Books Added to My Shelves in October 2025

This is my monthly roundup of books that I added to my shelves in October 2025. Some of the books came directly from authors or publishers, others were purchased, or were given to me as gifts. You’ll find books from all kinds of genres, including adult and children’s books. I’ll even share a few updates from our family’s life in the last month as well.

Family and Life Update

I almost have whiplash from October flying by so fast. It was a full month of memories as both Pat and I celebrated our birthdays.

Pat and I made a quick trip to Nashville for the funeral of a friend’s mom. We are so grateful that we had the time to be there for them. Plus, Pat and I had a lot of time to catch up with 20 hours in the car.

I was back in St. Simons Island, Georgia, to visit family with my mom, sister, aunts, and cousins. It was such a fun week together.

We celebrated our birthdays with the kids, and Reagan even got a hole-in-one at mini-golf.

Crazy enough, we had a family Christmas already. It’s the weekend that worked best, and it’s always a fun time to get all of us cousins together. While lining up for our big family photo, I snapped this one.

This fall has been so pretty, and I snapped this looking down our street in our small town.

Now, on to the books! 

I finished 7 books in October. One way to ensure you finish a book is always to have one with you, no matter what. I always tuck my Kindle into my purse when I’m running errands, in case I have a few moments to wait or decide to have a reading lunch. I hope this encourages you to read in the small and big pockets of your day. Even 10 minutes at a time can make a big difference. Be sure to follow me on Instagram, HERE, to see snippets of what I’m reading or what’s going on in my daily life.

This month’s list includes some upcoming 2026 titles, some recently published best-sellers, and some fun new cookbooks, as well as several new children’s books. My current reads include A REAL EMERGENCY and FINDING GRACE for review, and the 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED for book club.

If you have missed any of my recent book reviews, you can see them all by clicking HERE.  Or you can stay up to date with my monthly Quick Lit Roundup.

Clicking the photos of each book will take you to a link to purchase. If you choose to purchase through any of the links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.

ADULT FICTION AND NON-FICTION

MAD MABEL
By: Sally Hepworth
Published: April 21, 2026
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Thriller
Format: eBook for Review

Sally Hepworth fans will be thrilled to hear she has a new novel coming in Spring 2026. I loved THE MOTHER-IN-LAW and THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR, and I am looking forward to this one.

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She’s lived on her idyllic street for sixty years—longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else’s business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past she’s worked exceedingly hard at concealing—because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.

THE SOCIETY
By: Karen Winn
Published: January 20. 2026
Publisher: Dutton
Thriller
Format: eBook for Review

I previously read and reviewed Karen Winn’s OUR LITTLE WORLD.

Vivian Lawrence was born into old-money Boston, but when her family fortune vanishes, so does her carefully curated life. Desperate, she turns to an old family legend about ties to the Knox and its inheritance, seeking a way into the exclusive secret society. She doesn’t expect that entry to come in the form of Peter, a Knox insider with movie star good looks and just enough roughness to his charm to make Vivian truly weak in the knees for the first time in her life.

Far from Boston’s glittering elite is newcomer Taylor Adams, a young nurse eager to leave her humble past behind. When the effortlessly glamorous Vivian lands in her ER after a suspicious fall, Taylor is instantly captivated. But then Vivian abruptly disappears without a trace, sending Taylor on a search for answers that pulls her into the Knox itself—as their new employee.

The further Taylor ventures into the Knox’s world of unimaginable wealth and dark history, the more the mystery of Vivian deepens. As Taylor will soon discover, more so than wealth or status, secrets are the society’s true currency.

THE INSOMNIACS
By: Allison Winn Scotch
Published: April 14, 2026
Publisher: Berkley
Thriller
Format: eBook for Review

I haven’t read any of Allison Winn Scotch’s books, but I have some on my to-read list. I love books that bring strangers together, and then they become like family.

In the city that never sleeps, it’s not always easy to share what’s on your mind with the people who know you best. Huddled in an all-night diner over coffee and pancakes, a lonely middle-aged mom, an injured baseball pro, an elusive retiree, and a young waitress examine the thoughts that plague them in the middle of the night.

