How should I animate a prop in sync with a character's animation?

I have a fully rigged character. There is an empty object on her left hand to which the rigged book will parent (so the book is properly placed in her hand).

The character will be animated holding the book, opening it, and will flip its pages. Should I be creating two animations, one for the character, one for the book, and somehow sync up the animations? Is there a better approach for this?