2024 Holiday Gift Guide

November 15, 2024 Lauren Brown

Books make the best gifts and here’s why:

No assembly
No extra pieces to hunt for
No batteries required
Books can be used over and over again
Books never go out of style
Books promote imagination and wonder
Books stay with you for a lifetime

Favorite New Releases

*Affiliate links for favorite new releases with Bookshop.org, a platform that supports Indies like us. Use these links to earn The Story Shop a percentage of the profits or order directly through us over the phone/via email for even more support!

Surprise Boxes

Our Surprise Box of Books is perfect for the avid reader or the new reader! Let us know some recently enjoyed titles, a favorite genre, or broadly a beloved subject like unicorns or World War II, and we’ll pull several of our best titles for the recipient.

Or order a Surprise Box of Books and dedicate it to holiday titles! We’ll pack the box full of delightful Christmas and Winter books, and maybe even some cozy holiday goodies like hot cocoa and holiday candy.

Bookish Gifts

Puzzles, plushies, and accessories, oh my!

Create a perfectly bookish evening in a gift: A bookish puzzle to put together for a cozy evening, with a hot chocolate and a bookish mug to drink from, cuddle with a book character plushie, dive into one of our gorgeous editions, plus cozy book-themed socks. What’s not to love?

Buying for someone who likes things a little more shiny? We have bookish pins and glittery fairy wands, too!

Bonus: Our beautiful non-fiction books double as fascinating coffee table books!

Audiobooks

If you’re looking to skip the post office madness, audiobook memberships through Libro.fm make the perfect gift! You choose the membership (1, 3, 6, or 12 months) or choose the number of credits, your gift recipient picks their own audiobooks, and you support our shop with your purchase. Win-win-win!

Libro.fm audiobook gift memberships are available worldwide, and you can purchase them for yourself in addition to giving them as gifts.

Gift a membership!

Author Event: Katrina Moore of The Star In You

October 17, 2024 Lauren Brown

Join us for a Story Time Event!

See you Saturday, October 19th at 10:30am for a special Meet the Author Story Time! We will read Katrina’s The Star in You, then have a Q&A with the author, and a book signing. Recommended for ages 4-8, but all are welcome! (The event is FREE, but pre-order the book for a guarenteed signing copy! Pre-orders get perks like first in the Wardrobe!)

About Katrina:

Katrina Moore is an author and former elementary educator. She holds a M.A. in Teaching and taught for thirteen years in Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. She writes in Georgia, where her mission is to create books that children will hug for ages. She is the author of acclaimed and beloved picture books, Chang’e on the Moon, Hope is a Hop, Sometimes Love, One Hug, Grandpa Grumps, Grumpy New Year, and The Star in You. She is also known for her chapter book series, Teeny Houdini.

About The Star in you:

BE KIND meets INSIDE OUT in this bright and poignant picture book that is an inspirational anthem about celebrating the unique "star" that shines brightly within all of us.

Did you know you have a star inside you?

Maybe it's vibrant pink, or glistening green, or even periwinkle blue.

Perhaps it's smooth, or sharp, or bent.

But the star is always there, guiding you when you feel lost or alone. You just have to listen to it.

Follow a young child on her first day at a new school in this uplifting ode to the extraordinary potential inside all of us, perfect for fans of YOU MATTER and BE YOU.

Can’t make it to the event? Katrina has wonderfully offered to sign copies for shipping to patrons far and wide! Snag a signed copy here!

Pre-Order Here!

Author Event: Mia Armstrong of I Am A Masterpiece

October 3, 2024 Lauren Brown

Join us for a Story Time Event!

See you Saturday, October 5th at 10:30am for a special Meet the Author Story Time! We will read Mia’s I AM A MASTERPIECE, then have a Q&A with the author, and a book signing. Recommended for ages 3-9, but all are welcome! (The event is FREE, but pre-order the book for a guaranteed signing copy! Pre-orders get perks like first in the Wardrobe!)

About Mia:

Mia Armstrong is a SAG-AFTRA actress, model, and voiceover artist that has declared Down syndrome her “superpower.” In 2022, she made history as the first child with Down syndrome to voiceover a cartoon character.

About I Am a Masterpiece!: An Empowering Story about Inclusivity and Growing Up with Down Syndrome:

Tween actress Mia Armstrong celebrates her fun, funny, beautiful childhood living with Down syndrome in this debut picture book.