Empty-nester Sybil does what she does best: rolls up her sleeves and spearheads the efforts to turn this group of strangers into friends. Aimless after an injury threatens to ruin his career, Zeke finds genuine connection among the unlikely group. Tight-lipped Julian, who’s seemingly adrift in retirement and attempting to rebuild a relationship with his daughter, expands their circle when he takes their cagey diner waitress, Betty, under his wing. Betty, cautious about strangers and uncertain about strokes of good luck, entertains the trio in an attempt to resolve her own problems, which she keeps close to the vest.

Within a few restless months, the group of strangers have become a fragile family. And when one of them goes missing in the dead of night, they’re thrust into a propulsive mystery pulled straight from the true-crime podcasts Sybil obsesses over. Though ill-prepared and unequipped for the job, they begin to piece together the clues left behind. In chasing down answers, they uncover a reason for their friend’s disappearance, and are forced to wrestle with the question of how well you can really know anyone—and once you do, how much are you willing to risk to save them? And in doing so, save yourself?

TO THE MOON AND BACK
By: Eliana Ramage
Narrated by: Nathalie Standingcloud, Kamali Minter, and Tanis Parenteau
Published: September 2, 2025
Publisher: Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster
Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Book of the Month

I forgot to mention this one last month as my Book of the Month choice. I love space novels, and this also has a Native American main character, which makes the story more unique.

My mother took my sister and me, and she drove through the night to a place she felt a claim to, a place on earth she thought we might be safe. I stopped asking questions. I picked little glass pieces from my sister’s hair. I watched the moon.

Steph Harper is on the run. When she was six, her mother, Hannah, fled an abusive husband—with Steph and her younger sister, Kayla, in tow—to Cherokee Nation, where she hoped they might finally belong. In response, Steph sets her sights as far away from Oklahoma as she can get, vowing that she will let nothing get in the way of pursuing the rigorous physical and academic training she knows she will need to be accepted by NASA, and ultimately, to go to the moon.

Spanning three decades and several continents, To the Moon and Back encompasses Steph’s turbulent journey, along with the multifaceted and intertwined lives of the three women closest to her sister Kayla, an artist who goes on to become an Indigenous social media influencer, and whose determination to appear good takes her life to unexpected places; Steph’s college girlfriend Della Owens, who strives to reclaim her identity as an adult after being removed from her Cherokee family through a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act; and Hannah, Steph and Kayla’s mother, who has held up her family’s tribal history as a beacon of inspiration to her children, all the while keeping her own past a secret.

In Steph’s certainty that only her ambition can save her, she will stretch her bonds with each of these women to the point of breaking, at once betraying their love and generosity, and forcing them to reconsider their own deepest desires in her shadow. Told through an intricately woven tapestry of narrative, To the Moon and Back is an astounding and expansive novel of mothers and daughters, love and sacrifice, alienation and heartbreak, terror and wonder. At its core, it is the story of the extraordinary lengths to which one woman will go to find space for herself.

BUCKEYE
By: Patrick Ryan
Narrated by: Michael Crouch
Published: September 2, 2025
Publisher: Random House
Historical Fiction
Format: Audiobook through Audible

I chose this with my Audible credit this month. I have heard so many great things about this one, and it was just named as Amazon’s Best Book of 2025.

In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal’s wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: She is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those they’ve lost. Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship, out of harm’s way—until a telegram suggests that the unthinkable might have happened.

Later, as the country reconstructs in the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie—but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to reexamine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.

Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love and for goodness.

ST. SIMONS MEMOIR
By: Eugenia Price
Published: April 27, 2021
Publisher: Turner
Non-Fiction/Memoir
Format: Hardcover purchase

I revisited St. Simons Island in October and bought Eugenia Price’s memoir at Righton Books. I shared her first book in the St. Simons Trilogy, HERE.

