The Cool Mom/Dad Recommendations
Winter Book Releases 2025-2026
From bedtime stories to insightful parenting guides — discover books that bring families closer. We've selected new heartwarming family reads and parenting picks for the cool mom and dad this winter.
february books:
Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History
by Helen Zoe Veit
An eye-opening investigation into why American kids no longer eat broadly and with gusto
"Enlightening ... a rigorous and persuasive call for change." ―Publishers Weekly, Starred
"Upends our assumptions about the foods children can and will eat with gusto."―Bettina Elias Siegel, author of Kid Food
Are children naturally picky? It sure seems that way. Yet, amazingly, pickiness used to be almost nonexistent. Well into the 20th century, Americans saw children as joyful omnivores who were naturally curious and eager to eat. Of course, this doesn't make sense today. Don't kids have special taste buds? Aren't they highly sensitive to food's texture and color? Aren't children incapable of liking "adult foods," and don't parents risk harming kids psychologically by urging them to eat?
But Americans in the past didn't think any of those things. They assumed that children could enjoy the same foods as adults, and children almost always did. They loved spicy relishes, vinegary pickles, and bitter greens. They spent their allowances on raw oysters and looked forward to their daily coffee. So how did modern kids become such incredibly narrow eaters? The story is fascinating - and about much more than rising abundance. Picky shows how fussy eating came to define "children's food" and reshape American diets at large. Maybe most importantly, it explains how we can still use the tools that parents used in the past to raise happy, healthy, wildly un-picky kids today.
A Better Life
by Lionel Shriver
In a provocative novel addressing contemporary immigration by the sharply observant Lionel Shriver, a New York family takes in a Honduran migrant--who may or may not be the innocent paragon she claims to be.
Gloria Bonaventura, a divorced mother of three living with her 26-year-old son Nico in a sprawling house in Brooklyn, decides to participate in a new city program that would pay her to take in a migrant as a boarder. Gloria is thrilled when sweet, kind, helpful Martine arrives. But Nico is skeptical. A classic live-at-home Gen Zer with no interest in adulthood, Nico resents any interruption of his "hovercraft repose."
As the months go by, Martine endears herself to both Nico's sisters, while finding her way into Gloria's heart and even, briefly, Nico's. But as Martine's disturbingly dodgy compatriots begin to show up, Nico conceives a dark twin hostile to both his mother's altruism and the "migrant crisis" in general--and turns out to be anything but a reliable narrator himself.
Based loosely on a program a New York City mayor floated but did not initiate, A Better Life is Lionel Shriver at her best: smart, funny, and sensitive to the moral nuances of perhaps the most divisive issue of our times.
Evil Genius
by Claire Oshetsky
A Recommended Read from: Alta * Bustle * Forbes * LitHub * Los Angeles Times * Kirkus * New York Times * Vulture
An exuberant, brutally hilarious novel about a young woman's insatiable quest to carve her own path--even if she needs to step over a few dead bodies along the way
It's 1974 and San Francisco is full of mystery and menace. Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent keeps telling herself how lucky she is to be working at the phone company and to be married to her Drew, a man who says he loves her. Celia's contentment with her little life is shattered, though, when a woman she knows from work is murdered in a love tryst gone awry. What would that be like, Celia wonders, to die for love--or to kill for love? What would it be like to live each moment passionately and with full awareness that each breath is bringing her closer to her last?
Before Celia knows it, her musings about love-and-death happenings are bleeding into daily life. Suddenly she's playing hooky from work and searching for a love tryst of her very own. She's practicing her marksmanship at a local gun range and thinking about how good it would feel to bury something sharp inside her domineering husband's ear. It's all pretend, though, until the night comes when Celia finally goes too far, and she and Drew are set on a deadly collision course.
Exhilarating, surreal, and bitingly clever, Evil Genius is a comic noir exploring obsession and desire--and what happens when a sweetly seditious young woman dares to imagine a better life.
Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest
by James Martin
In this humorous memoir, New York Times bestselling author and podcast host of The Spiritual Life, Father James Martin tells the story of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, and corporate tool and, finally, a Jesuit priest.
