Tommy and I have just expanded our family: a boy and a girl. They arrived not as bundles from heaven, but in a Jeep and on a bicycle. In truth, they are young adult companions for my husband — miracles of referrals rather than biology or science — who I've hired to give me respite from 'round-the-clock caregiving.

Jill Norgren writes: Here is an opportunity for grandparents and special friends looking for children’s and young adult books to hear straight from the mouths of young readers. This year I asked about gift suggestions from my granddaughters, 17, 13, and 10, as well as young friends 4 to 15 who live in Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, and New York City. I asked each of them, "which books did you most enjoy reading this past year that you think others your age would also enjoy?" Some of their favorites are new, but many are classics.

Val Castronovo writes: Girl's head, shoulder, garments and accessories stand out against a dark, solid background, which is blackened now but once was translucent green. The effect is rather like the effect of looking at this painting in an otherwise empty room — just as everything is stripped away in the Oval Room so that our attention is laser-focused on Girl, so everything is stripped away in the background of the painting itself so that we zero in on the figure’s physiognomy and accoutrements, which signal mercantile wealth and prosperity.

While consumers can go online and compare the track records of nursing homes on a government web site, few such resources exist for assisted living. Twenty-two states still don’t post inspection records online, requiring residents to visit state offices to view them on paper or file public records requests. ProPublica set out to compile the key rules and regulations governing assisted living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. See what they found.

Joan L. Cannon writes: John Galsworthy's descriptions of nature are ravishing, his limning of his characters clear enough for a crime sketch artist to draw them. This descriptive artistry and the revelatory dialogue show the reader within a hundred pages the contrasts and individuality of everyone who has anything to do with the advancing story of Soames and Irene, and also with the subplots enacted by other members of the Forsyte family. All are influenced by the motive principles of the Forsyte clan in general, Victorian society, and their admired Soames in particular.  

Neighbors had left a pumpkin outside to feed the rabbits that happened by. The seeds that weren’t eaten planted themselves and now were happily growing. The plot the pumpkins were growing in wasn’t ideal for the length of the vines but they were thriving nonetheless, a symbol of life’s determination to express itself. After Halloween, if you have a pumpkin you might want to use in a different way, one that nourishes and delights without the scary element to it, read on for more suggestions.  

Compared with eight years ago, online daters in 2013 are more likely to actually go out on dates with the people they meet on these sites. Some 66% of online daters have gone on a date with someone they met through an online dating site or app, up from 43% of online daters who had done so when we first asked this question in 2005. Moving beyond dates, one quarter of online daters (23%) say that they themselves have entered into a marriage or long-term relationship with someone they met through a dating site or app.

Amanda Ripley gives us a detailed, separate report on the experiences of each American child she followed who had studied abroad, including each one’s "take" on what made school in those countries so successful. The youngster’s comparisons are forthright and fascinating. So are Ms. Ripley’s conclusions and descriptions in The Smartest Kids in the World. Annie Choi’s wit is pointed but not savage. She uses humor in Shut Up You’re Welcome to underscore the essential, sustained importance of family, the collective umbilical cord that binds.