What a difficult, trying, emotional time we’ve endured in these last few weeks. If you’re walking around the house ferrying a heavy blanket of sadness around with you, I feel you. I am, too. While I miss the old routines, there are certain routines that have stayed the same. In our household they serve as lifelines for our well-being, kids and adults alike. The favorite of these routines is family reading time. 

We typically spend an hour a day reading our own books together in the living room, reposing in our various ways in armchairs and the couch. It’s a peaceful and strangely unifying activity, even as we read disparate stories. In the evenings, at bedtime, I read aloud for another hour to my eight-year old and ten-year old, which is as much about the stories as it is about cuddling, nearness. 

In celebration of these calming reading routines, here is a list of books excellent for both reading aloud and for private literary adventures.

For the kids:

Tiny, Perfect Things, by M.H. Clark, illustrated by Madeline Kloepper (Compendium): A child and her grandfather take a walk around their neighborhood and delight in the small wonders all around them: A spider’s web, a dragonfly, a bird’s nest filled with eggs. If you’re like my family, you might be taking quite a few long, contemplative walks with your kiddos these days, and this pretty picture book is a thoughtful accompaniment to our outdoor excursions and a reminder to slow down and look closer.

Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark, illustrated by Ulla Thynell (Chronicle Books). I love reading folk and fairy tales to my children they provide an imaginary escape and also showcase children being brave amidst difficult circumstances. This new collection, beautifully illustrated, contains 16 stories that will transport your family to a wintry land of dragons, trolls, and glittering northern lights.

New Kid by Jerry Craft (Quill Tree Books). This multiple prize-winning graphic novel is about a seventh grader named Jordan who loves cartooning and longs to attend art school. Instead, his parents enroll him in an academically elite private school, an entirely different world from the Washington Heights neighborhood where he lives. My ten-year-old son, a fan of the book, says, “This is a book about creativity, family, and friends.”

For Teens or YA-Lit Lovers:

Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez (Page Street Publishing). Described by the publisher as “A lush tapestry of magic, romance, and revolución, drawing inspiration from Bolivian politics and history,” this novel tells the tale of Ximena, who serves as a decoy for a powerful condesa (countess). Ximena is able to spin thread from moonlight, and she uses her rare talent to hide messages of rebellion in tapestries. A starred review in Shelf Awareness notes that the novel is a “gorgeously written YA debut builds a world that feels true to life with a distinctive magic system at its core.”

For historical fiction lovers:

Hilary Mantel’s third novel of her Wolf Hall trilogy—detailing the fictionalized life of Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to King Henry VIII—is out now, and I’m devouring it greedily. The Mirror and the Light (Henry Holt) is as intelligent and propulsive as its antecedents (Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies), its very first line beginning with the aftermath of Anne Boleyn’s execution: “Once the queen’s head is severed, he walks away.” Historical interest aside, what fascinates me most about this trilogy is Hilary Mantel’s genius at the character deep-dive: Thomas Cromwell leaps to life on the page in all of his human complexity, and the political turbulence of his era runs in a jagged parallel line to our own. Mantel is one of the world’s finest living novelists and this may be one of the most powerful series of historical novels ever penned.

For Armchair Travelers of All Ages:

Dark Hedges, Wizard Island, and Other Magical Places that Really Exist by L. Rader Crandall (Running Press Kids).  Wow, what a beautiful book, filled with vibrant full-color photographs and creatively-written thought pieces about locations such as the Waitomo Glowworm Caves in New Zealand and the Lost City of Petra in Jordan. Fun to read aloud with the family or to peruse alone.

For Poetry Lovers:

Neighborhood of Gray Houses by Derek Annis (Lost Horse Press). The speaker of these moving, surreal, surprising poems examines the keening lifelong pain of abandonment and abuse, the thudding despair of drugs and destitution, and the promise, fragile and hopeful, of forging a gentler life and loving a child of one’s own. “Dead birds keep finding their way / into my poems / and I can’t stop tossing them / from the balcony, / begging them to fly,” Annis writes in “This Time of Year.” I was struck by how beautiful these birds are when they, to our surprise, lift and soar through his words.

Local independent bookstores like Auntie’s, Wishing Tree, and The Well-Read Moose need our help right now to survive the current crisis. Be sure to order these and other titles from your local bookstores.