Here’s What the Obamas are Reading Over the Holidays

This weekend, President Obama took his teenage daughters, Sasha and Malia, shopping at D.C. bookstore Upshur books. Together, they picked up books with the help of the store manager, Anna Thorn.

The following titles, spanning genres from children’s literature to YA and adult fiction, were in their shopping bags: Purity by Jonathan Franzen; Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie; Cynthia Voigt’s Elske: A Novel of the Kingdom, On Fortune’s Wheel, and Jackaroo: A Novel of the Kingdom; A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd; Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli; Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Book 8 by Jeff Kinney; and Dork Diaries 1: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renée Russell.

Both Nathalie Lloyd and Salman Rushdie tweeted in response to the shopping trip, with Lloyd saying she couldn’t stop smiling and Rushdie responding to journalist Jeffrey Goldberg tweeting about the political implications of Obama purchasing Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights.

The president has been supporting Small Business Saturday for years already, but the past three years he has done his shopping at Politics and Prose in Northwest Washington. Perhaps the choice of newly opened Upshur Books this year was due to their offerings of cupcakes, drinks, and visits by local authors.

Need another reason to join us for #SmallBizSaturday ? Homemade cupcakes!!! Bookseller tested and approved.pic.twitter.com/7obak6sslX

 — @UpshurStBooks

Here’s Obama’s tweet about the visit:

Enjoyed stopping by Upshur Street Books today. Celebrate Small Business Saturday by supporting a business near you.pic.twitter.com/udTcIhxtOC

 — @POTUS