Her joyous remembrance of her first decade on an enchanted island and of those cherished friends who inspired her best-selling trilogy,  Lighthouse, New Moon Rising,  and  Beloved Invader.  After only a few golden hours on Georgia’s St. Simons Island, Eugenia Price longed to make it her home. Even though she loved her old town house in Chicago, and her busy writing and lecturing schedule, the shadow-streaked, light-filled place had cast its spell and would not let her go. With deep affection and humor she shares her many friendships—with “the first six,” the elderly folk who gave her their love, their stories, and their memories so that she could write her novels of St. Simons; with her beloved editor, Tay Hohoff, who encouraged and goaded her; and with all the other people who helped with her writing and with the building of her Island home in the midst of the “dear dark woods.” Although she had been uncertain at first of her welcome to St. Simons, she later experienced the rare privilege of having the Island name a day in her honor. These intimate pages are also filled with her quiet faith in God and eternal gratitude for His grace in sending her to St. Simons. She calls her book a memoir, but it is more than that. It is a thanksgiving celebration of life and of its surprising goodness even in the midst of sorrow and loss.

DEVOTIONAL CROSSWORD PUZZLE BOOK
Renew Your Mind
Published: April 15, 2025
Publisher: Dayspring
Non-Fiction/Activity Book
Format: Hardcover Spiral Bound Purchase

I’ve been really enjoying word puzzles and thought I would enjoy this one. I also love that it is spiral-bound.

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, it’s easy to become weary and overwhelmed by pressures that can drain our spirits and cloud our minds. With insightful devotions and thought-provoking crossword puzzles, the Devotional Crossword Puzzle Book: Renew Your Mind will give you an opportunity to reconnect with the Source of true peace and joy. While you seek solutions to each puzzle, you’ll discover moments of reflection in God’s Word, letting its eternal truths sink deep into your soul and transform your outlook on life.

KEEP YOUR FORK, THERE’S PIE!
Serve Up a Slice of the Sweet Life with 75 Family Recipes for Delicious Pies, Desserts, and More!
By: Tara Royer Steel
Published: October 7, 2025
Publisher: Ten Peaks Press
Non-Fiction/Cookbook
Format: Hardcover purchase

This one looks so fun! I love pie and really want to try and perfect my pie baking. I like that this one also has outside-of-the-box pie, like a taco breakfast casserole.

Tara Royer Steele, the proPIEetor of the popular Royers Pie Haven in Round Top, Texas, presents 75 mouthwatering pie, dessert, and breakfast recipes to savor and enjoy.

When was the last time you had a delicious piece of pie? For many, pies conjure up bubbly-warm memories of hometown diners and family holidays. Now, you can create new nostalgia with this irresistible collection of confections from Tara Royer Steele, aka “The Pie Queen.” 

THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS: THE ESSENTIAL RECIPES
120 Greatest Hits, New Twists, and Perfected Classics
By: Ree Drummond
Published: October 28, 2025
Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
Non-Fiction/Cookbook
Format: Hardcover purchase

I’m a big fan of Ree Drummond and have all of her cookbooks. This new one is hefty and full of great recipes. It would make a great gift for a college student or a newly married couple.

Bestselling author, Food Network personality, businesswoman, and mother of five Ree Drummond has her fair share of dog-eared and oil-splattered recipes in constant rotation. She’s learned a lot since she first started sharing recipes with the world almost twenty years ago, and now when she’s in the kitchen, her main focus is finding ways to make her all-time favorite dishes even more delicious versions of themselves—and to ensure each method is absolutely foolproof. This is a book of everybody’s tried-and-true Ree favorites, but re-examined, re-worked, and made even more perfect than the original, so that Ree’s millions of fans (and their families) can share in the delicious results!

Ree focuses on her can’t-live-without dishes—those classic favorites that families turn to, week in and week out, no matter the era or generation—and including many dishes that are destined to be classics for years to come. Whether you’re just starting out as a home cook or you’re already a seasoned pro at feeding a family, you’ll love this one stop shop for all the recipes Ree and her family have loved most for the past twenty-five years, made even better this time around. Because if a recipe is worthy of repeating, it’s worthy of perfecting.