"Funny, charming, inspiring and wise--this is a memorable memoir." -- Stephen Colbert, Comedian and writer
Work in Progress is a snapshot of several years--first as a boy, then as a teenager, and finally as a young adult--of being thrown into a series of jobs for which Martin had zero training. He had never set foot in a restaurant kitchen before working as a busboy and dishwasher; never stepped onto a golf course before working as a caddy; and had never seen a factory floor before working as an assembly-line worker. He almost always felt uncomfortable, unsettled, and uneasy. But, like many of us, he needed the money.
This coming-of-age story is set in the 1960s and 1970s, a lighthearted tale for readers who enjoy personal narratives, and it's unlike anything Father Martin has written before. As he puts it, "This is a spiritual memoir from a different angle ... told 'slant' as Emily Dickinson might say."
Each chapter features photos of memories and milestones throughout Father Martin's young life. If you're an aficionado of snafus, you won't be disappointed. He's not the hero of these stories, more a hapless teenager who learns in each job, even the ones he loathes, something about the value of work, about what it means to be an adult, about people, and about life overall.
Work in Progress teaches us small but important life lessons such as:
Martin shares, "My summer jobs, crazy and funny and varied as they were, had something to do with who I am. As we Jesuits would say, the lessons I learned helped to 'form" me."
January Picks:
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
by Belle Burden
A gorgeous memoir about the sudden end to a seemingly happy marriage--an aching, love-filled, and transcendent account of surviving betrayal and discovering joy
"Riveting . . . examines the very nature of intimacy."--Joyce Carol Oates
It was a great love story, one for the ages. The speed of our beginning and the speed of our ending felt like matching bookends. They both came out of nowhere. He wanted it, he wanted me. And then he didn't.
In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha's Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together--building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume.
Homeschooled: A Memoir (Original)
by Stefan Merrill Block
A heartbreaking, empowering and often hilarious debut memoir about a mother's all-consuming love, a son's perilous quest to discover the world beyond the front door and the unregulated homeschool system that impacts millions like him
Stefan Merrill Block was nine when his mother pulled him from school, certain that his teachers were "stifling his creativity." Hungry for more time with her boy who was growing up too quickly, she began to instruct Stefan in the family's living room. Beyond his formal lessons in math, however, Stefan was largely left to his own devices and his mother's erratic whims, such as her project to recapture her twelve-year-old son's early years by bleaching his hair and putting him on a crawling regimen.
The Instant Kitchen Meal Prep Cookbook: Plan and Cook Ahead for Fast, Family-Friendly Meals Using Your Pressure Cooker and Air Fryer
by Coco Morante
From cookbook author Coco Morante, a weeknight meal prep guide using your pressure cooker and air fryer to save on time, cooking, and cleanup, with 10 weeks of dinner meal plans, 20 bonus recipes, and inspiration for quick breakfasts and lunches.
For anyone who loves the idea of meal prep but doesn't love the idea of sacrificing a whole Sunday afternoon to cooking for the week and eating the same meals on repeat, Coco Morante has made this book just for you. As a busy mom of two little ones, she understands the need for healthy meals that can make it onto the table quickly during hectic weeknights.
The Wildest Thing
by Emily Winfield Martin - Emily Winfield Martin
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of The Wonderful Things You Will Be comes an enchanting picture book about a child finding their "wild" self.
What would you do if you let the wild in?
Eleanor loved wild things.
Every wing and wild sprout.
There was something wild inside of her,
waiting to come out…
Your Truck: (A Board Book with Minimalist Illustrations That Explores Ownership, Imagination, and Perspective)
by Jon Klassen - Jon Klassen
From Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen comes the first board book in the Your Things series for the youngest of children.
This is your truck.
It is yours to have.
Your truck is red, but it could be other colors too. It can carry things around, like a chair and table, a dog, or a horse. It will wait for you until you tell it to go, then it will go wherever you want, as far as you want, whenever you want. At the end of the day it will sleep, and you can sleep, too. Jon Klassen brings his minimalist's touch to a soothing story of a simple object that a child can command and befriend, one that is there whenever the child chooses to visit it. Building on the quiet but evocative world he created in Your Farm, Your Forest, and Your Island, Jon Klassen invites young children to consider more things that are theirs and theirs alone, reinforcing that they have a right to things like solitude, exploration, and companionship.
