If you give a child a book, you give them a window to the world.  

Books can take us beyond our families and communities to experience a bit of other people’s joys and sorrows.  

They can explain the natural world right around us and also carry us to far away and fantastic places. Books bring the past to life and help us imagine future possibilities.  

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a bookseller and a children’s librarian about sharing books with the kids in our lives and the best children’s books of 2023 to give as gifts during the holidays.  

You can find all the books they talked about and more of this year’s recommendations on the Red Balloon website here.

Guests:  

• Holly Weinkauf is the owner of the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul.   




• Lisa Von Drasek is a librarian and curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collections, home of the Kerlan Collection, at the University of Minnesota Libraries. 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.  

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.