Mia likes many of the things other people like—going to the beach, the color blue, drawing. But she doesn't like when strangers stare at her because she looks different from them.

Down syndrome allows Mia to see and understand the world in a way that may not make sense to others. She considers it her superpower—and instead of it making her strange, she considers herself a masterpiece. As we all are.

In this sparkling picture book, Mia offers a glimpse into the life of a child with Down syndrome, helping some readers see themselves in a book and helping others understand those friends, classmates, and family members who are neurodivergent.

Pre-Order Here!

Book Review: Olivetti

April 18, 2024 Lauren Brown

Publisher Summary

A heartfelt debut middle-grade novel told from the unique vantage points of a witty typewriter and an introverted boy—for fans of Wishtree and A Rover’s Story.

Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindle family—the humans he’s lived with for years. The Brindles are busy: Dad and Mom work constantly, three of their children put the extra in extra-curriculars, and Ernest, their shy twelve-year-old, goes off alone to read.

When Olivetti learns Mom has mysteriously gone missing, he believes he can help find her. He breaks the only rule of his ‘kind’ and types back to Ernest, who must face what he and his family have been running from, The Everything That Happened. Only by working together will they find the parts of themselves they’ve lost.

Bookseller Review

This bookseller devoured Olivetti in one sitting. I was in awe of the beautiful cover and whimsical summary, but this beautiful book was not at all what I have come to expect of Middle Grade Fiction; and it was magical. Millington writes the kind of hope and heartbreak and love that gets you in the corners of your heart and makes you want to laugh and cry and hug someone (or your book) all at once. Shy Ernest and opinionated Olivetti will capture your imagination and you will fall in love with the community that Millington has created. A truly enchanted tale of a boy, a typewriter, and becoming more than you thought you could be.

“A wonderful story that encourages the reader to use their imagination and solve a sweet mystery. Most importantly: the typewriter that witnesses it all; can it pull the family together?”

— Kristina Webb

Pre-order your event copy Here

Book Review: Our Divine Mischief

March 12, 2024 Lauren Brown

Publisher Summary

A sweeping YA fantasy inspired by Scottish history and folklore, Our Divine Mischief takes readers on a journey told in three voices: a determined heroine, an outcast young man, and a wish-granting canine. Their adventure spans an island fishing village to the king’s court in a story about identity, belonging, and the love between a human and her dog.

The Goddess Trial is designed to push young people to their edge and mark their coming of age, but Áila LacInis is ready for whatever it brings. She sets sail from her small fishing village to the island of the goddess Yslet, fully expecting a divine encounter, but what she finds is … nothing at all. The goddess is completely absent, and the only thing on the island is a dirty, mangy dog. Suddenly, everything Áila has ever known and believed is upended and her future becomes shrouded in uncertainty.

Hew already completed the Goddess Trial and received the designation of Unblessed. He is an outcast in the village, until he is tasked with assisting Áila through a series of Ordeals the town elders designed to compensate for her failed Trial. For the first time, he has hope he can make something of his life.

Orail isn’t quite sure who or what she is. She remembers little before Áila’s arrival on the island, and now all she knows is that she’ll never leave Áila’s side. But as she begins to realize and remember, she discovers powers—and an identity—she never could have imagined.

Told from three perspectives, Our Divine Mischief is an epic fantasy inspired by Scottish history and mythology that includes political intrigue, a sweeping love story, and an exploration of the powerful bond between dogs and humans.

Bookseller Review

WARNING: this will be the quirky book you never knew you needed but will be in your top favorites before you can say Yslet.

“Golden light and thistle, O!
Golden light and thistle, O!
The pipe and drum begin to hum
of golden light and thistle, O!”

— Folksong within Our Divine Mischief

Howard’s prose (and verse) is captivating from beginning to end: the thickness of the atmosphere, the endearing and delightful details, the heart, the fun, the Trials and Ordeals (as well as the trials and ordeals), the characters, the fabulous twists. All of it is the stuff that makes up a Top 10 read of the year at the least and one that you will carry with you forever at the most. Howard especially excels with glorious complexities in her characters in ways that cause the reader to reflect on belonging, worth, integrity, home, and love within imperfection.

Worthy of note: the audio is fire. Stumbling over the names? Hear the lilt and the charm of the Scottish accent. And actually hear the song’s tune! It will be stuck in your head. You're welcome. Listen to it here.

BONUS: No content caveats. A clean read for precocious readers from 13 to 103.

Get a Copy Here