Where The Best Books Are!

Paperback Delights

2012-01-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

So many great hardcovers have just crossed over to paperback that I thought it would be fun to share some of the best. At about half the price of hardcovers, paperbacks are a bargain and they're also easier to hold up in bed!

Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool, Delacorte, $7.99, ages 9 and up, 368 pages. Twelve-year-old Abilene uncovers secrets about her father and the small town of Manifest, Kansas, after finding a hidden cigar box of mementos, in the 2011 Newbery Medal winner.

Turtle in Paradise, Jennifer L. Holm, Random House, $6.99, ages 8 and up, 208 pages. While staying with her rag-tag cousins in Key West, 11-year-old Turtle comes out of her shell and looks at the world in new and unexpected ways, in this 2011 Newbery Honor winner.

The Storm in the Barn, by Matt Phelan, Candlewick, $14.99, ages 10 and up, 208 pages. Eleven-year-old Jack saves his family farm from ruin when he confronts the Storm King and makes him let go of the rain, in this wonderful graphic novel set in the Dust Bowl era of 1930s.

The Crowfield Curse, by Pat Walsh, The Chicken House, ages 11-13, 352 pages. A 14-year-old servant boy discovers a terrible curse that could ruin his abbey and doom a stricken man to an eternity of torment, in this atmospheric debut. Now out in hardback, the sequel The Crowfield Demon.

Little Panda, by Renata Liwska, Sandpiper, $5.99, ages 4 and up, 32 pages. A grandfather panda tells his grandson a story of a little panda who caused a stalking tiger to fly off a tree, in this charming debut by the illustrator of the best-selling The Quiet Book.

Zora and Me, by Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon, Candlewick, $6.99, ages 10 and up, 192 pages. Zora's wild tales take on a life of their own, and jeopardize the peace and security of her racially divided town, in this wry, fictionalized account of novelist Zora Neale Hurston's life from fourth grade to sixth.

The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrated by Angela Barrett, Candlewick, $6.99, ages 9-12, 128 pages. A feisty young fairy loses her wings and tries to coax other creatures to carry her on their backs, in this delightful tale by a Newbery Medal winner.

More great paperbooks to read:

The Dreamer, by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sis, Scholastic, $8.99, ages 9-14, 400 pages.Winner of the 2011 Pura Belpre Award.

A Girl Named Disaster, by Nancy Farmer, Scholastic, $6.99, ages 8 and up, 336 pages. A 1997 Newbery Honor Book.

Reckless, by Cornelia Funke, Little, Brown Books, $8.99, ages 13 and up, 400 pages.

Escape Under the Forever Sky, by Eve Yohalem, Chronicle, $7.99, ages 10 and up, 219 pages.

A Million Shades of Gray, by Cynthia Kadohata, Atheneum, $6.99, ages 11 and up, 240 pages.

The Clockwork Three, by Matthew Kirby, Scholastic, $6.99, ages 8 and up, 400 pages.

A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park $5.99, Sandpiper, ages 9 and up, 128 pages.

The Best of the Best!

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Caldecott Medal Winner Newbery Medal Winner

Chris Raschka, Random House

Jack Gantos, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Break Into Blossom. Give Free Books!

2012-01-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

Volunteer to pass out books to children and adults who rarely open a book or never read!

On April 23, 50,000 "givers" are needed to hand out free paperback novels for World Book Night -- and you could be one!

"Extending your hand to give someone a book, a story, is a gesture of hope and joy," said celebrated author Kate DiCamillo.

DiCamillo's Newbery Honor-winning Because of Winn-Dixie is among 30 books selected for donation.

"It is a chance for all of us, givers and receivers, to break into blossom," she said.

Launched last year in the United Kingdom, World Book Night is a charitable project to spread the joy of reading.

This year 1 million paperbacks will be donated nationwide, including seven children's novels.

Also on the list are Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls, Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Leif Enger's Peace Like a River and Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.

Volunteers will be selected through an online application, then will receive 20 novels to share with children or adults who don't have access to books or haven't yet discovered them.

The event will simultaneously occur in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and will coincide with the United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO's) World Book and Copyright Day.

"It makes perfect sense to me that World Book Night will take place in spring," DiCamillio said.

Adult titles include John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner.

To become a book giver, go to www.us.worldbooknight.org to apply.

Volunteers must be 16 years or older and U.S. residents. Also, they must have the means to pick up 20 books from a local participating bookshop or library.

Most importantly, they must be committed to giving the books to non readers and light readers.

Givers will be chosen in early February based on where, to whom and why they want to give books away.

The 20 Best Picture Books of 2011

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1. If I Never Forever Endeavor, by Holly Meade, Candlewick, $15.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A baby bird must decide whether to take a chance and try to fly, in this beautiful poem about daring to put yourself out there and risk failure. "If in all of forever, / I never endeavor / to fly, I won't know if I can." Meade writes, as a yellow fledgling timidly looks out from his nest. Then, turning the page, "I won't know if I can't. / I won't know / if or whether / a flight I / might fly, / should I choose / to not ever give it a try." Meade's words settle in your mind and without even thinking, you find yourself reciting the verses silently in your head, and feeling emboldened to get out there and try something new.

2. Migrant, by Maxine Trottier, pictures by Isabelle Arsenault, Groundwood, $18.95, ages 4-7, 40 pages. A Mennonite girl from Mexico dreams of living in one place, as her family migrates north to work as seasonal farm laborers. While they harvest tomatoes in Canada, the girl, Anna, compares what she sees, hears and feels to the way other living things exist. In migrant housing, she's a jack rabbit in an abandoned burrow. When she hears languages she doesn't understand, it's as if "a thousand crickets are all singing a different song." Later as her family prepares to return to Mexico, Anna is a tree, sinking roots into the ground as geese fly south without her. This is a wondrous book about yearning for a place to call your own -- that inspires understanding and casts stereotypes to the wind.

3. Fox and Hen Together and Rooster's Revenge, by Beatrice Rodriguez, Enchanted Lion, ages 4-8, 32 pages. These two followups to last year's The Chicken Thief were equally brilliant, so they appear here together. Both are wordless, yet you barely notice because the humor is so cleverly played out. In the first followup, Hen goes off to fish for dinner and finds herself in an all-out battle to hold onto the fish she's caught. Back home, Fox is left guarding their egg, but aren't foxes notorious for raiding chicken coops? In the second book, Rooster, Bear and Rabbit run aground by a cave, where Rooster finds a big, glowing egg. As you may know, Rooster was jilted by Hen for Fox in the first book, and in book 3, he's still pretty soured by it. Could this be just the thing to mend his wild heart?

4. I Want My Hat Back!, by Jon Klassen, Candlewick, $15.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages. Bear may be gullible, but no one messes with his hat, in this comic gem about two silly and devious animals. When Bear goes in search of his missing hat, he happens upon a rabbit with a hat just like his: it's red and pointy, and sits on the head like a party hat. But Rabbit is indignant and denies that he knows anything about it. And Bear? Well, he's so credulous that he doesn't give the similarities between the hats another thought. It isn't until later, after he continues to ask around about his hat, that Bear meets a deer who jogs his memory (and knocks a bit of sense into him). Now Bear has his hat back, but Rabbit has gone missing, and Bear is acting overly defensive about where he might be. Humor plays out with marvelous subtlety, as two silly animals try to be sly, but are hopelessly transparent.

5. The House Baba Built: An Artist's Childhood in China, by Ed Young, Little, Brown and Company, $17.99, ages 4 and up, 48 pages. As a child in Shanghai in the 1930s, illustrator Ed Young insulates himself from war in a house where exploration and the imagination run free, in this stunning autobiographical book. Young, the Caldecott-winning illustrator of Lon Po Po, uses collages, photographs, silhouettes and drawings to wondrous effect: they capture both the austerity and uncertainty of the times and his feelings of joy and security. On one spread, his art has a haunting quality, and you get the sensation that you're flipping through a very old and fading scrapbook. On another, you see silhouettes of children leaping about the page as if they hadn't a care. Young created a world of wonder and security from the ordinary things around him. A rocking chair became a horse, and an empty pool a place to ride scooters. He made origami houses for silkworms, drew pictures in his textbooks, and roller-skated on the roof of his house. During air raids, he and his family, and the strangers who took refuge with them, huddled in the hallway, the safest part of the house, and told stories that transported them away from the dangers outside. There in the house that his father Baba built, Young knew nothing bad could ever get to him.

6. The Scar, by Charlotte Moundlic, illustrated by Olivier Tallec, Candlewick, $14.99, ages 5 and up, 32 pages. A little boy desperately tries to hold onto traces of his mother just days after her death, in a picture book that tugs at the heart, then makes it glow. Her death leaves him angry and hollow, and he worries he'll forget her. He refuses to open windows in his house for fear her smell will escape. Then he falls and scrapes his knee, and hears words his mother used to say to comfort him. "It's just a scratch, my little man," she'd say. "You're too strong for anything to hurt you." The boy doesn't want the scar to heal because he's afraid her voice will go away. But then his grandma puts her hand on his heart, and tells him his mother is there and will never go away. The words ease his longing just enough to buoy his spirit. He races around the room so he can feel his mom beating hard in his chest, and soon, before he even notices, the scrape has turned into a scar. This is a beautiful book that expresses grief just as it is: raw and inescapable. Then it adds beautiful metaphors and a trickle of humor to show readers that even the worst hurt can heal.

7. Wake Up, Sloth!, paper engineering by Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud, text by Sophie Strady, Roaring Brook, $16.99, ages 4-8, 16 pages. A sloth dozes in a tree as his rainforest home is devoured by iron clawed machines. Will the sloth stir in time to get away? At first, the forest rises serenely, as birds trill back and forth. Then a menacing blade pops up, and animals and people begin to flee. In a few destructive runs, the forest is no more, and the last machine rolls over to the only tree that remains, where the sloth sleeps. "Wake up, sloth!" Strady calls out. "Run away! Run." Did she stir the sloth in time? Did he run? As readers turn the page, only broken branches remain; the land looks lifeless and sterile But wait, who is that? A lone man walks into the eerie quiet at the end of a pull tab with a bag of seeds. Could it be, all is not lost? As readers pull the tab, seedlings spring from the soil, and there in the back, that brilliant, sleepy sloth climbs a branch once again. Incredibly moving, the story rolls like a coaster to a terrible low then brings us racing back up, exhilarated with hope.

8. The Man on the Moon (The Guardians of Childhood), by William Joyce, Atheneum, $17.99, ages 4-8, 56 pages. A boy on the run from a nightmare king hides out on the moon and vows to guard Earth's children from bad dreams, in this magical new series by a treasured author-illustrator. The boy, MiM, has lost his parents and his devoted friend Nightlight in a battle with Pitch, the king, but he's not alone. Lunar robots, mice, worms and moths scoop him up and care for him as he grows. Life with them is sweet and for a time, being watched over is enough. Then one day, MiM peers through a telescope and sees children on Earth and feels the draw of friendship. But the children are far away and the years pass. Soon, MiM is a grown man. As balloons float up from Earth, MiM holds them to his ear, and hears the children's hopes and dreams. Yearning to answer them, he finds five guardians to watch over the children and summons lunar moths to transform his moon into a nightlight to chase away their nightmares.

