During Advent, the Christmas books are slipped off of the shelves for bedtime reading. Our hodgepodge collection includes Christian and secular Christmas stories, old and new. Some are cheap Scholastic books about characters who are little more than a cog in the marketing machine. (Those, I try to avoid.) Others are classics we relish every year.

We also give each child a book as part of their Christmas gift. As the kids grow older, the books grow longer, and I’m more frequently looking for selections from my fellow authors at Catholic Teen Books.

Here are some ideas that I hope will find a spot under the Christmas tree of a child you love.

I perused the books I’ve read this year and have come up with ten that would make excellent Christmas gifts!

Six are fiction, and four are nonfiction, because fiction is my favorite (and I make no apology for that).

I noted whether a book would be best for a particular age or gender. The novels, written by Catholic authors,  would appeal to most anyone – whether of strong or little faith, Catholic or otherwise. The nonfiction books would appeal most to Catholics who practice their faith, at least to some degree.