No matter the occasion, avid readers are likely to think a book is the perfect gift. And with graduation season looming on the horizon, it’s no wonder we’ve received myriad requests for an updated list of graduation gift books that graduates will actually appreciate.
Graduation season may be upon us, but it’s a different kind of graduation season this year. It’s hard to wrap my mind around what it must feel like to graduate with no formal ceremony—and I’m not the one graduating so I can only imagine how they feel. For those of us with graduates in our lives, we can still acknowledge and celebrate their achievement by sending cards and gifts, and we’ll look forward to celebrating in person in the future.
We readers love to give books—which is always fabulous, but especially now, when bookstores could really benefit from your business—but sometimes it’s hard to know exactly which books will actually be appreciated by the people we’re giving them to. We’re here to help: we’ve gathered fifteen titles that high school and college graduates are likely to actually read, enjoy, and maybe even apply to their lives.
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Tell Me More: Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life
Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Step
1,000 Places to See Before You Die
The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter–And How to Make the Most of Them Now
I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
Daring Greatly
What books here have you read and loved? Do you enjoy giving books as gifts? We’d love to hear what books YOU are planning to give to the graduates in your life. Please tell us below!
P.S. 11 books for figuring out what to do with the rest of your life, and how graduates are like blackberries on the vine.
29 comments
Last year I gave several graduates the newly-published The Next Right Thing by Emily Freeman.
Great suggestion!
Such a great book!
Another one that you might even get young men to read is “Make Your Bed: Little things that can change your life…and maybe the world” by former SEAL Admiral William McRaven. An expansion on his viral commencement address at the University of Texas several years ago–it has a lot of great and simple wisdom for all of us.
Such a great little book!!
I loved “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart” by Gordon Livingston.
Love Does by Bob Goff. It’s a Christian slant, but overall it’s a good book about how love is a catalyst for change.
I’m just finishing this, and I’m loving it. I’ve been reading a chapter or two right before I go to sleep, and I lay down with a smile on my face. Goff makes me think and laugh.
I loved the Next Right Thing, as well — but also the book that came to mind was the classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People”… puts flesh on the Golden Rule – to put others before self. It has positively impacted how I see and interact with the world.
I still like to gift Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss.
I didn’t get any books as gifts for graduation, though I would have prized them. I echo the recommendations of The Book of Joy and I’d Rather be Reading. I would also add Someday, Someday Maybe and Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham. One is a novel about the importance of giving your dreams a chance while maintaining personal integrity. The other is an essay collection which works best when it touches on those themes. Which it does, extensively.
The Defining Decade was such a good source for me as a parent of a graduating college senior and a college 1st year. I was evening referring to it as my daughter graduated from high school. It definitely helped me advise my older kids and helped them to plan out their college and post college careers.
I loved “The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World”, by Melinda Gates. I gave it to many people, including three young women who graduated last year.
“Grit” by Angela Duckworth – such an important book that talks about what truly helps people succeed.
Gifts from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh is a beautifully written book that I just re-read after many years and I think would be an inspiring gift for a young woman.
I love Gift from the Sea!!!!
I gift The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. It is over a decade old but still relatable to young women and men.
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller is an excellent book for a graduate who isn’t sure what to do next – it’s about telling a good story with your life. For Christians, Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper and the updated My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers are great grad gifts (I received both for my high school graduation and still revisit them periodically).
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !!!!! AWESOME LIST…….HAVE GRADUATES AND VERY APPRECIATIVE FOR THIS ARTICLE…….BUT ESPECIALLY YOU !!! BLESSINGS dolores
What a unique list. Great for gifts and even several I’d like to read myself. I just added 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die to my list. Thanks
I really want to read Dreyer’s English!
I’d go with anything Bob Goff touches, as well as the charmingly illustrated version of Neil Gaiman’s Make Great Art commencement speech. It’s best to watch the speech first, so when you read it in book form you can hear his voice in your head.
The Archer by Paulo Coelho is beautiful, and a perfect gift for those starting a new path.
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi…. gives excellent, specific advice on how to handle finances, negotiating raises and cable bills. College aged kids will feel like it’s not the same old lecture. My non readers told me they actually read it and found it very useful.
For graduating HS seniors I suggest adding to the list Grown-Up Stuff Explained: 75 Topics 18-Year-Olds Should Know https://www.amazon.com/Grown-Up-Stuff-Explained-Topics-18-Year-Olds/dp/B09MG8RVG7
The book is easy to read and simple to understand. It uses concise descriptions and cartoons to explain topics that all grown-ups need to know about.
So many good ones on this list and in the comments! I’d add Jason Reynolds’s For Everyone, a lyrical masterpiece that makes me tear up just thinking about it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post. One of these books is EXACTLY the right book for my niece (and I never would have thought of it myself).
12 Recipes by Cal Peternell is my go to.
I have given Daring Greatly along with Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic and a small book of Cheryl Strayed quotes on courage. It was a very well received and appreciated gift.