9. Blowin' in the Wind, by Bob Dylan, illustrated by Jon J. Muth, with CD of Dylan's original recording, Sterling, ages 5-8, 28 pages. A paper airplane blown by the wind becomes a breathtaking metaphor for the role we all play in making a better world, in this stunning visual accompaniment to Dylan's celebrated protest song. Four children of differing skin color are taken by skiff across expanses of water and shown scenes that make them at turns reflective, sad, uncomfortable, and ultimately, ready to face up to a difficult truth: That unjust things occur in the world and it is up to each of them to do something about them. On their journey, a paper plane glides overhead and guides their way to understanding. To read my full review, click here.

10. Ladder to the Moon, Maya Soetoro-Ng, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, Candlewick, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. One night a golden ladder unrolls from the moon to Suhaila's window sill and her late grandmother climbs down the rungs to show her how to make the world a little more kind, in this breathtaking book about the connectedness of one life to the next. Grandma Annie leads Suhaila up to the moon, where they drink moon dew from silver teacups, and guide children caught in natural disasters and a woman dying of old age skyward. Here on the moon, their spirits are at rest, and they join together in stories and songs of hope. But many prayers below on Earth still remain unanswered. Can all of those who've found their way to the moon now embolden those on Earth to heal their hurt and hardship? From Soetoro-Ng, sister of President Obama, comes a spellbinding folktale that reminds us that loved ones lost are never far from our hearts.

11. The Great Bear, by Libby Gleeson & Armin Greder, Candlewick, $16.99, ages 5-10, 32 pages. Day after day a circus bear is poked and prodded to dance on cue as trumpets, drums and cymbals build anticipation in a crowded square. Then one night, the bear refuses to move. All of the pent-up sadness and anger, all of nights of taunting, overflow and he lets out a roar that sends handlers and villagers scattering for cover. Seeing a flagpole a few paces away, the bear lumbers over, climbs it paw over paw, then at the top, reaches his arms skyward and launches into a mythical place where no one can reach him. Gleeson and Greder tell a triumphant story of a mistreated animal who takes back his dignity and gets free.

12. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, by Jerry Pinkney, Little, Brown and Company, $16.99, ages 4 and up, 40 pages. A mischievous chipmunk sets sail in a robin's nest across the night sky, only to tumble off his boat to Earth and find comfort on the downy back of a swan, in this magical interpretation of the beloved lullaby, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Pinkney reimagines this tender song as an atmospheric story about a young animal working through his anxiety of going to sleep. As the chipmunk embarks on his journey to slumber, which he unavoidably must travel alone, he is watched over by nature and finds reassurance in its wild embrace.

13. Bee & Bird, written and illustrated by Craig Frazier, Roaring Brook Press, $16.99, ages 2-6, 40 pages. A bee and bird travel on an epic journey from tree and truck to boat and beehive, in this wordless book of exploration. Saturated colors and inventive perspectives give this simple premise the feeling of high adventure. View the book trailer below!

14. This Baby, by Kate Banks, pictures by Gabi Swiatkowska, Frances Foster Books, $16.99, ages 3-6, 40 pages. A girl flutters about her mother asking questions about her unborn sibling, in this lyrical picture book that bubbles with the excitement of a new life. The girl wants answers that Mama can't yet give: Will the baby like stars, peek-a-boo, me? Mama listens patiently, knitting row after row of baby clothes. Even though she knows the answers will come in time, she doesn't quiet her daughter, but lets her say everything she needs to say. Swiatkowska's paintings beautifully capture the girl's anticipation and restlessness, while Banks' poem swirls around the page with a wonderful cadence. "This baby, a tiny bud of life nestled in a womb, kept and coveted like a tightly held secret," the poem reads, as the girl rests her head on Mama's tummy. "Will this baby like red boots? Knit, Mama, knit / row after row. / The rain is tapping. / Soon. / We'll know."

15. The Conductor, by Laetitia Devernay, Chronicle, 2011, $18.95, ages 5-8, 72 pages. A maestro stands on the top of a tree and conducts the leaves into a melody of flying birds, in this wordless masterpiece by an award-winning French artist. When the conductor lifts his wand, clusters of leaves flap like wings and sail off trees, leaving cookie-cutter shapes of themselves behind. Devernay creates music from silence with lyrical illustrations. Read a full review here.

16. Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade, by Melissa Sweet, Houghton Mifflin, $16.99, ages 4 and up, 40 pages. A man with a knack for making things move turns the concept of marionettes upside down and creates one of the greatest parades on Earth. Combining photos of homemade toys, buttons and more with whimsical paintings, Sweet delivers a picture-perfect tribute to Tony Sarg, the puppeteer behind Macy's balloons. Read a full review here.

17. Grandpa Green, by Lane Smith, Roaring Brook Press, $16.99, ages 5 and up, 32 pages. As Grandpa Green's memory fades, his grandson clomps happily through a garden where bushes are clipped into fantastical shapes, from giant carrots to exploding canons -- each preserving the most meaningful moments of his great-grandfather's life. Read a full review here.

18. Goodnight iPad, by Ann Droyd (David Milgrim), Blue Rider Press, $14.95, all ages, 30 pages. A grandmother solves her family's late-night obsession with gadgets by hurling all of their devices out the window, in this hysterical parody of Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon, the best twist yet of this beloved classic. Read a full review here.

19. Squish Rabbit, by Katherine Battersby, Viking, 2011, $12.99, ages 2 and up, 40 pages. A little bunny struggles to be noticed in a world much bigger than him, in this adorable debut. Squish is tired of being overlooked and stepped on, and he longs for someone to play with. So he sews himself a friend and tries to befriend cherries on a tree. But none of these things can play back. Then, just as he loses hope, a friend bounds into his life and accepts him just as he is. Read a full review here.

20. The Little Red Pen, by Susan Stevens Crummel, illustrated by Janet Stevens, Harcourt, $16.99, ages 6-12, 56 pages. An arsenal of desk supplies rescue a correction pen from the dreaded "Pit of No Return," just in time to correct a pile of papers and save the world, in this delightful spin on Little Red Hen. Read a full review here.

The 12 Best Read-Alouds of 2011

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1. Samantha on a Roll, by Linda Ashman, pictures by Christine Davenier, Margaret Ferguson, $16.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages. When Mama isn't looking, a little girl slips into her new roller skates and joyfully sails out the door. But as she crests a hill, she's going too fast to stop and careens through everything in her path.

2. Wolf Won't Bite, by Emily Gravett, Simon & Schuster, $16.99, ages 2-6, 32 pages. Three circus pigs prod a big wolf to perform silly acts and each time they foolishy sing out, "Wolf won't bite!" But are they sure they want to put their heads between Wolf's mighty jaws?

3. The Pied-Piper of Hamelin, retold by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark, Candlewick, $16.99, ages 5 and up, 64 pages. When the mayor of Hamelin refuses to pay a magical flute player for ridding his town of rats, the pied-piper uses his magic to hide the town's children until the mayor agrees to clean up Hamelin.

4. Scritch-Scratch A Perfect Match, by Kimberly Marcus, illustrated by Mike Lester, G. P. Putnam Sons, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A flea chomps into the backside of a big, scruffy stray and causes him to lurch into the air and into the heart of an old man in this rollicking adventure.

5. E-Mergency, by Tom Lichtenheld and Ezra Fields-Meyer, illustrated by Lichtenfeld, Chronicle, $16.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages. A fall down the stairs puts letter "E" out of commission, but who will be able to replace her? O is well-rounded, albeit a bit busy, but the problem is everyone's having trouble understanding the words he's filling in on. It's time to get "E" out of bed, but first the ABCs are going to have to give the narrator a good talking to. A hilarious romp inspired by the short video Alphabet House by Ezra Fields-Meyer, a teenage animator diagnosed with high-functioning Autism.

6. The Really Awful Musicians, by John Manders, Clarion, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. After a king gets fed up with the discordant sounds of his royal band and bans music in his kingdom, a wise horse gives a brave little piper and a wagon-load of really awful musicians a lesson in playing harmoniously.

7. King Hugo's Huge Ego, by Chris Van Dusen, Candlewick, $16.99, ages 3-6, 40 pages. A boastful king is zapped with a curse that makes his head swell, but it isn't until his ears are curled back on themselves that he realizes how arrogant he's been.

8. Stuck, by Oliver Jeffers, Philomel, $16.99, ages 3-7, 32 pages. When Floyd's kite gets stuck in a tree, he tosses everything including the kitchen sink into the tree to try to knock it down. But his kite won't budge and now all those things, his shoe, a duck, the milkman, even a firetruck, are stuck there too. Could a saw be just the thing he needs?

9. The Princess and the Pig, by Jonathon Emmett, illustrated by Poly Bernatene, Walker & Company, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A baby princess falls off a balcony and lands in a farmer's stall, causing a piglet there to bounce into the air and into the baby's cradle. The result is an uproarious mix-up that everyone in the story assumes was the work of fairies, because that's the sort of thing that happens in storybooks: a fairy casts a spell, turns a pig into a princess, or vice versa. But there are no fairies in this book and when pigs grow up and marry princes, kisses don't always fix things.

10. Zoozical, by Judy Sierra, illustrated by Marc Brown, Alfred A. Knopf, $17.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages. A very small hippo and a young kangaroo rouse their animal friends at the zoo from their winter doldrums with a song-and-dance extravaganza, in this playful rhyme.

11. The Little Red Pen, by Susan Stevens Crummel, illustrated by Janet Stevens, Harcourt, $16.99, ages 6-12, 56 pages. An arsenal of desk supplies rescue a correction pen from the dreaded "Pit of No Return," just in time to correct a pile of papers and save the world, in this delightful spin on Little Red Hen. (Also on my list of the 20 Best Picture Books of 2011.)

12. Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea, by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Stacy Innerst, Harcourt, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. When miners rushed to California to find gold, they ran so fast they lost their pants. All that corduroy and wool disintegrated right where they ran. That left the miners with nothing but skivvies to chase away the cold, so they strapped on barrels and waddled about, sluicing as best they could. Now those barrels were tough, but they just wouldn't bend, and soon the miners weebled and wobbled and fell over. Lucky thing, a fellow named Levi Strauss arrived out west as the miners were rolling down the hill. Since Strauss was too late to get in on the gold, he decided to earn his fortune making pants. Seeing how sturdy miners' tents were, he stripped them down and stitched them into the toughest pants around: known forever more as Levi denim jeans.

10 Favorites for Little Readers from 2011

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1. Cloudette, written and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld, Christy Ottaviano Books, $16.99, ages 3 and up, 40 pages. A little cloud wishes she could do big, important cloud things, like pour rain to make a water fall off a cliff. So she floats off in search of greatness, only to discover that she doesn't have to be a giant cloud to make a difference.

2. Hugs from Pearl, by Paul Schmid, Harper, 2011, $14.99, ages 3-7, 40 pages. Pearl the porcupine loves to hug, but her classmates get poked when she draws them in. So Pearl tries to soften her quills, only to find they're as prickly as ever. Could there be a way around these spiny hairs?

3. Mine!, by Shutta Crum, pictures by Patrice Barton, Alfred A. Knopf, $16.99, ages 1 and up, 32 pages. A toddler's emotions bubble over when her baby sister grabs her stuffed bunny and throws it across the room into the puppy bowl. But then the puppy pounces on it and shakes it wildly in his mouth, and even the toddler can't help but giggle. Soon the two little girls are piling all of big sister's toys into the dog bowl to see what happens, in this joyful book about learning to share.

