{"id":917,"date":"2015-11-11T22:11:45","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T22:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=917"},"modified":"2015-11-11T22:11:45","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T22:11:45","slug":"the-perfect-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=917","title":{"rendered":"The Perfect Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"

Always Overbooked<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Terri Schlichenmeyer<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Perfect Gift<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It sounds so clich\u00e9 doesn\u2019t it? But that\u2019s what you want to give to every single person on your gift list this year, from your family to your bestie to your neighbor. The Perfect Gift, however, isn\u2019t so perfectly easy to find \u2013 especially for that hard-to-buy-for person. So why not wrap up a book? Why not wrap up one of these\u2026?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the littlest reader, and a book that\u2019s sweet as can be: \u201cStella Brings the Family\u201d by Miriam B. Schiffer, illustrated by Holly Clifton-Brown. <\/strong>It\u2019s the story of a little girl whose school is having a Mother\u2019s Day event. Problem is, Stella has two daddies.<\/em> This book is the Perfect Gift for the 3-to-6-year-old whose school isn\u2019t quite as up-to-the-minute as it could be.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of options for teen readers; I particularly liked \u201cAlice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis\u201d by Alexis Coe, illustrations by Sally Klann<\/strong>. Based on a real historic event, this is the story of two girls who fell in love \u2013 one more so than the other. It\u2019s a little scandalous, a lot readable and The Perfect Gift for the girl who loves a delicious story.<\/p>\n

Also look for \u201cThis Book is Gay\u201d by James Dawson, <\/strong>an easy-to-read book that will answer a lot of questions your teen may have. The nice thing about this book is that it\u2019s appropriate for any kid ages 13 and up. It\u2019s The Perfect Gift for teens and their allies who are questioning.<\/p>\n

The possibilities are almost endless for the adult on your list, but I think there are two positively can\u2019t-miss authors \u2026<\/p>\n

First, \u201cA History of Loneliness\u201d by John Boyne<\/strong> is the story of a priest who\u2019s gone through seminary with a man he considers a friend. There\u2019s something about his friend that isn\u2019t right, however, but he can\u2019t quite figure out what it is. This is The Perfect Gift: a meandering book, quietly thoughtful, with a gently building tension that gets squirmier and squirmier until the pinnacle of the story pounces<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And if you want to give two Perfect Gifts, wrap up Boyne\u2019s \u201cThe Absolutist,\u201d<\/strong> which is a World War I tale of unrequited love. My best advice: buy two copies and read one yourself. Your giftee is going to be desperate for someone to discuss these books with\u2026.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll also read anything by Bob Morris.<\/strong> His \u201cAssisted Loving\u201d<\/strong> from a few years ago \u2013 a book of memories of his widowed father, dating, and falling in love – was a scream, both in laughter and in poignancy. This year, Morris wrote about his mother in \u201cBobby Wonderful,\u201d<\/strong> and it\u2019s another laugh \/ cry book (mostly the latter) because he writes about how much she loved him and how much he misses her now. It\u2019s the Perfect Gift for anyone who\u2019s ever had a Mom.<\/p>\n

So there you are: gift ideas for every hard-to-buy-for person you know. And, of course, if these ideas don\u2019t quite work, you can throw yourself at the mercy of the kind bookstore worker, who knows the exact Perfect Gift you need.<\/p>\n

Season\u2019s Readings!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Always Overbooked By Terri Schlichenmeyer   The Perfect Gift   It sounds so clich\u00e9 doesn\u2019t it? But that\u2019s what you want to give to every single person on your gift list this year, from your family to your bestie to your neighbor. The Perfect Gift, however, isn\u2019t so perfectly easy to find \u2013 especially for that hard-to-buy-for person. So why not wrap up a book? Why not wrap up one of these\u2026? Let\u2019s start with the littlest reader, and a book that\u2019s sweet as can be: \u201cStella Brings the Family\u201d by Miriam B. Schiffer, illustrated by Holly Clifton-Brown. It\u2019s the story of a little girl whose school is having a Mother\u2019s Day event. Problem is, Stella has two daddies. This book is the Perfect Gift for the 3-to-6-year-old whose school isn\u2019t quite as up-to-the-minute as it could be. There are a lot of options for teen readers; I particularly liked \u201cAlice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis\u201d by Alexis Coe, illustrations by Sally Klann. Based on a real historic event, this is the story of two girls who fell in love \u2013 one more so than the other. It\u2019s a little scandalous, a lot readable and The Perfect Gift […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[355],"tags":[818,814,813,368,819,812,817,359,811,815,810,367,358,820,816],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":919,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions\/919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}