Over the next few weeks, we’ll be compiling a host of gift guides to help you with your Christmas shopping. Here is a list of suggestions for the tricky young people in your life..

THEY DON’T LIKE READING

Is there anything more delightful than presenting a vehement non-reader with a bookish present? It can be done without tears, and here’s how.

Kids who won’t read

• Dog Man – If your child doesn’t laugh their head off at these warped cartoons about a crime-fighting half-dog/half-man, we will all resign. For ages 8+.
• Danny Best: Never Wrong – These short, funny illustrated stories about Danny and his band of friends will charm the most reluctant readers. For ages 7+.
• Tracy Lacy is Completely Coo-Coo Bananas – This book’s manic diary-style format underscores a comic story about a quirky tween and self-acceptance. For ages 9+.
• Ripley’s Believe it or Not: Unlock the Weird – Who doesn’t love gross and weird? Read and squeal out loud. For ages 8+.
• 365 Things to do with Lego Bricks – Build it and they will come… Or, at the very least, they’ll have to read the instructions. You’ll get bonus points if you throw in A Lego Brickumentary. For all ages.
• Pokemon Official Adventure Guide – Grab their phone, put this in their hands and they may not even notice the difference. For all ages.

Teens who won’t read (for ages 12+)

• Dan and Phil Go Outside – You probably don’t even need to know who these first-name-only internet-famous dudes are but we suspect your teenager does.
• Gemina – This best-selling Australian sci-fi action thriller is composed of texts, IMs, logs, vlog transcriptions, illustrations and ground-breaking design. It’s guaranteed to keep the most attention-challenged teen occupied.
• Life on Instagram – A visually splendid annual that features eye-opening Instragram images from all over the world, and will appeal to social-media-obsessed youngsters and photography buffs.
• My Best Friend is a Goddess – This YA novel about two friends and an awkward crush situation has the rare combo of smarts and heart.
• Drawing Funny – Arty types, gangsters and budding cartoonists will enjoy this tongue-in-cheek guide to drawing funny cartoons, even if they never pick up a black texta.
• The Chaser’s Australia: The Chaser Quarterly Issue 4 – This bumper issue of The Chaser Quarterly will hit the spot if comedy, politics, pop culture and current affairs are of interest.

THEY’VE READ EVERYTHING

It should be a pleasure buying books for kids who adore reading, but what if they’re voracious speed-readers and have already read it all? We’ve risen to the challenge with lesser-known but great quality reading and fancypants editions.

Kids who’ve read everything

• Harry Potter diehards have much to celebrate this Christmas. They may have read every Harry Potter book three times, but do they have the illustrated editions box set of the first two books; the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them the Original Screenplay, the Winter at Hogwarts Magical Colouring set; the The Creature Vault; The Hogwarts Classics box set; J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World Movie Magic or a Quidditch Deluxe Book and Model Set? We think not.
• The Nest – Robust readers will love the sophisticated and unsettling thrills in this Readings staff favourite. The hardcover book is illustrated by Jon Klassen and has a lovely tracing paper dust jacket. For ages 9+.
• They Didn’t Teach This in Worm School – This joyous buddy comedy about a worm and a chicken(ish) bird has only just been published. Cult cartoonist Simone Lia has created perhaps the cutest character of the year in Marcus the worm. For ages 7+.
• Have they read enough graphic novels this year? Three of our recent favourites are Ghosts, Red’s Planet and Angel Catbird. For ages 10+.
• Bring Your Own Book – The perfect game for young bookworms. For ages 10+.

Teens who’ve read everything (for ages 12+)

• Sarah J Maas has been consistently popular for the last few years, with her YA fantasy Throne of Glass and Court of Thorns and Roses series. Fans will gush over the beautiful new edition of Throne of Glass, or really any of her other new-look hardcover releases.
• The Sun is Also a Star – Nicola Yoon’s Everything, Everything was a standout debut novel from last year, that possibly didn’t receive the full attention it deserved in Australia. While some eagle-eyed YA book nerds may have heard about the talented Yoon, chances are they haven’t picked up her latest yet.
• Beck – The late Mal Peet is a bookseller’s favourite, a roguish author who wrote complex and ambitious books in approachable language, and who had the utmost respect for the depth and capability of young readers. Peet died before he finished this story, and so the novel is extra special. It’s been completed by fellow British author, Meg Rosoff.
• The Graces – Recently published to some well-deserved hype, this is the coolest teen-witch read you could place in the hands of the coolest teen reader you know.
• The Book that Made Me – Keen teen readers will love to hear from well-known authors about the role reading and books have played in their lives, and make new additions to their to-be-read piles.
• Here I Stand – Politically conscious and socially aware readers will leap on this Amnesty International anthology featuring heavy-hitters like Neil Gaiman, Frances Hardinge, Sarah Crossan and Tony Birch.

THEY ARE OBSESSED WITH SPORT

If you manage to catch them, tackle them, take that racket/bat/ball out of their hands and sit them down in a comfy armchair, this is what you should give them.

Sporty kids

• Kicking Goals with Goodesy and Magic by Anita Heiss, Adam Goodes and Michael O'Loughlin (AFL) – For ages 8+.
• The Selwood Boys series by Tony Wilson (AFL) – For ages 7_.
• Hope in a Ballet Shoe by Michaela DePrince (Ballet) – For ages 8+.
• Kids World Cup! Tiny Timmy Four by Tim Cahill (Soccer) – For ages 6+.
• Ellyse Perry Pocket Rocket (All sports) – For ages 10+.
• The Story of the Olympics by Richard Brassey (all sports) – For ages 6+.