4. Caveman: A B.C. Story, by Janee Trasler, Sterling, $14.95, ages 3-5, 32 pages. A shaggy caveman runs hurry-scurry across the page chasing things, being chased and freeing an ice-bound pet, in this hilarious spin on the ABCs. Single words for each letter of the alphabet guide this marvelously clever tale.

5. Fortune Cookies, by Albert Bitterman, art by Chris Raschka, Beach Lane Books, $14.99, ages 2-5, 28 pages. A box arrives with a week's supply of fortune cookies for a little girl, and each day a saying helps her see life from the sunny side, in this disarmingly sweet pull-tab book.

6. I Spy With My Little Eye, by Edward Gibbs, Templar, $14.99, ages 2-5, 32 pages. Creatures from whales to frogs peer with one eye through a porthole and give simple clues to who they are, in this charming book of cutouts.

7. Ten Little Caterpillars, by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Lois Ehlert, Beach Lane Books, $17.99, ages 2-6, 40 pages. Caterpillars nibble plants as they ready for metamorphosis, in this enchanting nature book that gently shows the perils of life too.

8. Splish-Splash, by Nicola Smee, Boxer Books, $16.95, ages 2-5, 32 pages. Mr. Horse and his farmyard friends tumble out of a rowboat into the deep blue sea, but have so much fun riding back to shore on horse's back, they want to do it all over again.

9. Love Waves, by Rosemary Wells, Candlewick, $15.99, ages 3-7, 32 pages. Ribbons of love drift across the sky from Mommy and Daddy to Little Bunny in this sweet, reassuring tale for any child who has to spend time away from a parent.

10. Your Moon, My Moon: A Grandmother's Words to a Faraway Child, by Patrician MacLachlan, illustrated by Bryan Collier, Simon & Schuster, ages 4-8, $16.99. As a grandmother flies half-way across the world to see her grandchild, she thinks of all the ways they're connected, including how they share the same moon.

Best Friendship Books of 2011

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1. Noodle and Lou, by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Arthur Howard, Beach Lane Books, $15.99, ages 2-6, 32 pages. Noodle the worm wakes up with a rain-cloudy heart and leans on his pal Lou, a blue jay, for cheering up.

2. Three By the Sea, by Mini Grey, Random House, $17.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. A fox tricks friends Dog, Cat and Mouse into turning against each other. But will they see through his game and realize they were happy just the way things were?

3. Neville, by Norman Juster, illustrated by G. Brian Karas, Schwartz & Wade, $17.99, ages 4 and up, 32 pages. A lonely boy in a new neighborhood calls out for his best friend Neville and is joined by other kids who help him to find what he misses.

4. A House in the Woods, by Inga Moore, Candlewick, $16.99, ages 3 and up, 48 pages. Two pigs return home to find their clumsy friends Moose and Bear have crushed their hut and den. But no worries, the four friends will ask the beavers to build them a house they can all live in together.

5. Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships, by Catherine Thimmesh, Houghton Mifflin, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. Unlikely animal friends find affection in this charming book of photographs and poems. In one spread, a macaque rests his head on the back of a pigeon, and in another a miniature pig nuzzles a camel.

6. Owly and Wormy: Friends All Aflutter, by Andy Runton, Atheneum, $15.99, ages 3-7, 40 pages. A little owl longs to play with butterflies, but then he meets two plump green bugs that make him forget that having friends with fancy wings was every important to him.

7. Hopper and Wilson, by Maria van Lieshout, Philomel, $16.99, ages 3-7, 40 pages. A blue elephant and yellow mouse set sail in a paper hat to see what's at the end of the world, only to discover that the best place of all is right where they started.

8. Freckleface Strawberry: Best Friends Forever, by Julianne Moore, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, Bloomsbury, $16.99, ages 4 and up, 40 pages. Freckleface did everything with Windy Pants Patrick until one day kids said they were too different to be friends. But does it really matter that you're different, if you're alike in ways that really count?

9. The Sniffles for Bear, by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton, Candlewick, $16.99, ages 3-7, 32 pages. When Bear catches a cold, he doesn't take kindly to Mouse's cheerful efforts to make him good as new. He wants to wallow in his misery. But then Mouse starts sniffling too. Could caring for Mouse be just the cure Bear needs?

10. Making a Friend, by Allison McGhee, illustrations by Marc Rosenthal, Atheneum, $16.99, ages 3-7, 40 pages. A boy wonders where his snowman goes when the weather warms. He sees him in the rain of spring, but where is he in summer? In fall, he's in the fog of a hollow and the frost on a window pane. No matter what shape he takes, their friendship endures.

Stars

2011-12-31T15:53:00.000-08:00

Written by Mary Lyn Ray

Illustrated by Marla Frazee

Beach Lane Books, 2011

$16.99, ages 2-6, 40 pages

An acclaimed author contemplates what stars are for, in a picture book reminiscent of Ruth Kraus' A Hole is to Dig.

"A star is how you know it's almost night," Mary Lyn Ray writes, as a boy walks his dog and gazes at the darkening sky.

Ray, the author of Basket Moon, describes stars as reassuring lights that never go away and shares other stars that are close enough to touch.

When day ends, the stars in the heavens click on like strings of white lights, and "the dark that comes doesn't feel so dark."

If only they weren't so far away, never to be held or carried. But suppose you could have a star of your own, one that fit right in your hand.

Okay, maybe not a real star like those in the sky, she adds, but you could draw a star on paper, cut it out and put it in your pocket!

It would be like having your best rock in there, only different, she says.

You could also put a paper star on a stick and make a wand, then give it to a friend.

(But a different star, never the one in your pocket, Ray explains. That one's just for you.)

Some days, she adds, you might feel like a star, all shiny inside. Other days you might not.

But don't worry. Just reach into your pocket and touch your star, and it will brighten your way.

If you ever lose that star, don't waste a moment. Just make a new one or find one!

Stars are waiting in the most unexpected places: in the patterns of moss, on the tops of strawberries, in pumpkin blossoms and snowflakes.

Or you could send stars back into the sky to mingle with the nighttime stars.

Just look for a dandelion in full plume, take a deep breath and blow.

In blowing dandelion fluff, you blow a thousand stars in the sky, she writes as the boy from earlier blows his.

Before him, a mango-colored sky glitters with a swirling trail of dandelion seeds.

But these are stars that belong to the earth, that you can seek out and touch.

The other stars, those in the night, you have to wait for.

But never doubt that they are there, Ray adds. Even when you can't see them, they are right where you left them.

Ray celebrates the wonder of stars, the comfort they bring and the feeling of possibility they convey, while Frazee makes every page feel as if it was sprinkled with stardust.

Frazee has won Caldecott Honors for All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, which she wrote and illustrated.

A Few of My Favorite Things...

2011-12-29T14:15:00.000-08:00

1.The Flint Heart
2.The Conductor
3.Fly Trap
4.Grandpa Green
5.Wonderstruck
6.Bumble-Ardy
7.The Masterwork of a Painting Elephant
8.The Bippolo Seed & Other Lost Stories
9.The Chronicles of Harris Burdick
10.Squish Rabbit
11.The Midnight Zoo
12.Every Thing on It
13.The Unwanteds
14.Neville
15.The House in the Woods

For more favorites, stop by next week for the Best Books of 2011.

1. The Flint Heart

2011-12-29T01:30:00.000-08:00

Written by Katherine & John Paterson

Illustrated by John Rocco

Candlewick, 2011

$19.99, ages 7 and up, 304 pages

Twelve-year-old Charles and little sister Unity try to stop an ancient rock from turning men into brutes, in Katherine and John Paterson's droll, magical remake of Eden Phillpott's 1910 story.

The rock, a heart-shaped charm chipped from flint, gives anyone who wears it a hard heart, no matter how kind they once were.

It was uncovered by a mystery man in the Stone Age, and created such terror back then that it was buried deep in a grave under a pile of rocks for five thousand years.

Then about 100 years ago, Charles' father Billy Jago made the mistake of unearthing it near his farm in Merripit, and he was turned into a nasty wretch of a man.

Unaware that the Flint Heart had caused his father's drastic behavior, Charles and five-year-old Unity set off with their dog Ship to ask the pixies for a gift to soften his temper.

They head off to the Pixie's hole in a wooded dell, where they meet up with a little fairy man, De Quincey, who offers to shrink them down to size and introduce them to an all-knowing sage, the Zagabog.

At a banquet, the Zagabog, the mystic of the fairy world, tells the children that their father doesn't need a gift; he needs something to be taken away, the flint charm from his waistcoat.

On the way home to sneak away the charm, Charles and Unity stumble upon a tossed out hot-water bottle with legs, a mournful fellow with a big hole in his side, and offer to take him home to mend him.

The next day after being sorely punished by their father for being late, Charles slips the Flint Heart out of his father's coat and flings it with all his might into a swamp.

But little does he know, the Flint Heart is not gone for good and on their second visit to Pixies Holt, Charles and Unity learn that a hobgoblin named Marsh Galloper has found it.

And worse, he has marshaled a legion of Jack Toads in a revolt against Fairyland.

Now it's up to Charles, Unity, Ship and their friend the talking water bottle to catch him, but will they ever get rid of this wicked stone?

The Patersons' adaptation feels as though it was sprinkled with fairy dust. The words dance about the page as happily as a jig and Rocco's illustrations are little gifts of wonder that center us on every magical turn-of-plot.

One look at the Jacky Toad curled up asleep in Charles' hands (after the cursed stone is taken away), and readers will be wishing for a sprite of their own to cradle and hug to their cheek.

Let the Newbery Award nominations begin. Hmm. The only question is whether a "freely abridged" story can win the title? Surely if any could, the Patersons' would.

2. The Conductor

2011-12-29T01:21:00.000-08:00

By Laetitia Devernay

Chronicle, 2011

$18.95, ages 5-8, 72 pages

A maestro stands on the top of a tree and conducts the leaves into a melody of flying birds, in this wordless masterpiece by an award-winning French artist.

One day, a conductor dressed in black tails and striped pants walks through a beautiful wood where delicate leaves are balled up on lollipop-shaped trees.

Holding his baton at the ready, he searches for music he can shape, then glances skyward and decides to climb one of the many stilt-like trunks.

Reaching the top, the conductor stands perfectly still. His dark bangs swoop off to one side with a flourish and he lifts his baton from the side of his leg.

Stretching his arms outward, the conductor signals to the leaves of all of the trees that the music is about to begin.

Then he delicately cues one cluster of leaves to fly out of the canopy into a bird, leaving a cookie-cutter shape of the flying bird behind.

Gradually, the maestro picks up the tempo, and signals a few more leaves to soar into the sky. Soon a whole flock is angling skyward.

Next, the maestro signals a canopy of delicately-etched leaves to take flight. Each stem spreads its leaves like the wings of exotic birds.

Soon the sky is filled with graceful, fluttering birds and the tree tops are becoming bare pale-yellow circles.

The birds swirl up toward the heavens, unified in performance and tempo, as the maestro shapes their movement with his baton high over his head.

As he waves his baton, their flight shifts between big, swirling movements and single-file lines, until the sky looks like a crescendo of music.

Readers open a two-page spread that's woven from top to bottom with flying birds.

The last birds are then released from their canopy, and join with the others. Then their movement, just as quickly, decrescendos until all is quiet.

All of the trees are now bare. The conductor bows and climbs down, and the birds flutter back onto their trees and return to being leaves.

