Uplifting Reading List

📚 Reading: Books from Our Uplifters

Updated 11/29/25

For the uplifting kid in your life:

• 📚 A children’s book celebrating what makes us unique - Embrace Your Features by Christina Testut. Perfect for helping young ones love themselves exactly as they are.

• 📚 An Emmy-nominated creator’s bilingual stories - Skeletina, the Canticos series, and Tiny Travelers are just a few of Susie Jaramillo’s delightful, educational bilingual books that teach kids about cultures and languages through captivating stories.

• 📚 A graphic novel about disability and belonging - Shiny Misfits by Maysoon Zayid. For the kid who needs to see themselves as the hero of the story.

• 📚 A magical children’s story about wishes and wonder - Santa’s Secret Wishing Coin by Rachel Giordano. Perfect for the little ones on your list, from a storyteller with nearly 30 years in entertainment (Barbara Walters, The View, Disney) who knows how to capture hearts.

• 📚 Early financial literacy wrapped in a family adventure - Teach Me How to Invest Mommy by Tai Abrams. One of several great titles from Tai, including Who Am I? An A-Z Career Guide for Teens.

• 📚 Body literacy for the youngest learners - One in a Million and How to Tame a Tickle Monster: A First Book About Body Safety by Konika Ray Wong. A science teacher for over two decades, Konika founded Girl Power Science with her daughter during the pandemic and is on a mission to flip puberty positive.

• 📚 A heartwarming tale about love and handmade treasures - The Little Bear Who Loved its Handmade Dolls by Terry Grahl, one of several children’s books from the Founder and CEO of Enchanted Makeovers. Little Bear’s story celebrates unconditional love, gratitude, and the beauty found in the simplest joys—reminding readers that our bonds are what make us feel truly seen and loved.

For the friend who’s always working nonstop:

• 📚 Sometimes the most unexpected thing is joy - The Order of Things: A Memoir About Chasing Joy by Sarah Gormley. At 45, Sarah left her high-powered San Francisco marketing career (IMAX, Martha Stewart, Adobe) to care for her dying mother on their Ohio family farm. She expected grief. What she didn’t expect was transformation. Told with unflinching honesty and wry humor, this is a memoir about letting go of earning self-worth, showing up in the messiness, and choosing a future you never imagined.

• 📚 A roadmap from burnt out to lit up - Burnt Out to Lit Up by Daisy Auger-Dominguez. She spent years at Google and Disney understanding what actually makes work work.

• 📚 The journal that teaches you to say no - Do It (or Don’t): A Boundary-Creating Journal by Kara Cutruzzula. For reclaiming your time for what actually matters most.

• 📚 Stories of brave, authentic living - Be the Brave One by Rev. Ann Kansfield, the first female and openly gay FDNY chaplain. Real-life stories about living out your spiritual values when the pressure’s on.

For the woman redefining success after 40:

• 📚 Your permission slip for midlife transformation - Midlife Private Parts: Revealing Essays That Will Change The Way You Think About Age co-edited by Dina Alvarez and Dina Aronson. Soulful, unfiltered stories about what it really feels like to be a midlife woman right now.

• 📚 Confessions of a late-blooming Gen-X weirdo - And You May Find Yourself... by Sari Botton, memoir in essays. Selected by Poets & Writers for their “5 Over 50” feature.

• 📚 How to get going at any age - GO! How to get Going and Achieve your Goals and Dreams at Any Age by Dr. Marcia K. Morgan, who’s worked in criminal justice for 45+ years and knows a thing or two about navigating change.

• 📚 An anthology about creating new pathways - Pathways to Love co-authored by Elaine Perkins. After losing her mother in 2020, Brooklyn-born Elaine made a bold move out of state, alone, and intentionally created a new life through community, connection, and courage.

For the woman navigating grief:

• 📚 The handbook for moving through loss - The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience by Rebecca Soffer. Named a favorite book of 2022 by Gayle King. Also Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.

• 📚 A witty and truthful roadmap through the hurricane - Grief Gems: From The Mouth Of A Griever And Death Doula by Sundari Malcolm. This book offers insight into your loss, journal prompts, action steps to move you through it, and authentic validation for every single thing you’re feeling in this moment.

For your running buddy (or the one you wish would start):

• 📚 A Black woman’s manifesto on running and resistance - Running While Black by Alison Mariella Désir. Founder of Harlem Run and Run 4 All Women, named one of the most adventurous women of the past 45 years.

• 📚 A mom, a marathoner, a mission - Staring Down a Dream and other books by Julie Hughes. For anyone who’s ever wondered if they could go the distance.

For the career-changer dreaming of what’s next:

• 📚 An artful guide to self-discovery through letting go - Hold Nothing: An Invitation to Let Go and Come Home to Yourself by Elena Brower. What if your presence is the greatest offering you can make to the world? Drawing on yoga, Nonviolent Communication, and Zen practice, Elena offers a road map for living with reverence—gently, honestly, and with great love.

• 📚 The complete guide to your second act - Start Your Second Act: How to Change Careers, Launch a Business, and Create Your Best Life by Shannon Russell. She went from MTV producer to entrepreneur and shows you exactly how to make your own pivot.

• 📚 From village in China to $100M company - Dream Weaver by Jenny Jing Zhu. Her journey inspired a short film that premiered at Venice Film Festival. All profits support programs empowering women.

