First of all … Happy Thanksgiving!
Now, while you wait for the turkey or digest or contemplate tomorrow’s sales, we continue our 2011 Holiday Shopping Guide, to help you buy the best books for everyone on your list. Today we focus on contemporary/realistic books, as well as books about the arts and historical fiction. Be sure to check out last year’s guide for other ideas, too!
Best of the Contemps:
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Moonglass by Jessi Kirby
Books About the Arts:
Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe
Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
The Jewel & the Key by Louise Spiegler
Historical Fiction:
The Revenant by Sonia Gensler
The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell
Cleopatra’s Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter
Fateful by Claudia Gray
City of Orphans by Avi
For the comments: What other books would you add to these categories?
Novel Novice 
I would add Elizabeth Eulberg’s PROM AND PREJUDICE to books about the arts.