As the conductor reaches for the ground, he sits down, digs a small hole and plants a seed, from which another musical tree sprouts.

Devernay makes music come to life on the page in this lyrical, amazing book. One read through and readers will be going back to hear it again.

3. Fly Trap

2011-12-29T01:16:00.000-08:00

By Frances Haringe

HarperCollins, 2011

$16.99, ages 10 and up, 592 pages

Orphan Mosca Mye once more uses her fly-like cunning to evade ruffians, but this time will this little pebble of a girl be able to exact revenge?

In this delicious followup to Hardinge's Fly by Night, 12-year-old Mye again finds herself in a sticky mess that only a mistrustful mind could scheme a way out of.

Having barely escaped with their lives from the rebel city of Mandelion, Mye and her traveling companions, Eponymous Clent and her ornery goose Soren, are now on the run to Toll, a peculiar city split in two.

Toll, as they see it, is their only chance to start anew, as it give access across a gorge that belongs to the River Langfeather and to "fairer counties."

The three agree that they cannot return to places they've been before, as they've left behind a path of thefts, frauds, and "goose-related blasphemies."

The last to-do was in Mandelion, where they accidentally fired up a revolution and in doing so, thwarted plans by a band of Locksmiths to take over the city.

Locksmith agent Aramai Goshawk warned the three never to return to Mandelion. So they fled to the little sheep-farming town of Grabely -- only to get into another mess of trouble.

While offering to read for pennies on the streets (for she and Clent were the only people in Grabely who knew how to read), Mye is tricked into being a scribe for a brigand.

As it turns out, the evil fellow, Rabilian Skellow, is scheming to kidnap the daughter of Toll's mayor, and now Mye has been forced to write a letter to a would-be accomplice.

Soon, Mye knows too much, and is locked away by Skellow in a cellar and left to die. But luckily, Skellow underestimates Mye's cunning and she sneak away.

A narrow escape, and an opportune run-in with an old foe, Mistress Bissel, and Mye slips back to Grabely and to Clent, who's been locked in debtor's prison.

Knowing Skellow will be after her once more, Mye finagles a way to free Clent so they can flee the city together, a tricky scheme involving a bit of fowl play.

With luck again on their side, Mye and Clent are soon on the run once more, now with Soren in toe, and quickly set their sights for Toll.

But first they must pay the city's two tolls, a hefty sum, and unfortunately for now, they only have enough money to enter the city, not leave it.

With Clent's head for scams, the two concoct another scheme to pay the toll out of town, though it will require them to outwit a coterie of cutthroats, no easy task.

Luckily, Mye has just the tip they need to earn a plum reward to pay the tolls: her knowledge of Skellow's kidnapping plan.

So the three head to the mayor and offer their services to rescue his fair daughter Beamabeth -- services that surely will win them a reward.

But Toll is not an easy town to navigate through, and in fact it is not a single city at all. Grim dangers lurk there, far greater than either of them know.

The city is a paradigm, shifting between cities that don't recognize the other's existence:

Toll-by-Day, which is run by the mayor and exists only during daylight, and Toll-by-Night, a ruthless frightening place ruled by Locksmiths.

At night, the citizens of Toll-by-Day lock up their shutters and pretend they aren't there, as the city walls fold out into the sinister Toll-by-Night.

As bugle calls mark the shift from the daylight city to the nighttime one, a band of Jinglers patrol the streets, threatening to steal any daylight citizen who dares to be seen.

(The Jinglers are chilling, much like the child catcher in the paddy wagon in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.)

Only the citizens of Toll-by-Night are allowed out, each having been banished to this dreadful city because they were born on the wrong day, a day named for a god with a bad reputation.

As such, nightlings are also branded with a bitter-tasting name, not unlike Mye's, which translates to fly child.

Although Mye is granted to pass into Toll-by-Day, it is with much reluctance by the guards of Toll, and thus is only temporarily.

Mye was born under Goodman Papitattle, the emperor of houseflies, and has long been shunned for it. As Clent puts it, she's been "fed all her life on mistrust."

Though a curse, the name has also given Mye "the devil's own wits" and made her adept at getting out of scrapes.

But will it be enough to tangle with a bone horse, outwit a viper and the sinister Locksmiths, and catch Beamabeth's kidnapper?

And there's also the matter of rescuing the city's treasure, the Luck of Toll. It seems it's been snatched too.

Hardinge's writing is exquisite and her imagination, it seems, limitless. Once you read one her books, you'll read anything with her name on the cover.

For more about the first book, the 2005 gem Fly by Night, click here.

4. Grandpa Green

2011-12-29T01:10:00.000-08:00

Written & illustrated by Lane Smith

Roaring Brook Press, 2011

$16.99, ages 5 and up, 32 pages

A boy clomps happily through a topiary garden, reflecting on all of the great moments of his great-grandpa's life, in this magical picture book.

Acclaimed author-illustrator Lane Smith celebrates the love between grandparents and grandchildren as leafy tendrils twine about the pages.

Though some of Grandpa Green's memories have begun to fade, he has preserved the most meaningful ones in meticulously clipped topiaries around his garden.

His grandson roams the garden in mud boots with a wagon in tow, and passes bushes shaped to represent each stage of his great-grandpa's life, beginning with Grandpa Green's birth.

This first bush is clipped to suggest that his great-grandpa burst into the world, wanting to be noticed all those years ago.

The topiary is sheared into a bawling baby and a waterfall of tears arcs down from his eyes. A stray vine twirls out from the top of the baby's head like a newborn curl.

The boy enters the garden along a stone path lined with trees, each wonderfully organic and finely textured with ink lines.

Inside, the boy remembers that Grandpa Green grew up on a farm with pigs and vegetables, and he chases away a rabbit who's nibbled on a giant spiraling topiary clipped like a carrot.

Later in life, his great-grandpa dreamed of studying horticulture, but instead he went off to war. A cannon-shaped hedge fires off a topiary ball over the fold.

The fire of the blast is depicted by a tree sticking sideways out of the canon's neck, its leaves and flowers as red as flames.

At times the boy hunkers down on the ground or lays on a branch in a tree, taking in all the memories that he sees: Grandpa Green falling love, having a family, growing old and alas, losing memory.

The boy climbs an elephant topiary to retrieve his great-grandpa's garden hat, one of many things Grandpa Green's begun to lose track of. But the important stuff his great-grandpa still remembers.

Just look at Granpa Green now!

He's standing on an overturned wooden planter, shearing a shrub in his grandson's likeness. The topiary shows the boy just as he is today, playing in the garden, fending off a dragon with a vine-wrapped sword.

Smith's illustrations are lush and full life, and his use of topiaries is poetic.

Typically clipped from living, aged shrubs, topiaries are fitting metaphors for the enduring memories handed down from one generation to the next.

Magical and touching, this is a tale that seems to sprout off the page. By book's end, it even feels as if a tendril or two are wrapping themselves around us.

5. Wonderstruck

2011-12-29T01:01:00.000-08:00

Written & illustrated by Brian Selznick

Scholastic, 2011

$29.99, ages 9 and up, 608 pages

A book, a locket and a dream about wolves leads a deaf boy to a wondrous discovery, in this tour-de-force by a Caldecott Award winner.

Brian Selznick, the creator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, astounds us again with a novel that feels at times like a silent movie reel, as the written story shifts between pencil drawings that go on for several pages.

In the story, two deaf children living 50 years apart in time run away from home in search of things to fill an emptiness in their lives, not yet knowing they're lives will become entwined.

Selznick choreographs two lives separated by time and place, and so adeptly that we become absorbed in the story instantly.

Our reading pace is driven by the drama that unfolds in each frame, and as the children race to discover truths they so desperately need to find, Selznick pans in on faces and scenes, and heightens our sense of urgency.

Along the way, Selznick beautifully illuminates the experience of being deaf, recently and in a more distant past. Readers see how isolated deaf people once were, often at the hands of well-intentioned, but misguided adults.

He also spotlights how sign language has helped to lift deaf people out of isolation, and how it created it's own silent hum of conversation.

Ben's story, set in 1977 in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota, is told, at first, only through words.

Ben, a 12-year-old boy who is deaf in one ear, has just lost his librarian mother in an accident and is haunted by a dream.

In the dream, wolves are quietly stalking him, though he can't understand why because he's always loved wolves.

He's been staying at his aunt's house next door since the accident, but Ben feels lost. His cousin Robby wishes aloud that he wasn't there, and his aunt and uncle are talking about selling Ben's house as if it were no longer his.

Ben never knew his father and pretends that his father is the make-believe astronaut, Major Tom, from a song his mother used to play on the phonograph.

Maybe one day, Major Tom will burst down from the stars and rescue him.

One night, Ben slips back home and in his mother's closet, discovers a locket with a picture of a man he thinks could be his long-lost father.

He also finds a small blue book about the history of museums, called Wonderstruck, that was dedicated to his mother by a man named Danny.

Could this also be the man in the locket?

In the book, he discovers a frayed bookmark from a bookstore, with another inscription from Danny, and beneath that a phone number and an address.

Ben reaches for the phone and dials the number, and just then lightning strikes the house, travels through the line and knocks Ben out.

He wakes up in a hospital room, and discovers he's also deaf in his hearing ear. For the first time, the world is completely quiet.

Days later, he sneaks out of the hospital with the things he treasures most, a box of things he's collected, and now the locket and book.

Then, using money his mother stashed away, Ben buys a bus ticket to New York City to try track down Daniel, first at the address, then at the bookstore.

But when both leads come up dry, he wanders into the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to get out of the heat.

There, he encounters a boy he'd run into earlier in the day who shares his love of curios and helps him hide out in the museum until he figures out what to do next.

He also stumbles upon an diorama about the wolves of his hometown that reminds him of a recurring nightmare and a curio cabinet that seems familiar.

Meanwhile, fading in and out of Ben's story is the reel-like story of Rose, a 12-year-old deaf girl living in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1927.

Rose feels trapped in her home and exceedingly lonely.

In her bedroom, she keeps a scrapbook about a mother she barely knows, and builds a paper cityscape of New York City from views out of her window.

Forbidden to go out of her house because her father thinks it's unsafe for a deaf girl, Rose reaches out to the world in the only way she can think of.

She writes little notes asking for help, then sneaks out of the house and leaves them for someone to discover.

Rose longs to go to New York City and find her birth mother, a silent film star who divorced her father soon after she was born.

Then one day, Rose runs away to find her. But her mother is cold to her and scolding, and Rose runs off to find her grown brother, who works at the natural history museum.

There she wanders places Ben will one day go, until one day their lives become magically entwined, as the story culminates in a cinematic, rewarding finish.

Selznick wows readers, using the same format but in a brilliantly different way.

Every picture has a precise role to play and just when we yearn to see Ben's reaction visually, having not yet seen him in a drawing, Selznick produces a closeup of his face.

I almost gasped, not by how Ben was reacting, but by how intuitive Selznick was. He knew this was the moment when readers would yearn most to finally see Ben.

That moment by itself makes this book worthy of Caldecott, but there is so much more here that is thoughtfully planned out, including the symbolism of images, the most significant beyond a drawing of a key unlocking a door, as Ben discovers the truth of his father.

Wonderstruck is a meticulously crafted book that pulls readers in like a dream. It is as much an artistic feat as a literary one and leavers readers on the last page, silently marveling at the journey that got them there.