For the connector in your life:

• 📚 How to actually connect in a disconnected world - The Lost Art of Connecting by Susan McPherson. She’s a serial connector, angel investor, and knows how brands and social impact intersect.

• 📚 365 days of radical gratitude - I Want to Thank You by Gina Hamadey about her year writing 365 thank you notes to everyone from neighbors to mentors to mail carriers.

• 📚 A practical system for solving relationship challenges that stall progress - The Five Archetypes by Carey Davidson, founder of Harmin Labs. Hired by Microsoft, Starbucks, and Tony Robbins to fix miscommunication, breakdowns in trust, and patterns that don’t change no matter how hard you try, Carey’s method is grounded in neuroscience, behavioral science, and 5,000 years of wisdom.

For the mother navigating the hardest chapters:

• 📚 The myths that shape how we mother - The Mother Code: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Myths That Shape Us by Ruthie Ackerman. Her Modern Love essay for the NYT became the launching point for this memoir.

  📚 An anthology of heroic caregiving stories - Becoming Brave Together by Jessica Patay. Heart-wrenching, vulnerable, and joy-producing stories from mothers who provide extraordinary care to children with disabilities or unique needs. For the exhausted, disconnected, and often lonely warriors who refuse to quit—this is your permission to be seen.

• 📚 A family’s 25-year journey through childhood cancer - The Focused Fight: A Childhood Cancer Journey From Mayhem to Miracles by Terri Tomoff. Her son Ryan is a 5X cancer survivor, and she shows how gratitude, grit, and love carry you through.

For the woman finding her voice:

• 📚 Shifting your self-talk to shift your life - Want Your Self: Shift Your Self-Talk and Unearth The Strength In Who You Were All Along by Katie Horwitch, founder of WANT: Women Against Negative Talk.

• 📚 How to tell the stories that matter - How to Tell a Story co-authored by Kate Tellers, Senior Director at The Moth. It debuted on the New York Times bestseller list.

• 📚 Shifting your self-talk to shift your life - Want Your Self: Shift Your Self-Talk and Unearth The Strength In Who You Were All Along by Katie Horwitch. Katie shows you how to move forward fearlessly by changing the conversation in your head.

• 📚 Igniting your intuition with sacred tools - The Way Within by Dina Berrin. With over 25 years of experience in tarot, astrology, numerology, and her signature charm reading practice, Dina blends heart, humor, and deep wisdom to help women come home to themselves.

For the advocate and activist:

• 📚 Poetry and activism for young changemakers - Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice and Woke Baby by Mahogany L. Browne (both have faced bans, which tells you they’re doing something right). Also A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe YA novel and Chrome Valley, 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize winner.

• 📚 Revolutionizing workplace equity - Inclusion Revolution by Daisy Auger-Dominguez. Named one of Hispanic Executive’s Top 10 Leaders and People en Español’s 25 Most Powerful Women.

For the reader who loves beautiful, gutting fiction:

• 📚 Internationally acclaimed debut - Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani, translated into 32 languages and published in 75+ countries. Her second novel For Every Person You Kill is forthcoming from Melville House in 2027.

• 📚 Award-winning storytelling - Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera, awarded Silver Medal by International Latino Book Awards for Best First Book of Fiction. Her second novel The Grand Paloma Resort is forthcoming in 2025.

• 📚 Poetry from a Palestinian American voice - I’ll Tell You When I’m Home, Salt Houses, and others by Hala Alyan, poet, writer, professor and clinical psychologist. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, and beyond.

• 📚 Award-winning fiction that breaks new ground - The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw. Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, Story Prize, and LA Times Book Prize. Finalist for the National Book Award.

For anyone facing impossible odds:

• 📚 From village in China to $100M company—and the betrayal that almost destroyed it all - Dream Weaver by Jenny Jing Zhu. This unvarnished look at resilience offers “a blueprint for anyone with big dreams and the determination to make them happen” (Drew Scott, Property Brothers). Her journey inspired a short film that premiered at Venice Film Festival, and all profits support programs empowering dreamers.

• 📚 Finding wholeness through tragedy - Press Pause by Maureen Spataro. A survivor of multiple traumas who stepped into her purpose after a quiet yet profound nervous breakdown. Host of upcoming podcast Unsilenced, Unashamed, Unstoppable.

• 📚 A real-life tale of faith, courage, and beating the odds - She Had No Business by Jessica Varian Carroll. Jessica transformed her situation against all odds to build a life of significance, service, and leadership—all while trailblazing paths for others to do the same.

For that day you decide to finally get your finances in order:

• 📚 The Money Matters series by Veronica Karas. Holistic financial planning guidance from a Certified Financial Planner™ and top-ranked advisor featured in Forbes, CNBC, and Bloomberg. With over a decade of experience helping clients create lasting legacies, Veronica brings her expertise in investment management, retirement planning, estate planning, and tax planning to readers seeking to take control of their financial futures.

For the woman breaking barriers:

• 📚 Making calls in a man’s world - Lady Ref by Shannon Eastin, the first woman to officiate an NFL game.

For the caregivers:

• 📚 Amazon bestselling guide to fighting Medicare denials - START Winning Medicare Appeals: Your Guide to Getting the Rehab Care You Need by Tracy Keibler. The founding executive director of START Senior Solutions gives beneficiaries and caregivers the tools, real-life examples, and actionable strategies to fight denials of critical rehabilitation coverage. Complete with templates, checklists, and a roadmap through each stage of the appeals process.