December Picks:
Winter Stories
by Ingvild Rishøi - Diane Oatley
The internationally acclaimed and nationally bestselling author of Brightly Shining returns with a trio of tender, powerful stories of courage and overcoming adversity
Ingvild Rishøi is one of Scandinavia's most revered literary voices, winner of the Dobloug Prize from the Swedish Academy, and her American debut Brightly Shining made her into a national bestseller and earned her a wide English-language readership. Now, in the highly acclaimed and award-winning Winter Stories, Rishøi paints three vivid and evocative portraits of the lives of those existing on the fringes of society.
A young mother in financial trouble tries to steal a pair of underwear in front of the watchful eyes of her young daughter. A man fresh out of prison struggles to reintegrate into a daunting society and become a better father to his son. Three siblings run away and seek refuge in a remote cabin untouched by time in a desperate bid to keep their family from being torn apart. In these powerful and emotionally charged tales, Rishøi delves into the complexities of family, poverty, and forgiveness, exploring the human desire for a better life, the longing for change, and the difficult choices we must sometimes make to protect those we love.
Through the Telescope: Mae Jemison Dreams of Space
by Charles R Smith Jr - Evening Monteiro
Explore the wonders of the universe in this mesmerizing, poetic ode to trailblazing astronaut Mae Jemison, from Coretta Scott King Honor author Charles R. Smith, Jr.
How far to the stars?
This is what a little girl named Mae Jemison wonders as she peers through her telescope and dreams of space. Someday she will make it there, but for now she wonders, learns, and is inspired by the vastness of the universe.
Astronaut, physician, and engineer Mae Jemison's passion would eventually lead to her becoming the first Black woman in space!
Through the Telescope focuses on what first inspired a young Mae Jemison to reach for the stars. Charles R. Smith, Jr. is the award-winning author of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book, Twelve Rounds of Glory, and many other popular and acclaimed titles. His gorgeous text places a spotlight on an American trailblazer who inspires kids everywhere to follow their dreams. Debut illustrator Evening Monteiro's captivating portrayal of a young Mae Jemison is sure to grab young readers' attention!
Perfect for kids who love space exploration and for readers of Hidden Figures and The Undefeated.
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The unforgettable memoir by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who dared to take on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
"Make no mistake: this is a book about power, corruption, industrial-scale sex abuse and the way in which institutions sided with the perpetrator over his victims. . . . But it is also a book about how a young woman becomes a hero. . . . Important [and] courageous." --The Guardian
The world knows Virginia Roberts Giuffre as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison, whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But her story has never been told in full, in her own words--until now.
In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. Nobody's Girl is the riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity.
The Tower and the Ruin: J.R.R. Tolkien's Creation
by Michael DC Drout
No writer has surpassed the epic achievement of J.R.R. Tolkien, who spent decades refining his Middle-earth--a world that has felt so real to so many readers that it is almost impossible to imagine that any single person could have simply created it, seemingly out of thin air. In The Tower and the Ruin, Michael D. C. Drout takes us deep into Tolkien's genius, allowing us to glimpse the making of not only The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion but also lesser-known books such as The Fall of Gondolin as well as Tolkien's poetry and innovative scholarship.
Drout, who has spent decades reading, studying, and teaching Tolkien, allows us to understand the author's methods and to embrace his works as never before. With great erudition and sparkling prose, Drout shows us how Tolkien invented myths, legends, cultures, languages, histories, and an intricate, multivocal narrative. We come to understand how Tolkien drew upon and modified material he found in Beowulf, the Kalevala, and other medieval literature from northern Europe, using the subtle qualities of those famous works as inspiration for his own. We also see the process by which he created the complex form of sorrow that is the primary emotional effect of his mature works, a sadness "blessed without bitterness," carefully woven through a tapestry of themes that has resonated with generations of readers.