6. Bumble-Ardy

2011-12-29T00:57:00.000-08:00

Written & illustrated by Maurice Sendak

HarperCollins, 2011

$17.95, ages 1 and up, 40 pages

Here's a book that feels like a reissued classic, when all the while, we muse with delight, that it's wonderfully, completely new.

Returning to picture books at age 83, Sendak writes with the same rhythm and panache we've long adored.

This time he offers a whimsical rhyme about a pig who never had a birthday party until he turned nine.

All of Bumble's life, his family neglected to celebrate the day. Then when he turned eight, his mom and dad "gorged and gained weight / and got ate."

Oh my, so drolly grim. But then, just like that, Bumble's world flips back around, and he's taken in by an aunt divine, Adeline.

With Adeline, Bumble turns nine. And dear she is. Adeline agrees to celebrate his day for the very first time.

But when nothing happens the morning of his birthday, Bumble fears that she's forgotten.

So after his aunt heads off to work, Bumble throws a bash for himself and in Sendak fashion, lets the rumpus begin.

A "mob of swilling swine" descend on Adeline's house, as the next pages crowd with pigs masquerading as bawdy-looking humans, and in one case, a chicken.

It seems that there's no room for Sendak to rhyme and the story becomes completely visual for three two-page spreads in a row (give or take a few birthday signs held up by his guests.)

The rowdy crowd squishes into every white area until a climactic turn of the page leads to a series of hurried scenes that reflect Adeline's distressful homecoming.

Adeline rushes home "at half past nine," thinking that she'll have a birthday dinner with Bumble, only to find her house taken over by rowdy guests.

With a "shriek and shake and whine," she runs the party-goers off with her spatula and scolds her Bumble for acting out of line.

But then, just like that, her temper cools from hot to just right.

Look at that! Well, ain't that fine. Adeline then "took in her Bumble valentine / And kissed him nine times over nine."

Though the years have passed, Sendak is still just as was: delightfully idiosyncratic.

He offers a tragic twist, a cautionary tale (be careful what you wish for) and a heart-melting moment when Adeline takes Bumble in her arms.

First introduced in an animated segment for Sesame Street, this gem is the first book Sendak has both written and illustrated in 30 years (since Outside Over There in 1981).

Please, Maurice, tell us it isn't your last!

7. The Masterwork of a Painting Elephant

2011-12-29T00:49:00.000-08:00

Written by Michelle Cuevas

Illustrated by Ed Young

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011

$15.99, ages 6 and up, 144 pages

In this quirky, wonderful little novel, an abandoned baby crawls off into the night and into the heart of lonely ex-circus elephant.

Along the way, the baby grows into a boy and helps the elephant find a beautiful thing with feathers that stole the elephant's heart years ago.

And the boy, who wonders what happened to his parents, discovers what it truly means to give his heart to another.

Birch, the elephant, feels that something is missing from his life, and is sad that his trunk is used for menial things.

He's been put to work hosing off cars at a car wash since the circus shut down. Yet it is not what trunks are for, he tells himself.

They're for touching, lifting, greeting, caressing, making things of beauty.

Ever since he almost saw a painting of a phoenix, he's daydreamed of using his trunk to paint.

Yet Birch doesn't quite now how to get out from under his situation.

Then one day he finds a baby boy in a pile of leaves and his world changes.

The baby, a restless little guy with unusually large ears, had crawled away from the steps of an orphanage before anyone could discover him.

When Birch sees the baby, in the rain curled up by a fallen tree, he immediately lifts him to his back for safety and that's that.

Being named after a tree, Birch wants to name the baby after a regal little bird that would perch in a tree.

But when a pigeon lands above them, the baby giggles and claps his hands. Though a blundering thing, it reminds the baby of something.

So from then on the baby is Pigeon -- Pigeon Jones, because every baby needs a last name, something simple like Jones.

Birch's boss at Soap and Suds Car Wash, who is also his former circus boss, named Ringleader, scowls when he sees the baby.

Birch never did like Ringleader -- he was bitter about losing his circus and always criticized Birch for not spraying cars with pizzazz.

"Arch your back. Point your toes," he'd say. "…I want to see showmanship."

But now Ringleader has gone too far. He's made fun of Pigeon's ears and said he's not useful, and the two acrimoniously part ways.

For nine years, Birch and Pigeon live happily in the same town, a town too small for a name and mainly made up of former circus performers.

Pigeon remains on Birch's back, Birch takes up painting, and the two talk of life and nature, and wonder about things they've missed.

Sometimes Pigeon makes up stories about who is parents really are, and why they must have left him, and has a sad dream of his mama softly crying.

He imagines his papa was a circus performer who wore a frog suit and his mother was the Bearded Lady, and they left him so they could run off to the circus.

But mostly, Pigeon feels content just where he is. Not once in those nine years does he ever touch the ground, ever know what grass feels like, yet he doesn't seem to miss either.

"An elephant's back is closer to the sun, and my world was calm, bleached with warmth and brightness," Pigeon reflects back.

In time, however, Pigeon realizes that Birch has missed out on things in his life.

He'd once fallen in love, yet he's never felt that love come back to him. And though he's now begun to make art, he doesn't know what it feels like to share it with the world.

At the circus, Birch had fallen for a beautiful acrobat named Dahlia. They used to perform together, with her doing flips on his back and looking like a great flaming phoenix. Then one day she left him to go to Paris.

Now when Birch paints, all of his pictures are of birds of paradise, his Dahlia.

Unable to shake his despair, Birch warns Pigeon that he should never get attached to beauty or hope. But isn't hope a thing with feathers?

After years of constant togetherness with Birch, Pigeon knows that Birch doesn't mean what he says. He also understands the kinds of feelings Birch is struggling with.

For, Pigeon now knows that kind of love too. He's fallen for a girl named Darling Clementine who he's met in school. (He attends Fifth Grade on Birch's back, the two watching lessons from outside the classroom window because Birch is too big to fit inside.)

So for his birthday wish, Pigeon asks Birch to take them to Paris. They will look for his true love and make Birch the famous artist he's always dreamed of being.

Like life, the journey is full of unexpected turns and detours. They meet four singing hoboes who send them to Bronx Zoo, where a turtle has a cosmic revelation.

Then they get sidetracked by the lure of Hollywood, and its promise of fame, and bumble about, getting confused about what's important.

Finally, they're on their way to Paris. But will they once again be pulled off-track? This time, they must confront a wolf in frog's clothing and discern what is real behind what is not so real.

Lyrical and quirky, this is a story about loving someone enough to let them go.

Cuevas subtly weaves the theme of Emily Dickenson's poem, "Hope is the Thing with Feathers," into the story, without making direct reference.

Thus it becomes a delicate surprise for the reader, hinted at and only recognizable to those who already know the poem.

The story is so poetic, I found myself wanting to jot down quotes as I read.

Some are lovely little descriptive phrases, as when she describes leaves chewed by caterpillars as "demure doilies in the moonlight."

Others are heart-melting, as when Pigeon describes his love for Birch: His "whole world rose and fell with Birch's breath and the sound of his heartbeat."

And later, when Pigeon understands what it means to love someone else completely:

"To find someone who loves you, someone who will carry you when you need to be carried and let you go when it's time, finally, to be free."

Graceful ink drawings by Caldecott winner Young compliment the purity and simplicity of the story, and resemble those painted by elephants.

Made up of loose, spare strokes, the drawings focus the readers on what is essential to the story, my favorites being the quiet private moments between Pigeon and Birch.

In one, Pigeon hug Birch's head with his body, as a single tear drops from Birch's eye. In another, Birch pours a fountain of water over them from his trunk.

8. The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories

2011-12-29T00:41:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Seuss

Assembled by Charles D. Cohen

Random House, 2011

$15, ages 6 and up, 72 pages

"Think left and think right and think low and think high!" Oh the thinks, Charles D. Cohen thought up, because he searched and he tried!

Cohen, the world's foremost Seuss scholar and collector, used his noggin just right when he followed a hunch that there was more to Seuss than many of us had read.

He burrowed into library collections and hunted the Internet to recover seven magazine stories written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss between 1948 and 1959 -- a challenge given that magazines then, as now, were routinely tossed out when the next month's issue arrived.

This amazing selection, culled from Redbook magazine, includes a few stories that may be familiar, like "The Bear, the Rabbit and the Zinniga-Zanniga," recorded by Marvin Miller in a Dr. Seuss Presents album.

In that story, a rabbit outwits a bear with a single eyelash.

But many of the stories will be delightfully, novelly new.

Among them, the title's namesake "The Bippolo Seed" about a scheming cat who leads an innocent duck astray, and "The Great Henry McBride" about a boy who fantasizes about a far-flung life with many careers.

The collection begins with a 10-page introduction, in which Cohen explains that all seven stories marked a shift in Dr. Seuss's writing style from primarily prose to rhymes that educated kids.

He also shares anecdotes and quotations, and discusses recurring themes and images in Dr. Seuss's work (including kids dreaming without constraint, the theme of David and Goliath and Dr. Seuss' fascination with twins).

Every page feels like a treasure found -- and it really is!

The hard part is accepting that the book has an end.

I found myself wishing I could find a box with a Bippolo Seed of my own, plant it, count up to three and wish for more lost gems.

Oh, how we miss our Dr. Seuss!

9. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales

2011-12-29T00:39:00.000-08:00

Created by Chris van Allsburg

Introduced by Lemony Snicket

Houghton Mifflin, 2011

$24.99, ages 10 and up, 208 pages

Fourteen celebrated authors sort out the mysteries of one of the most beloved literary ruses of all time, in this wonderfully eerie story collection.

Authors from Jules Feiffer to Kate DiCamillo hone their imaginations on pictures from Chris van Allsburg’s acclaimed The Mysteries of Harris Burdick to create their own incredible tales.

The result is a captivating collection that leaves readers imagining that the authors, by some magical turn, tapped into Burdick’s imagination and unearthed what he was thinking.

The collection is introduced by Lemony Snicket and comprises 14 stories, including one by Allsburg, in which he offers a magical twist on his picture, “Oscar and Alphonse.”

Each story is unpredictable, and as odd and fantastical as its picture. Readers will get a delightful twinge of unease as stories progress, much like they do from a Rod Sterling mystery.

Allsburg's is certainly the most exciting, as here he participates in his own ruse: as he surmises what's going on in the unfinished work of an illusive writer-illustrator that he has created.

In it, a girl named Alice walks off into the woods and meets up with two caterpillars who can communicate, in this case spell words with their bodies.

Though no one in Alice’s family believes her caterpillars can communicate, they humor her because they are delighted by the information she says the caterpillars have given her.

Just before the caterpillars transform into butterflies, they dictate to her the answer to a mathematical puzzle that’s confounded her father and brothers, known as The Farkas Conjecture.

The best stories are humorously dark, such as Jon Scieszka’s twist on the picture, “Under the Rug,”about the importance of listening to your grandma, no matter how crazy she sounds.

In it, a grandmother rattles off sayings to her grandson before he does his daily chore of sweeping. But the boy doesn’t pay her much mind, especially when the sayings really matter, mainly the one, “Never sweep a problem under the rug.”

Looking for a shortcut to his chore, the boy sweeps all of the dust bunnies and crumbs under the rug instead of into a dust pan. Then one day, the mess is so big and sorted, it morphs into a living, breathing dust devil with an appetite only a granny can fill.

