
Original Boing Boing post
The Graveyard Book
(Neil Gaiman)
Spooky, magical retelling of The Jungle Book in a graveyard
Original Boing Boing post
How Children Fail
(John Holt)
Angry lessons from failures to teach
Original Boing Boing post
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: A Pop-Up Book
(Sam Ita)
The paper kraken wakes
Original Boing Boing post
Alphabutt
(Kimya Dawson)
Weird, jangly, hilarious awesome music for kids
Original Boing Boing post
Zoe’s Tale
(John Scalzi)
Scalzi’s smart-ass young-adult sf thriller
Original Boing Boing post
Free to Be…You and Me (The 35th Anniversary Edition, Hardcover)
(Marlo Thomas and Friends)
The book every kid needs
Original Boing Boing post