The Pioneer Woman The Essential Recipes serves up dishes for every occasion,

Even more perfect pancakes, for truly memorable breakfasts Macaroni and cheese, for an indulgent dinner or versatile side Meatloaf, mastered by Ree for a comforting supper Splendid, simple pot roast, the perfect Sunday dinner Chicken pot pie, for a taste of nostalgia Sublime scalloped potatoes with ham—rich, hearty, and so delicious Classic pies and cookies for every occasion Alongside these re-tested and revamped classics, you’ll find variations to suit the pickiest palate and offer options for every occasion, like French Dip, Whiskey Carrots, and Chocolate Sheet Cake. And detailed instructions for Roast Chicken, French Fries, and Hard-Boiled Eggs Once and for All will give you the go-to methods you’ll turn to time and again.

To take away the guesswork, Ree presents all her recipes with step-by-step photos, her signature style from day one. There are also useful tips and tricks for home cooks who are looking to streamline their meal-prep efforts and revolutionize the time they spend in the kitchen, including Ree’s failsafe tips for getting ahead.

With all your very favorite tried-and-true recipes in one spot, figuring out your next meal has never been so easy. If there’s ever been a cookbook Ree considers her recipe bible . . . this is the one!

MAILMAN
My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home
By: Stephen Starring Grant
Published: July 8, 2025
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Non-Fiction/Memoir
Format: Hardcover Purchase

My mom was a mail carrier for 25 years, and my dad also worked for the postal service. I couldn’t pass up reading this one. My favorite thing during the summer was to go along, once in a while, on my mom’s mail route.

Steve Grant was laid off in March of 2020. He was fifty and had cancer, so he needed health insurance, fast. Which is how he found himself a rural letter carrier in Appalachia, back in his old hometown.

Suddenly, he was the guy with the goods, delivering dog food and respirators and lube and heirloom tomato seeds and Lord of the Rings replica swords. He transported chicken feed to grandmothers living alone in the mountains and forded a creek with a refrigerator on his back. But while he carried the mail, he also carried a whole lot more than just the mail, including a family legacy of rage and the anxiety of having lost his identity along with his corporate job.

And yet, slowly, surrounded by a ragtag but devoted band of letter carriers, working this different kind of job, Grant found himself becoming a different kind of person. He became a lifeline for lonely people, providing fleeting moments of human contact and the assurance that our government still cares. He embraced the thrill of tackling new challenges, the pride of contributing to something greater than himself, the joy of camaraderie, and the purpose found in working hard for his family and doing a small, good thing for his community. He even kindled a newfound faith.

A brash and loving portrait of an all-American institution, Mailman offers a deeply felt portrait of both rural America and the dedicated (and eccentric) letter carriers who keep our lives running smoothly day to day. One hell of a raconteur, Steve Grant has written an irreverent, heartfelt, and often hilarious tribute to the simple heroism of daily service, the dignity and struggle of blue-collar work, the challenge and pleasure of coming home again after twenty-five years away, and the delight of going the extra mile for your neighbors, every day.

THE BELOVED INVADER
St. Simons Trilogy #3
By: Eugenia Price
Published: May 29, 2012
Publisher: Turner
Historical Fiction
Format: Hardcover Purchase

I also bought the last book in the St. Simons Trilogy from Righton Books during my trip to St. Simons Island in October.

The Beloved Invader is Anson Dodge, a wealthy young Northerner, who, when he came south to St. Simons Island, found God and lost his heart to the beautiful land. Called into the ministry, Anson becomes the pastor of the little island church and gives his life to the people there. His wife, Ellen, also loves St. Simons and its inhabitants, but despite their caring, many of the islanders turn their war-inspired distrust of Yankees against the Dodges. There are a few, like the Goulds, who open their hearts and homes, and Anna Gould falls in love with Anson – both she and Ellen devote themselves to him. When tragedy strikes at the heart of the little community, they seek consolation for their grief, struggling with their faith and attempting to rebuild their dreams.

NOT OUR KIND
By: Kitty Zeldis
Published: September 4, 2018
Publisher: Harper
Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback gift

This was a birthday gift from my best friend. She saw the author at a book festival and grabbed this book for me. It sounds exactly like something I’d like.