Another gem cleverly plays off the open-ended nature of Allsburg’s book: how some mysteries, namely what’s going on in Burdick’s pictures, may never be definitively answered.

For “Mr. Linden’s Library,” Walter Dean Myers imagines that a girl is drawn to a book that belonged to a late sailor, only to be haunted by the book’s interminable storyline.

In that book, a boy swims out in a bay with a dolphin, but can never get home.

Each time the girl picks up the book to read what happened next, the story expands, and the boy drifts farther from home and encounters more difficult challenges.

The girl is anxious for a happy resolution, to know the boy eventually gets home safely, but the book and the boy’s trials continue to write themselves with no resolution in sight.

Other authors offer similarly surreal tales. Among them, Sherman Alexie, Gregory Maguire, Cory Doctorow, Linda Sue Park, Lois Lowry, Tabitha King, M.T. Anderson and Louis Sachar.

When The Mysteries of Harris Burdock was published in 1984, it was a sensation, and has since spurred countless writing exercises in schools, even led horror novelist Stephen King to lend his own spin to a picture.

That short story, based on “The House on Maple Street,” tells of a house raising itself and blasting off into the sky with a cruel stepfather inside. It appears in King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and is retold in this collection as well.

Allsburg’s experiment, begun in 1984, was to see if he could spark his readers’ imaginations. The seed of it was a fictional author’s note printed in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick and reproduced in this collection.

In that note, he tells about a writer-illustrator by the name of Harris Burdick who showed up at an editor’s office in 1954 with samples of his work, the 14 black-and-white drawings that readers see.

The editor, Peter Wenders, was intrigued, and asked Burdick to return the next day with the rest of his drawings and the manuscripts he’d written for each picture collection.

However, Burdock didn’t keep his appointment and was never seen from again. And his sample drawings?

They were stashed away until Allsburg happened upon them while visiting Wenders, by then retired.

Allsburg, being a writer-illustrator himself, asked if he could publish the pictures in hope of discovering who Burdick was.

And thus began the mysteries, all a delightful figment of Allsburg’s imagination meant to inspire ours.

10. Squish Rabbit

2011-12-29T00:23:00.000-08:00

Written & illustrated by Katherine Battersby

Viking, 2011

$12.99, ages 2 and up, 40 pages

A little bunny struggles to be heard in a world much bigger than him, in this tender, debut by Australia's Battersby.

Squish Rabbit, a floppy fellow with a saggy bottom and mismatched eyes, is so tiny that sometimes he isn't even noticed.

In fact, that's how he got his name.

One day he was bending over to marvel at a tiny red flower and a scaly-legged giant stepped on him.

Being wee, his body bounces back. But his heart? Well, the hurt of being overlooked doesn't go away.

It only gets worse, as magical things pass him by. A red balloon floats up over the sea just out of Squish's reach.

Worse yet, when he calls for help to catch it, the big rabbits don't hear or see him.

Poor Squish. He feels terribly alone.

So he plunks himself down on a cluster of red poppies and thinks about what he should do.

Quick to his feet, he grabs a swatch of blue plaid fabric, a needle and thread, and sews up a friend his size.

And for awhile, his stuffed friend, a bunny half his size, is enough to make him feel a part of something.

Dangling the toy in front of his body from a stick, Squish imagines following him in a game of chase.

Later, he poses the toy's paws just so, and leap frogs over him and for a game of hide-and-seek, he runs to hide.

But the bunny doesn't leap over him or chase after him, and soon Squish feels the loneliness creep back in.

Perhaps Squish should try playing with the cherry trees instead. At least he can reach them, unlike the balloon that got away.

The problem is once the cherries fall down, they don't get back up. They just lie there.

Well, seeing all of those cherries pile up at his feet was about all Squish could take.

Unaware that a squirrel was watching him a tree, Squish threw the biggest little tantrum he could muster.

And to top it off, he kicked a cherry as hard as he could.

The squirrel, however, thought Squish was inviting him to play. He jumped off the tree and went bounding after the cherry.

But with every bounce, the cherry got closer to the cliff where the balloon had been lost.

Oh no, the bitty squirrel doesn't seem to be slowing down!

Suddenly Squish's face turns to fright, and he waves his little arms and yells in his loudest little voice, "Stop!"

With that, the squirrel skids to a stop, right at the edge of the cliff. And for a moment, the two just look at each other.

Then, as if they'd always been friends, they begin playing all of the games neither of them could ever play alone.

And from that day on, Squish never minded being so little because his friends made him feel big enough.

Battersby's illustrations are little treasures on the page.

Each ink drawing (punctuated by splashes of watercolor or torn paper) is spare, but purposefully and expressively so.

She outlines Squish in quiet, thoughtful poses that say more than words can, and uses color to carry the theme of friendship along in a very poetic way.

Red, suggestive of comforting things, stripes the stockings where Squish sleeps, and colors the little flower, the balloon, the poppies and cherries.

Every illustration feels meticulously thought-out, underscoring the importance of Squish's feelings, his earnestness, and how central friendship is to his happiness.

There is little that is superfluous in Squish's life. He sees beauty and wonder, and longs for a basic yet wondrous thing: friendship. And readers, feel his longing too.

11. The Midnight Zoo

2011-12-29T00:09:00.000-08:00

By Sonya Hartnett

Illustrated by Andrea Offermann

Candlewick, 2011

$16.99, ages 10 and up, 208 pages

Two brothers on the run from Nazi Germans stumble upon an abandoned zoo where they struggle to make sense of a terrifying world, in this deeply moving novel by the author of Thursday's Child.

When Germans invade their clan's camp, killing their uncle and taking their gypsy parents captive, 12-year-old Andrej and 9-year-old Tomas flee for their lives to an empty village crushed by Nazi bombs.

The village is like a ghost town, eerie and dangerous. They forage in the rubble for scraps of food, guarding a secret bundle in their knapsack. Then one night, they let loose and run through the streets.

Their arms stretch out like wings of airplanes and their hands jounce along the iron bars of a fence. They're imagining, if only for a few moment, that they don't know the horrors of war.

Then all of a sudden a low, gravely noise stirs them from their play, the growl of a rangy wolf. Its footfalls threaten from behind and they flee for shelter. Then just as quickly the wolf stops in its tracks, and they realize it cannot get to them.

The wolf is behind the fence that they ran their fingers over, in a small zoo, a circuit of cages laid out like a garden.

As the brothers explore the abandoned zoo under the safety of darkness, they discover the animals are very weak. But their cages, incredibly, have not been damaged by the aerial raids that have devastated the rest of the city.

They find a monkey chittering tensely, a bear "with ears like toppled teacups" laying sadly in the rear of a cage, a lioness without her cubs laying almost motionless in a filthy pen, a seal swimming in moldering water, a cage where a boar should be, and lama with "heart-meltingly" lashy eyes.

The animals, like the boys, have watched their world stolen away, upended and stripped of compassion. None of them are free, not the animals behind bars, not the boys "dodging and hiding" and "being blown about by chance."

They each hunger for things they've lost or never had, and together in the midnight zoo, they find a way to trust each other and to imagine their way to freedom.

Hartnett's words are poetic and powerful, so much so that I'd stop to reread passages, awed by the clarity of her expression:

"Tomas's life," she describes in the first few pages, "had become a challenge of endurance … It was life gnawed at every edge by worry."

And later when planes bomb over the zoo:

"The airplanes came from nowhere -- perhaps from behind the broad platter of the moon, perhaps from inside a star. Against the soft gray sky they were as black and stiff as a trio of undertakers."

Sad, yes, but also very magical, this is an exquisite story about the power of the spirit, and the will to endure, no matter how uncertain things become.

12. Every Thing On It

2011-12-28T23:50:00.000-08:00

Written & illustrated by Shel Silverstein

HarperCollins, 2011

$19.99, ages 1 and up, 208 pages

Everything on it. That's how you order a serving of Shel Silverstein.

You pile on all the poems and drawings of his that you can get.

In the title poem of this fantastic collection, a boy piles on crazy things on his hotdog -- a snake, a hat, you name it.

But unlike his hotdog with everything on it, with Silverstein, there's nothing you'd want to leave out.

And luckily we don't have to!

In this volume, fans get to devour 145 poems by the late great Silverstein that were edited out of earlier books.

Edited out, not because he thought them lesser, but because they didn't fit the organization of a particular book.

That means all 145 have never before been published before, and the same is true of the drawings that accompany them.

Among so many favorites, mine is "Spider" on page 190.

Here's the poem "Spider" in full:

"A spider lives inside my head

Who weaves a strange and wondrous web

Of silken threads and silver strings

To catch all sorts of flying things,

Like crumbs of thought and bits of smiles

And specks of dried-up tears,

And dust of dreams that catch and cling

For years and year and years…"

Read a full review of Every Thing On It here!

13. The Unwanteds

2011-12-28T23:42:00.000-08:00

By Lisa McMann

Aladdin, 2011

$16.99, ages 10-14, 400 pages

Teens condemned to death for having creative thoughts are spirited away to safety, in this first book of a wondrous new series by the author of the Wake trilogy.

At the age of 13, the creative children of Quill are weeded out by their cold, oppressive leaders and put to death, for fear they will think for themselves and mobilize an uprising.

During the day of Purge, Alex Stowe, along with Lani, Meghan and Samheed, are marked as "Unwanteds," useless and dangerous members of society, and sent by bus to The Great Lake of Boiling Oil to be killed.

Just as guards known as Eliminators prepare to toss the kids in, a magician named Mr. Today secretly transports the teens into Artime, a magical realm he created within Quill.

For the first time in their lives, the teens are allowed to think for themselves and express their creative sides, as Mr. Today sets them on a path to become magical warriors.

With the help of a curious group of teachers, including an art instructor with octopus arms, they learn to use their innate abilities at drawing, drama and music to ward off an inevitable invasion by the Quill army.

Though the teens are nervous at first to show their creativity, having been blocked from doing so all their lives, their imaginations soon take off and they begin to bond as friends, and discover the strength of their talents.

Alex, Lani, Meghan and Samheed practice ways to combine their talents with magic. Some learn to animate origami dragons and make them spit fire; others splatter paint from brushes to immobilize would-be enemies by coating them in a shell.

But as the threat of being discovered becomes frighteningly real, it's unclear who can be trusted.

Alex feels torn between Artime and his ties to his identical twin brother Aaron, who remains in Quill, elevated to the status of Wanted.

He wants to tell Aaron he has survived, but he knows that Aaron is now entrenched in the Quillitary, Quill's army of obedient soldiers. Will Alex jeopardize everything to see him again?

The Unwanteds was a delight to read: the magical details alone kept me glued. Among my favorite details, faces that press through blackboards and talk to the kids.

14. Neville

2011-12-28T23:23:00.000-08:00

Written by Norman Juster

Illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Schwartz & Wade, 2011

$17.99, ages 4 and up, 32 pages

A boy is uprooted from all that he knows and sets off in search of himself, in this brilliant picture book by the author of The Hello, Goodbye Window.

No one ever asked the boy about moving to a new house. His folks just told him it would happen and he'd love his new home.

"That's what they always said when they knew he wouldn't love something," the boy tells himself.

The boy is certain he'll never feel at home in the new neighborhood and what's worse, he doesn't have any friends waiting for him.

Feeling very glum, he shuffles off for a walk from his new house and a block later, stops in his tracks, cups his hands around his mouth and yells, "NEVILLE!"

