Happy Holidays from Kidsreads.com!!! We are already getting into the spirit here at Kidsreads.com, and our latest update --- with cool new features, interviews, reviews and series updates --- is our early gift to you and your kids.

The day after Thanksgiving scares me. I feel like I will leave my driveway and become swept up in Black Friday shopping madness. I feel like all roads lead to the malls. The Y where I swim is near a large mall, so as I try to swim off my Thanksgiving calories, I need to deal with mall traffic. Yet another reason I think we should convert our basement into a swimming pool! Seriously, I have dreams of this like I used to dream of our owning a white Country Squire station wagon with wood on the side when I was a child. I know, who else thinks of things like THAT?

I love the rituals of the Holiday season. I love the gathering of family and friends, the coming together over a shared breaking bread, and the spirit of giving thanks. But I also find that, with the onslaught of tasks that need to be done --- the shopping, cooking, preparing and coming together --- it's easy to get lost in a list of 'must-dos' and forget what the spirit of the holidays is all about. With that in mind, FaithfulReader.com is devoted to providing you with the tools --- the books and the reflections of authors --- that allow you time to contemplate and renew your faith.

I am writing this week from poolside at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami where the ever-so-helpful staff here has ensured I have electrical power next to my lounge chair so I can write on my laptop, as well as an endless supply of iced tea and lemon-flavored water. For the record, it's cloudy with small peeks from the sun, the kind of day where I would not be sitting poolside at home, but hey, I am in Florida and when I am in Florida I do not want to be inside. As the pool boy said, "It's all part of the fantasy."

Bring on the holidays! All of us at Teenreads.com love the holidays. To share the spirit of the season, we're featuring our first ever annual Teenreads.com Holiday Basket of Cheer Contest as well as our What to Give/What to Get Gift Guide exclusively for Teens. This time of year my house becomes a veritable holiday workshop as I'm surrounded by cookies, candles, hot chocolate and other holiday goodies including a gingerbread house kit that looks like real fun. We'll be packing up baskets to ship to five lucky winners that include 10 --- count 'em, 10! --- fantastic books, as well as the holiday-themed items. Ready to enter? See the complete contest details below.

Monday night I attended Nelson DeMille's book party for WILD FIRE, which was ---- as any event that Nelson is involved with --- a lot of fun. People in attendance who had read the book were quoting Corey-isms as they walked around chatting. Let's just say that I feel I learn a lot about how men think about women by reading Nelson's books. He also pens one of the wittiest newsletters that I read. You can read and sign up for it here. We have a review of WILD FIRE this week as well, but don't worry --- Kate Ayers, our reviewer, does not divulge the good jokes. Or give away too much of the plot.