One rainy morning in June, two years after the end of World War II, a minor traffic accident brings together Eleanor Moskowitz and Patricia Bellamy. Their encounter seems fated: Eleanor, a teacher and recent Vassar graduate, needs a job. Patricia’s difficult thirteen-year-old daughter Margaux, recovering from polio, needs a private tutor.

Though she feels out of place in the Bellamys’ rarefied and elegant Park Avenue milieu, Eleanor forms an instant bond with Margaux. Soon the idealistic young woman is filling the bright young girl’s mind with Shakespeare and Latin. Though her mother, a hat maker with a little shop on Second Avenue, disapproves, Eleanor takes pride in her work, even if she must use the name “Moss” to enter the Bellamys’ restricted doorman building each morning, and feels that Patricia’s husband, Wynn, may have a problem with her being Jewish.

Invited to keep Margaux company at the Bellamys’ country home in a small town in Connecticut, Eleanor meets Patricia’s unreliable, bohemian brother, Tom, recently returned from Europe. The spark between Eleanor and Tom is instant and intense. Flushed with new romance and increasingly attached to her young pupil, Eleanor begins to feel more comfortable with Patricia and much of the world she inhabits. As the summer wears on, the two women’s friendship grows—until one hot summer evening, a line is crossed, and both Eleanor and Patricia will have to make important decisions—choices that will reverberate through their lives.

Gripping and vividly told, Not Our Kind illuminates the lives of two women on the cusp of change—and asks how much our pasts can and should define our futures.

THE ACADEMY
By: Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham
Published: September 16, 2025
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Fiction
Format: Hardcover purchase from Book of the Month

I have never read an Elin Hilderbrand book, but I like boarding school novels and thought this one sounded scandalous. I also love that this is a mother/daughter writing team. This was my free Birthday book from Book of the Month.

It’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy and amidst the happy chaos of friends reuniting, selfies uploading, and cars unloading, shocking news: America Today just ranked Tiffin the number two boarding school in the country. It’s a seventeen-spot jump – was there a typo? The dorms need to be renovated, their sports teams always come in last place, and let’s just say Tiffin students are known for being more social than academic. On the other hand, the campus is exquisite, class sizes are small, and the dining hall is run by an acclaimed New York chef. And they do have fun—lots of parties and school dances, and a piano man plays in the student lounge every Monday night.

But just as the rarefied air of Tiffin is suffused with self-congratulation, the wheels begin to turn – and then they fall off the bus. One by one, scandalous blind items begin to appear on phones across Tiffin’s campus, thanks to a new app called ZipZap, and nobody is safe. From Davi Banerjee, international influencer and resident queen bee, to Simone Bergeron, the new and surprisingly young history teacher, to Charley Hicks, a transfer student who seems determined not to fit in, to Cordelia Spooner, Admissions Director with a somewhat idiosyncratic methodology – everyone has something to hide.

As if high school wasn’t dramatic enough…As the year unfolds, bonds are forged and broken, secrets are shared and exposed, and the lives of Tiffin’s students and staff are changed forever. The Academy is Elin Hilderbrand’s fresh, buzzy take on boarding school life, and a thrilling new direction from one of America’s most satisfying and popular storytellers.

NEVER OVER
By: Clare Gilmore
Published: October 28, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Romance
Format: Hardcover purchase

I chose this as my October Book of the Month.

Twenty-five-year-old Paige Lancaster is one contract away from earning a living doing her favorite thing in the world: writing songs. But when a music industry professional suggests she might be holding back with her lyrics to lessen the heartbreak of an old flame, Paige doubts if her music is ready to be heard.

In a rare, impulsive move, Paige contacts Liam Bishop after four years of no contact to ask him for a small favor: date her, and then re-break her heart, all so she can remember what those big, songworthy emotions felt like. And since Liam is the one who first set Paige on this career path, he hesitantly agrees.

Across three months of Liam’s summer work travel, the exes are forced to share hotel beds, rehash the past, and date in the present, all while navigating the building attraction between them they both swore was the one line of their agreement they wouldn’t cross.

But when it becomes near impossible not to act on their rippling chemistry, and as ever intensifying feelings blur the lines of what’s actually real and what’s driven by the music, Paige and Liam will both have to decide what’s more important: art for the sake of it, or love over everything.