Kids from around the area hear his cry, and trickle over to help him call for Neville, some suggesting ways to make his voice carry farther.

One tells him to shout louder and another suggests they all call out at exactly the same time.

Soon dozens of kids are pitching in and even dogs have wandered up to howl.

But calling out is an exhausting business.

As everyone takes a break to catch their breath, one of the kids asks the boy who Neville is.

He's never heard the name around there. Is Neville new?

"I guess so," the boy replies. "Everyone has to be new sometimes don't they?"

That makes sense, the kids agree, and inquire if the new boy is a friend of Neville's.

"His best friend, I guess," the boy replies -- to which a girl softly suggests that that makes the boy someone special.

Maybe Neville, wherever he might be, could help this new boy fit in, maybe even introduce him to some new friends.

Norman Juster has a keen sense of how children feel deep down. Here a boy feels thrown into a situation that he has no control over and that he now must manage on his own.

Many children at one point or another encounter feelings of powerlessness, but how often do they have an adult championing their point of view?

In Neville, Juster takes them all by the hand and makes it OK to express how they feel.

Then award-winning illustrator G. Brian Karas matches those feelings with expressions children will instantly recognize.

The boy's demeanor, at first timid and gloomy, lightens as courage wells up within him and feeds on the encouragement of other children.

This is a book that shouts, Here I am!, and leaves you feeling like the world will welcome anyone who reaches out to it.

15. A House in the Woods

2011-12-28T23:03:00.000-08:00

Written & illustrated by Inga Moore

Candlewick, 2011

$ 16.99, ages 3 and up, 48 pages

Two pigs return home to find their sweet but clumsy friends have moved in and wrecked their delicate shelters, in this adorable picture book by Inga Moore.

Oh dear, Moose and Bear really meant no harm. They just thought they'd stay a bit.

But as they squeezed into one little pig's den and another's hut, the roofs tumbled in over their heads.

Now Moose, Bear and the little pigs don't have a place in the woods to call their own.

But not to worry, because Moose has a brilliant idea:

The four friends will hire the beavers to build them a big house of logs where they can all live together.

This is a marvelous tale about forging ahead no matter what happens. If one door closes (or is crushed), another one can be found if you just stick together.

A tenderness flows through the story both in words and pictures, from the animals blithe and buoyant attitude to the misty woods where they live.

Readers will instantly love these kind and obliging animals, who carry themselves as sweetly as they behave.

The pigs are dainty yet plump, with cute paunchy bellies. Each walk on two feet, at the tips of their hoofs, like ballerinas.

Though Moose is lanky and has a showman's belly, he too walks on the ends of two hoofs, and struts contentedly about.

Bear, a saggy soft-looking fellow, lumbers around with his friends, as gentle and kind as the others.

And the beavers, to which Moore dedicates this book, are helpful with hesitation.

Each little scruffy fellow has two big teeth that make him look as if he always has a grin.

And all the beavers ask in return for building the house: a plate or two of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

This is a book that soaks into readers hearts, and makes them want to go out and share something of themselves too.

Holiday Gift Guide: Day 2

2011-12-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

If you play with a book, is it also a toy?

Suppose a book could be a little of both, something to read and something to do.

Now wouldn't that be grand!

For this holiday gift list, I've pulled together 23 books that look or feel like toys.

Some of them move about or pop up, or have soft things to pet.

Others invite readers to play: make up a story, color a page or build a Lego.

A couple are stories about toys who want a child to love.

Below are live links to the titles of each post. Click the link to go directly to a review or scroll down the page.

To see Day 1 of my Holiday Gift Guide, click here.

1. It'a Book! It's a Card! Send-a-Story books.

2. Dot vs. App, Press Here.

3. Once Upon a Holiday…, Storyworld: Christmas Tales.

4. The Gift of Happy, Razzle-Dazzle Ruby.

5. Pick Me! Pick Me!, Clink.

6. Bugs for a True Love, The 12 Bugs of Christmas.

7. Super Size It!, Piggies Big Book & The Circus Ship Big Book

8. Build This!, The Lego Ideas Book.

9. Maxims That Pop, Aesop's Fables.

10. Pencil, Paper, Scissors!, Let's Make Some Great Art.

11. It's a Stamperpiece!, Stamp Art.

12. Sing Yourself Silly, Lisa Loeb's Silly Sing-Along and CD.

13. Calling All Mechanics, Under the Hood.

14. It's a Good Life, Cupcake, The Bake Sale.

15. Lumphy, StingRay & Ball are Back!, Toys Come Home.

16. Give Me a Scratch, Moo.

17. Doodle All the Days!, Daily Doodle 2012 Daily Calendar.

18. Gifts for a Jedi, Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia & Star Wars Darth Vader.

19. Dish Up a Doodle, Doodle Cook.

20. Color Me!, Zolocolor!

21. Mad Science 101, Alien Robots Kit.

22. Dolce, Gabbana and You!, My Fabulous Look Book.

23. Snicker and Doodle, Mega Mash-Up series.

1. It's a Book! It's a Card!

2011-12-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

Send-A-Story Holiday Books

Houghton Mifflin, 2011

$4.99 each, ages 3 and up, 32-48 pages.

Send the joy of reading right to a child's mailbox!

And all it takes are three first-class stamps.

In this clever spin on giving, holiday classics are shrunk down to the size of a card so they can be popped in the mail and delivered as swiftly as holiday cards.

This is pure genius -- no matter how electronic we get, children still love to receive mail. And what better way to encourage them to read than to make their letter a book?

And they're so easy to send: the books are pre-weighed for postage, so all you do is sign, seal, stick on the stamps and leave it in the mailbox for pickup.

There's even a place inside to leave a personalized message.

Among the pint-size classics:

Marla Frazee's Santa Claus The World's Number One Toy Expert, Clement C. Moore's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith), Jan Brett's Annie and the Wild Animals and Naomi Howland's Latkes, Latkes Good to Eat.

For more titles you can send year-round, click here.

2. Dot vs. App

2011-12-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Press Here

By Herve Tullet

Chronicle Books, 2011

$14.99, ages 4-8, 56 pages.

Apps might be cool, but then again, have you seen Tullet's dot?

The next time a child asks to play games on your iPod, hand him this gem, and watch him jiggle and slide the book around.

On the cover, Tullet asks readers to press a yellow dot with one finger, then inside they take a delightful journey of discovery.

Each page instructs readers to rub dots, shake pages or tilt the book, as dots multiply, change in direction and grow in size.

The biggest surprise is that our imaginations play along: though nothing really moves, we think it does.

All on a simple, printed page.

3. Once Upon a Holiday...

2011-12-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

Storyworld: Christmas Tales

By John & Caitlin Matthews

Templar, 2011

$9.99, ages 9-12, 28 cards.

Pass out the cards of this kit and listen to the storytelling begin.

Here's just a sample of the fun adventures children will come up with:

Santa never saw the frost sprite sneaking around the chimney.

Oh no! The little hob has turned Santa into ice.

Hurry little birds. Go get Frosty the snowman.

Maybe Frosty can find Uncle Jolly and use that magic box to free Santa.

I just hope the Frost King hasn't taken him off to his castle!

With this enchanting tool kit, children are empowered to write a holiday story purely for joy and their delight.

They are presented with 28 illustrated cards to mold their ideas and it's up to them to piece them together however they wish.

Each card features a different character, from a frost king peering into a children's window to a pudding cookie running away with a fork and spoon.

On one side of the card, the character is painted into a scene with mischievous details. On the other are questions about the scene to spur ideas.

Combining the cards anyway they like, children create outlines of what is happening and let their imagination spontaneously fill in the rest.

I can't say enough about this fabulous series. It's especially a delight when children play it as a game.

Even kids who don't like to write begin spilling out ideas to each other and coming up with plot shifts that cause the others to giggle.

Once you buy one kit, you have to buy more, so your kids can combine themes and come up with sillier story lines and a doozy of a cliffhanger.

4. The Gift of Happy

2011-12-14T18:55:00.000-08:00

Razzle-Dazzle Ruby

By Masha D'yans

Scholastic, 2011

$17.99, ages 4-7, 20 pages.

A little girl wakes up with a gleam in her eye and a step as springy as her ringlets of hair, in this adorable novelty book.

Greeting card illustrator Dyans makes a joyful splash into books with this story of a girl embarking on a day of play in the snow.

All it takes is one look at the cover and readers know they're in for a lovely time. There, the girl, Ruby, greets them in red-and-white striped stockings with open arms, as if to say, "Come with me!"

As the story begins, Ruby has just woken up and raced to her bedroom window to see that it's snowing.

Reflecting the rainbow colors of her room, her mood is "razzle-dazzle" and in no time at all (by the next page), she's out in the sparkly snow with her scruffy dog Rocket, jumping through the snow to catch up.

As flower-like crystals of snow collect on tree branches, Ruby imagines she's in a fairy tale -- she's a "gleaming-beaming snow queen" and Rocket is her knight.

But she needs someone wicked to spice things up so she make "a cold-hearted villain" to run away from.

As readers pull a tab, a big ball of snow rolls across the page. By the next page, her villain is complete, a snow man with an icicle nose and menacing red berry eyes.

Before her villain can cast a spell on Ruby, she sends him "whirly-twirling." Readers lift the page and the snowman turns on a string in a dizzying pivot.

Just then, Ruby sees her friend Zac coming through the woods.

"Here comes a nobleman!" she rejoices, as readers pull a tab to allow Ruby to glide across a frozen pond toward him.

Soon Ruby and Zac are riding down a hill on a sled as a scarf twirls up off the page.

Next they're making snow angels that pivot with the pull of tabs.

What a day! As the sky turns purply, Ruby and her nobleman bid farewell and return to their castles.

But where is the snow queen's knight?

What a joy to read! And lucky for us, D'yans hints at bringing Ruby back for another adventure.

"Rest, up Rocket," Ruby tells her dog on the last page. "Tomorrow we sail the splish-splash sea with Pirate Zac."

Can't wait.

5. Pick Me! Pick Me!

2011-12-14T18:51:00.000-08:00

Clink

Written by Kelly DiPucchio

Illustrated by Matthew Myers

Balzer & Bray, 2011

$16.99, ages 4-7, 32 pages.

A run-down robot named Clink dreams of belonging to a child, but none of the children who come to the toy shop seem to want a toy like him.

He's got loose springs, and his selling points seem to be duds. All he can do is play music and pop out burned toast from the toaster that's his noggin.

Children nowadays want robots with zing -- which is what every other robot in the shop seems to have.

Clink's robot friend Zippy has retractable arms that twirl out and grab things, and Penny, wow.

She can bake cookies with one arm and do math homework with the other. What child wouldn't want that?

Poor Clink, all he does is "Plink! Plop!" and fizzle.

As Clink watches each of his robot friends leave with children, rusty tears roll down his metal face, and he switches off his speakers and gives up.

But little does Clink know, there's still a little spark in him and weeks later, a boy comes into the store playing harmonica.

Suddenly Clink's gears start to squeak and turn. Music! He can make that!

But can Clink find a way to dance into the boy's heart?

Twirly up-dos, slotted eyes and widely planted feet give characters a bouncy, adventurous feel reminiscent of William Joyce's work.

6. Bugs for a True Love

2011-12-14T18:50:00.000-08:00

The 12 Bugs of Christmas

Created by David A. Carter

Little Simon, 2011

$12.99, ages 3-6, 12 pages.

