Buyer's Picks


We asked our children's book buyer to share her favorite titles of the year for holiday gift-giving. Many of her selections are included in our Remarkable Reads Book Bundles for young readers, but not all of them. Watch Brandi introduce the bundles, then read on to discover even more picks for the kids and teens on your list.
 


ABOUT BRANDI: Brandi has been buying books for Changing Hands for more than a decade. When she's not reading picture books, middle-grade novels, and YA fantasy, she likes humorous fiction and the occasional memoir. She loves cats, giraffes, swing dancing, and anything that lets her nurture her inner child. She's especially fond of matching young readers with the perfect book.
 
 


We asked book buyer Michelle to share her favorite titles of the year for holiday gift-giving. Many of them are included in the Remarkable Reads Book Bundles she introduces in the video—click to watch her highlight the #OwnVoices bundle she curated—but those remarkable reads are just the beginning. Read on for more picks from our talented buyer of fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers.

FROM MICHELLE: “2020 was demoralizing, humbling, devastating and to borrow from Liz Gilbert, full of 'big magic.' I got married. I moved my mother across the courtyard. (I can literally see my mom and her cat from my front window.) I got in a car accident. I had many difficult conversations. I cried. I raged. But when all is said and done, I became an even truer version of myself and right beside me every step of the way were books. These are just a sampling of the books that sustained me, healed me and sheltered me with possibility.” 

 


ABOUT MICHELLE: Michelle (pronouns: she/her) is a buyer at Changing Hands Bookstore. She is on the board of directors of the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association (MPIBA), is a member of the American Booksellers Association Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and was a 2019 Kirkus Prize Judge for Fiction. Before joining Changing Hands, Michelle worked for nearly a decade at Penguin Random House. She's an Arizona native and reluctant New Yorker, an avid reader of literary fiction and creative nonfiction, a podcast enthusiast, a pop culture aficionado, and a crazy cat lady. You can shop her complete list of staff picks here.