CHILDREN’S FICTION AND NON-FICTION

TOGETHER ON EID
By: Sana Rafi
Illustrated by: Mariam Quraishi
Published: January 13, 2026
Publisher: Chronicle Kids
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book for Review

I don’t know anything about the holiday, Eid, but I’m thrilled to learn about it through this new picture book.

Eid is a gathering, a party, a feast … and so much more.

Together on Eid celebrates the many gifts of the holiday—from excitedly awaiting the arrival of guests to enjoying steaming hot rotis to sharing treasured family stories. It is a loving ode to cultural traditions, warm memories, and a special day that brings people together.

Eid is a gift that continues to shine brightly with each passing year.

MEET REBA
By: Stephanie Wheeler
Illustrated by: Annika Chambers
Published: October 21, 2025
Publisher: Spinning Wheel Stories
Fiction
Format: Hardcover Picture Book for Review

Reba is adorable, and her story is important for little ones.

Reba is brave, strong, and fiercely independent—she can do almost everything on her own. But when it comes to learning how to ride a bike, she discovers that accepting help doesn’t make her any less capable. It just means she has someone cheering her on.

Inspired by the natural symbiotic relationship between rhinos and oxpeckers, this heartwarming story celebrates both self-reliance and the quiet magic of friendship.

Every illustration was lovingly created by hand over the course of several months, bringing Reba’s vibrant world to life with warmth, whimsy, and thoughtful detail.

THE BLACK MARKET
By: Jed Alexander
Published: September 9, 2025
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Middle-Grade Mystery
Format: Paperback for Review

Even though this has a jack-o-lantern on the cover, this mystery can be enjoyed any time of year.

When Martin’s great-aunt brings him an unusual pair of shoes, Martin is determined to find the strange marketplace where she bought them—the Black Market, a constantly relocating swap meet where the world’s strangest and most dangerous items are exchanged by some very suspicious (and disguised) characters. Though his aunt has sworn him to secrecy, he enlists the help of his best friend Jess to find the Black Market on Halloween. Soon, Martin trades his shoes for the legendary Dirty Bag of Tricks and discovers that not all fun is good and harmless.

Author-artist Jed Alexander’s debut novel is filled with scares, determined, relatable kids, and uncanny pranks; accompanied by Alexander’s classic-style, atmospheric illustrations. 

RISK, RESILIENCE, AND REDEMPTION
A Miraculous Holocaust Survival Story
By: Frank W. Baker
Published: October 21, 2025
Publisher: Tree of Life
Non-Fiction/Biography
Format: Paperback for Review

This biography was originally published in a graphic novel format and is now available as a chapter book perfect for classroom instruction.

What is it like to have lived through six years of Holocaust slave labor and survive?

Bluma Tishgarten and Felix Goldberg were torn from their families and communities and cast into Hell… Adolf Hitler was the devil that presided over Germany’s descent into madness and led the Nazis in their murderous march across Europe and beyond from 1939 to 1945. Despite not knowing if their friends and neighbors and their families were still alive, the two young Polish Jews struggled through the grueling conditions of near-starvation and slave labor as well as torture and terror with only the faint glimmer of hope as their beacon leading them to survival.

They found each other. They found a life together and they found their way to America. This is their miraculous story of their trials and tribulations… of the risks they took, the resilience to persevere, and their ultimate redemption.

MY FIRST CHRISTMAS PIANO MUSIC
Easy-to-Play Holiday Songs for Kids
By: Emily Norris
Illustrated by: Malgorzata Detner
Published: July 29, 2025
Publisher: Zeitgeist – Z Kids
Format: Paperback for Review

What a great gift idea for a child just starting piano lessons.

Get into the holiday spirit with My First Christmas Piano Music, a book of popular Christmas songs from the bestselling author of the My First Piano Book series. With beginner-friendly arrangements and guidance like hand positions, note letters, and finger numbers, even the newest pianists can learn these songs with ease and confidence. Playing and singing along to this delightful collection of holiday songs is the perfect way to spark your child’s love for the piano—and spend time together as a family during the festive season.

