Most of us are glued to our Netflix screens over the holidays, bingeing through movies that we’ve always wanted to see but never quite got around to watching. On the other hand, isn’t the quintessential dream of the perfect holiday a big fireplace, a comfy sweater, a mug of hot chocolate and a book?
It’s like what kindergarten teachers say: There’s nothing like giving the gift of reading. Besides, by asking someone what he or she is watching on Netflix, it’s easy to figure out what his or her favorite genres are.
Here are a few “if-then” scenarios to get you started:
_If you like_ **“Thor: The Dark World,”**
_then you’d also like_ **“Maximum Ride.”**
Superheroes are important to any story, but if your secret Santa already has all the comic books, why not give him “Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment” by James Patterson? It’s the first book in the “Maximum Ride” series.
It’s the story of Max and her friends, a group of six kids who were genetically mutated with bird DNA. In the series, Max leads the gang of winged children in a fight to save the world from the evil scientists who created her “flock.” The scientists created the hybrid humans as weapons for war.
_If you like_ **“The Hunger Games,”**
_then you’d also like_ **“The Girl Who Owned a City.”**
Moviegoers and bibliophiles alike can’t seem to get enough of the dystopian genre lately, especially with the release of “Catching Fire” on Nov. 22 and “Divergent” next year. If you have a younger cousin who can’t get enough of post-apocalyptic Earth, gift them “The Girl Who Owned a City” by O.T. Nelson.
Lisa, a 10-year-old girl, and other children in suburban Chicago are forming gangs in an attempt to stay alive after a deadly virus kills everyone over the age of 12. The story is about leadership and survival in a world where all basic comforts and securities are gone.
_If you like_ **”Love Actually,”**
_then you’d also like_ **”Anna and the French Kiss.”**
What kind of holiday gift guide would this be if we didn’t include a holiday movie? For the girl that loves feel good, mushy rom-coms with undeniably attractive men, give her “Anna and the French Kiss” by Stephanie Perkins.
Anna Oliphant is forced to leave behind her comfortable all-American teenage life for boarding school in Paris. Her father thinks it will do her good, but Anna knows she won’t like it at all. When she meets Étienne St. Clair, the gorgeous boy with the English accent, she realizes that maybe things won’t be so bad after all.
_If you like_ **The Time Traveler’s Wife,**
_then you’d also like **”City of Masks.”**
What if your sister loves movies about love but also needs a little bit of adventure in her life? Give her “City of Masks,” the first book in the “Stravaganza” series by Mary Hoffman.
It’s like Narnia, but Italian. Lucien, who is very sick, is given an old journal as a present. When he sleeps, the journal transports him to Belleza, an old Italian city that looks a little like Venice. When he arrives, he meets Arianna and is thrown into a world of adventure, magic and romance.
_If you like_ **”Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,”**
_then you’d also like_ **”Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”**
Ah, but you can’t forget the littlest family members, can you? “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and its sequel movie are based on the book with the same name written by Judi Barrett.
As two children prepare for bed, their grandfather tells them a story about the town of Chewandswallow. In this town it rains spaghetti and snows ice cream. Everyone is happy until the weather takes a turn for the worse. The book also has a sequel called “Pickles to Pittsburgh,” so it works great as a multiple-present gift.
