The Best Gift I Ever Got Was a Book

Courtesy of the ReadKiddoRead Foundation

Are you giving books to your kids as gifts? Which ones are you picking out for friends and family?

ReadKiddoRead asked authors, athletes and celebrities to finish this sentence: "The best gift I every got was a book, and that book was _______."

Pick up some of these favorites for the kids in your life, or browse through ReadKiddoRead.com for books that are sure to please any young person this holiday season.

Mark Teixeira

Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees

 The best gift I ever got was a book; it was "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris. The book was given to me by my friend and high school principal Barry Fitzpatrick. While I can't single out any book as my favorite, this book stands out because it sparked my interest in biographies and American history. I almost exclusively read nonfiction now, as I am educated with each book.

Rick Riordan 

Best-selling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles and the Heroes of Olympus

The best gift I ever got was a book; it was "The Lord of the Rings" box set by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Lois Lowry

Author of "The Giver," "Number the Stars" and more than 40 other titles for children and young adults

The best gift I ever got was a book. It was called "Humphrey," and it had an unwieldy subtitle: "One Hundred Years Along the Wayside with a Box Turtle" [by Marjorie Flack]. I was three-and-a-half. My sister, three years older, was learning to read in first grade, and she came home each day and taught me what she had learned. When I sat down with Humphrey, despite the mystery of the "ph," which, since I had been told the turtle's name, I thought should certainly be an "f," I realized I could read. It was an exhilarating moment, and I have remembered that turtle fondly ever since.

Jamie Lee Curtis 

Golden Globe nominee actress and best-selling children's book author

The best gift I ever got was a book; it was "Shogun" by James Clavell.

Boo the Dog

Internet celebrity

The best gift I ever got was a book; it was "I Am a Pole (And So Can You!)" by Stephen Colbert.

What's the best book you've ever received? Let us know in the comments.