Sporty teens

• The Crossover (Basketball) and Booked (Soccer) by Kwame Alexander – For ages 10+.
• The Keeper by Mal Peet (Soccer) – For ages 13+.
• Footy Dreaming by Michael Hyde (AFL) – For ages 12+.
• Slam by Nick Hornby (Skateboarding) – For ages 12+.
• Head of the River by Pip Harry (Rowing) – For ages 13+.
• Ride by Lisa Glass (Surfing) – For ages 13+.

THEY WILL ONLY TOLERATE FACTS

Stories are boring? Hit them with facts! And infographics. And cross-sections, maps, statistics, lists, and so on, and so forth.

Fact-loving kids

• Ultimate Book of Space by Anne-Sophie Baumann (Space) – For ages 5+.
• In Focus by Libby Walden (Science) – For ages 5+.
• The Cities Book by Lonely Planet (World geography) – For ages 8+.
• Adam Spencer’s Number Crunchers by Adam Spencer (Maths) – For ages 8+.
• The Book of Bees (Animals) by Piotr Socha – For ages 7+.
• Australia Illustrated (Australian geography) – For ages 3+.

Fact-loving teens (for ages 12+)

• Nujeen by Nujeen Mustafa and Christina Lamb (Memoir)
• Fun Science by Charlie McDonnell (Science)
• Stay Golden by Lucky Blue Smith (Memoir)
• Kokada (Teen Edition) by Peter FitzSimons (History)
• Why Is Art Full of Naked People? by Susie Hodge (Art)
• Architect Academy (Architecture)

THEY ARE A CHILD GENIUS

It’s amazing that there are so many advanced, gifted children out there who read well above their age, and that they just so happen to all be members of your family… We’ve got plenty of sophisticated, challenging, thought-provoking, mind-expanding suggestions below.

Child genius

• Rosie Revere, Engineer – For pre-school prodigies who are already demonstrating excellent spatial reasoning and a grasp of basic physics. For ages 3+.
• Wormwood Mire: A Stella Montgomery Intrigue – For keen readers with sleuthing capabilities or interests. For ages 8+.
• Adam Spencer’s Time Machine – This will appeal to those with a burgeoning passion for science and maths. For ages 8+.
• When the Lyrebird Calls – An enchanting time-slip adventure for confident readers that explores Australian history, politics and suffragism. For ages 10+.
• Dragonfly Song – A Bronze Age adventure for confident readers featuring an outcast girl who participates in a dangerous competition. For ages 9+.

Teen genius

• The Bone Sparrow – An emotionally challenging and political read. For ages 13+.
• My Sister Rosa – A sophisticated examination of psychopaths and sibling relationships. For ages 13+.
• Symphony for the City of the Dead – It takes a special sort of teenager to read about the Siege of Leningrad and Shostakovich, but the right reader will be thrilled by this award-winning, impeccably-researched book. For ages 14+.
• TED books – These nifty, pocket-sized books based on popular TED Talks cover every single known topic known to mankind. For ages 14+.
• Queen of Katwe – The inspiring story of Ugandan woman, Phiona Mutesi, one of the world’s best young chess players. For ages 13+.
• Selection Day – A 14-year-old player from Mumbai struggles to make it in the cutthroat world of Indian cricket in this satirical novel from the author of The White Tiger. For ages 15+.

THEY’RE JUST LEARNING TO READ

How wonderful – your little loved ones have made the leap into Big Books, but it’s still an effort to get through a story. These simple chapter books have a manageable amount of words on the page, and illustrations to keep things interesting.

• Ginger Green Playdate Queen by Kim Kane
• Elephant and Piggie: I Broke My Trunk! by Mo Willems
• Squishy McFluff: Seaside Rescue by Pip Jones
• Big Book of Ella and Olivia by Yvette Poshoglian
• The Bad Guys 4: Apocalypse Meow by Aaron Blabey

THEY’RE TWEENS

They’re in anything from Grade 4 to Year 7, and inhabiting that murky zone of pre- and early- adolescence. Here are some books for the land between childhood and teenhood.

• Ruby Redfort Blink and You Die by Lauren Child
• When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin
• The Secrets We Keep by Nova Weetman
• Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
• The Riders of Thunder Realm (Paladero, Book 1) by Steven Lochran
• The Power of Dark by Robin Jarvis

WHO ARE THEY, ANYWAY?

They are your boss’s kid, a next door neighbour, your distant relative twice removed, a Kris Kringle, a much-younger half-sibling or your secretive progeny – in short, they are a Mystery. Their tastes can only be guessed at, and their interests inaccurately divined….

Mysterious kids

• Penguin Problems by Jory John and Lane Smith – For ages 3+.
• Lots by Marc Martin – For all ages.
• The Midnight Gang by David Walliams – For ages 8+.
• Hot Dog! by Anh Do – For ages 5+.
• Alice-Miranda Diary 2017 – For ages 7+.
• Laugh Your Head Off Again – For ages 8+.

Mysterious teens

• My First Lesson edited by Alice Pung – For ages 12+.
• Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – For ages 13+.
• Letter to My Teenage Self edited by Grace Halpern – For ages 14+.
• Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon Stanton – For ages 15+.
• Bowie A – Z by Steve Wide – For ages 12+.

Still stumped? We also offer a range of options for gift vouchers for use in-store and online.