BUG EXPLORERS: A BUG BOOK FOR KIDS
By: Emily Greenhalgh
Published: October 14, 2025
Publisher: Zeitgeist – Z Kids
Non-Fiction
Format: eBook for Review

Bug-loving preschoolers will love exploring outdoors with this activity book. Emily Greenhalgh also created these fun activity books for kids.

Perfect for preschoolers and kindergarteners in their “bug phase,” this playful adventure guide pairs engaging backyard bug profiles with simple outdoor activities designed to spark wonder, build confidence, and get kids exploring in nature.

Whether you’re in the backyard, on a city sidewalk, at the park, or on a forest trail—each page turns a simple outing with your little into an exciting bug excursion. An engaging tool for budding nature enthusiasts, this book is meant to be stuffed in a backpack, brought outside, and smudged with dirt and joy. Bug Explorers! is an invitation for families to slow down, look closely, and appreciate the tiny creatures all around us.

CONSTRUCTION SITE PRESCHOOL ACTIVITY BOOK
Fun Learning with Trucks, Tools, & Mighty Machines
By: Brightly
Illustrated by: Liv Wan
Published: May 27, 2025
Publisher: Zeitgeist – Z Kids
Activity Book
Format: eBook for Review

Construction-loving preschoolers will love learning through this activity book.

Kids ages 3 to 5 can explore the busy, noisy world of excavators and jackhammers with Construction Site Preschool Activity Book. They’ll have fun learning about what the crew wears to stay safe, counting how many building floors a wrecking ball truck will demolish, tracing a path for a concrete truck, and identifying tools in a toolbox! Filled with fun facts, tracing numbers and ABC’s, matching, pattern recognition, coloring activities, and more, preschoolers will discover the building blocks of learning through their love of construction.

WOULD YOU RATHER? JUNIOR THAT’S SO GROSS EDITION
Published: June 10, 2025
Publisher: Zeitgeist – Z Kids
Middle-Grade Activity Book
Format: eBook for Review

Kids love these activity books with questions they can ask their friends.

Most young kids love talking about burps, farts, rotten eggs, and used tissues, and parents are taken along for the (pretty gross) ride. So why not turn their fascination with yucky details into a fun—and funny!—conversation with your little one? These “Would You Rather?” questions are written just for kids ages 5–8 and their parents. Whether you’re choosing between playing with toys covered in vomit or pee, or living in a house filled with used Band-Aids or Q-tips (eww!), Would You Rather? That’s So Gross! Edition turns the revolting into something to relish with your child.

WOULD YOU RATHER? WINTER EDITION
By: Lindsey Daly
Published: October 21, 2025
Publisher: Zeitgeist – Z Kids
Middle-Grade Activity Book
Format: eBook for Review

Another fun activity book with a winter theme.

Cozy up to winter fun with this laugh-out-loud Would You Rather? book—the perfect companion for all your favorite winter activities. Whether you’re building a snowman, skiing down a snow-covered slope, eating comfort food, or celebrating the solstice, this winter book for kids and their families will keep you warm on chilly winter days.

FROM CHALLENGE TO CHAMPION
12 Inspiring Sports Stories for New Readers
By: Skyler Trepel
Illustrated by: Lorenzo Fornaciari
Published: April 8, 2025
Publisher: Zeitgeist – Z Kids
Middle-Grade Non-Fiction
Format: eBook for Review

Kids love these sports stories about real-life athletes.

Do you have a sports-obsessed kid eager to learn more about their favorite stars? Thrill them with From Challenge to Champion,a collection of stories about legendary athletes from soccer, basketball, gymnastics, baseball, and more. They’ll learn how these athletes overcame incredible challenges—whether injury, doubt, burnout, or difficult beginnings—and emerged victorious. From Simone Biles and Serena Williams to Lionel Messi and LeBron James, each athlete’s tale is a testament to hard work and perseverance that is sure to inspire and empower your child. Perfect for bedtime reading, classroom libraries, or as a gift to young readers, this book is sure to become a treasured early chapter book.

Which books are you adding to your reading list?

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So many books, so little time!