Tinsel-tailed bugs, bugs with antlers and cuckoo bugs pop out of wrapped boxes in this silly twist on the beloved carol, The 12 Days of Christmas.

This latest book in Carter's wildly popular Bugs pop-up books begins with a fruitcake bug in a pear tree folding out of a polka-dot box and ends with 12 angel bugs in mismatched socks and red button noses hanging from a striped pop-up tree.

Every pop-up opens with a feeling of "Ta-da!" as eager bugs with big saucer eyes jump out to greet readers.

Some slip out from behind bows. Others spin candle light from a pivoting wheel. In that one, a moire pattern of red and yellow stripes turns behind five candle bugs to suggest glowing light.

The 12 Bugs of Christmas is a charmer, and will be read forwards, backwards and everything in between through Christmas and beyond.

No "bugs" about it.

7. Super Size It!

2011-12-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

Piggies Big Book

By Audrey Wood and Don Wood

Houghton Mifflin, 2011

16 3/8 inches x 18 inches

$26.99, 32 pages.

This little piggie has gotten a whole lot bigger.

Scaled up to fill out a lap, the Wood's 1991 ode to the English finger-play and nursery rhyme, "This Little Piggy," is even cuter than it was in picture book format.

Each roly-poly pig dances across hands bigger than the readers' (perhaps even than their heads!), allowing readers to be closer to these jolly bovines than ever before.

Children get to zoom in on their outfits, expressions and mischief, and imagine they're climbing on the hand too and cavorting about on finger tips.

Better get a second copy. You'll be itching to frame every page on a child's wall.

The Circus Ship Big Book

By Chris Van Dusen

Candlewick, 2011
17 3/16 inches x 17 15/16 inches.
$24.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages

Chris Van Dusen makes you happy every time you look at his work. So, scaling up one of his classics only heightens that feeling.

Here, the pictures are so big that it feels like they're opening up around readers and the story is playing out before them.

In this 2009 gem, a circus ship runs aground off the coast of Maine, and the cruel circus owner saves himself, but leaves the animals to fend for themselves.

After paddling all night, the bedraggled animals find themselves on an idyllic island. At first the people there are wary of the animals, but soon the animals win them over: the tiger runs into a burning shed to save a girl.

Overnight, the villagers learn to treasure the animals, and they live together side by side. Then one day, the circus owner storms in to take his animals back, and the villagers help hide the animals and lead him astray.

Dusen's search-and-finds are a delight scaled up. Readers feel pulled into scenes to figure out where each animal is hidden.

Pass this one on to a reluctant reader and he'll be laying on his tummy on the floor soaking up every page.

8. Build This!

2011-12-14T18:41:00.000-08:00

The Lego Ideas Book

By Daniel Lipkowitz

Dorling Kindersley, 2011

$24.99, ages 7-15, 200 pages.

Lego fans will be spilling their buckets of bricks to build, build, build after flipping through this amazing book of Lego building projects.

The idea behind the "ideas book" is to take what kids already have, all those buckets of bricks and Lego sets, and turn them into something their directions never showed them.

Assembled by Lego Group Senior Writer Lipkowitz with the help of six Lego fan builders from around the world, the ideas book shows hundreds of models readers can recreate, as well as tips, techniques and alternative designs.

This is a book meant to inspire rather than instruct, so in lieu of page-consuming building steps and long lists of bricks, readers are shown close-ups of completed designs to spur variations of their own.

Each spread also contains inside advice to bring their building abilities up a notch.

One page explains how to lock a castle door and create the look of a stone wall, others tell how to install trap doors and erect a rope bridge across a jungle.

Over the course of six chapters, readers see the world as it would look if it were all made of Legos.

There are vehicles of all shapes and sizes, buildings and furniture, space ships and aliens, robots, pirate ships, even picture frames and jewelry boxes.

This is the book to get children's minds racing with ideas, and get children trying to outdo themselves and make something even more cool.

How cool? Listen in.

Once all those bricks have settled in a landslide on the floor, you just might hear the sound of a new set snapping in place their heads.

9. Maxims That Pop

2011-12-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

Aesop's Fables

Paper engineering by Kees Moerbeek

Pictures by Chris Beatrice & Bruce Whatley

Simon & Schuster, 2011

$27.99, ages 4 and up, 14 pages.

Ten classic tales from the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop come to life in this lush, beautifully illustrated pop-up.

On the first spread, a sly-glancing Goose flutters its wings to reveal the golden egg that tempted a greedy couple in "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg."

In a smaller pop-up to left corner of the goose, the wife's face transforms from a scowl to a look of glee as she finds her first golden egg.

But as greed gets the better of her in the last pop-up in the lower right corner, and she and her husband are left with nothing, she bemoans all that she's lost.

In the "Lion and the Mouse," the lion jumps frantically off the fold, his jaw open wide, as he tries to escape a hunter's thick. tangled ropes.

Behind small pop-up doors on either side of the main design, readers see the brave little mouse who chewed through his ropes to save him.

Other spreads tell the stories of the tortoise and the hare, the fox and crow, the wind and sun, the ants and grasshoppers and more.

Hidden in each spread is the moral of its story, written on a tiny banner resembling fortune cookie paper.

Readers have a few moments to guess the lesson before finding it tucked under an animal or behind a fold.

10. Pencil, Paper, Scissors!

2011-12-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

Let's Make Some Great Art

Created by Marion Deuchars

Laurence King Publisher, 2011

$19.95, all ages, 224 pages

Have you ever taken a pencil for a walk?

Without lifting your pencil off of paper, draw a picture that someone would recognize.

Not easy, is it?

That's how Swiss artist Paul Klee used to warm up his drawing students.

In this eclectic book of drawing lessons and doodle prompts, Deuchar challenges readers to look beyond what they expect to see.

On one page, readers blow ink through a straw and try to relate the shape to something they know.

On another they draw an upside-down sketch of Michaelangelo's David without turning the sketch around.

As if whispering over readers' shoulders, Deuchars instructs artists to focus on the lines and shapes of the famous sculpture, and not think about what the picture represents.

Throughout the book, Deuchars tries to stretch the readers' ideas of art.

Every time a new concept is introduced, such as continuous line drawing, surrealism or after-image, she walks readers through playful exercises to try them out.

Sometimes she gives timed prompts or asks readers to repeat a prompt over and over. In one, she asks readers to arrange their own still life. Readers must stack chairs in their house, then draw what they see.

As she did with Klee and Michaelangelo, Deuchars explores a little about what made an artist famous, then assigns projects so readers can try out their methods.

In a spread about Pablo Picasso and cubism, readers are instructed to draw their own face, cut it up into pieces, then reassemble the pieces, but in a different order.

Other pages explore how to shade shapes to look 3-D, including how to hatch (shade with a criss-cross pattern), and how to sort out the proportions of a face then put them to paper.

By turns a sketch book, a coloring book and art class, the workbook is a perfect choice for any young artist who loves art prompts, but also wants to sharpen their skills.

11. It's a Stamperpiece!

2011-12-14T18:34:00.001-08:00

Stamp Art

Created by Kaitlyn Nichols

Klutz, 2011

$21.99, ages 8 and up.

Stamp up a menagerie of animals and plants in this fun twist on shape drawing.

Using 64 stamps in assorted shapes (from tear drops to crescent moons), kids piece together the body parts of the favorite creatures.

Half-circles become the fins of fish or elephants ears, and dew drops become octopus tentacles or a lion's face.

A must for fans of Ed Emberley's drawing books, the kit takes the worry out of getting shapes just right.

As with Emberley's books, it builds on familiar shapes, such as triangles and almonds, to create birds, aliens and more.

Each kit comes with three double-ended colored pencils (for a total of six colors), a washable inkpad, and a see-through stamp block to help place each design.

Then at the front of the kit is a how-to that covers use and care of the stamps, as well as tips and tricks to getting a clear image.

There are also suggestions for turning a smear or fuzzy image into a "mistamperpiece," a creative picture they never planned on.

12. Sing Yourself Silly

2011-12-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

Lisa Loeb's Silly Sing-Along and CD

Written and recorded by Lisa Loeb

Illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke
Sterling, 2011

$14.95, ages 5-7, 24 pages.

Get ready not to sit still.

Here are 10 sing-alongs that will have your children skipping and twirling through the house.

Pop singer Lisa Loeb sings from a CD, as children follow the lyrics, which get sillier by the line.

In The Disappointing Pancake, a dry, overcooked pancake rolls off the table and around the world and back, repurposing itself along the way.

In Manhattan, it tries being a manhole cover and in Spain, a sombrero, before floating down from the heavens to a girl's bed and giving her "sweet pancake dreams."

Another ditty pokes fun at the way people speak when they have nose colds: all stuffed up, unable to enunciate what they have to say.

At the end of many songs, Loeb nudges readers try something zany and new.

Some songs even come with instructions: such as how to write a story about having an opposite day or how to make coconut cream "pie" (a mix of yogurt, banana and shredded coconut).

At the end of the cold-in-my-nose song, Loeb celebrates "the joy of mis-hearing" with instructions for playing the classic telephone game.

After others, she suggests singing a song again in different accents or performing hand motions.

During a chorus about chewing gum, O'Rourke diagrams how to pull gum, twirl it, then coil it back in mouths.

Scattered around lyrics, his pictures bubble about the page, adding to the bouncy, happy feel of every song.

This is a book that will be playing in children's heads long after it's back on the shelf.

13. Calling All Mechanics

2011-12-14T18:31:00.001-08:00

Under the Hood

By Albin Michel Jeunesse

Candlewick, 2011
$14.99. ages 3 and up, 14 pages.

Readers open flaps within flaps to help Mr. Bear figure out what's gone awry with his sporty red convertible, in this stylish gem.

Walking up to his garage in blue coveralls, Mr. Bear calls for his friends to help him figure out why his car's engine has spluttered to a stop.

First, readers must open the garage doors and lift off the car's cloth cover. As they flip to the next page and peel back the car's vinyl top, Bear is in the driver's seat revving the engine.

But what's that funny sound?

Looks like Mr. Bear's friend Mouse needs to open the back hatch.

As readers lift the hatch's paper flap, a green tail flap appears. Underneath that, they see a wide fanny in blue overalls and a poof of exhaust. What could that be?

Better look under the hood on the next page.

Oh, Crocodile, what are you doing inside the engine? And is that you, bird?

Okay, guys, now that everyone's here, it's time to jack up the car and make repairs, and to do this readers will have to fold up the page.

Next, it's time for a test drive.

But first, readers must rummage through parts boxes and pack up a toolbox (just in case the car breaks down again.)

And they're off!

Uh oh, what's all that smoke?

Looks like the fix-it crew will have to tow Mr. Bear's car back to the garage and start the book all over again.

What a charmer!

The pictures look as if they were painted directly onto the book.

And with every flap, readers feel like they're right in there: squishing into tight spaces with a belt loaded down with wrenches.

14. It's a Good Life, Cupcake

2011-12-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

Bake Sale

Written and illustrated by Sara Varon

First Second, 2011

$16.99, ages 9-12, 160 pages.

Cupcake, a pink confection with a cherry hat, has a sweet life.

He's got his own bakery, lots of customers (Tomato, Can, Pear, they all love his place), his band and his best friend Eggplant.

Lately, though, Cupcake's been in a baking rut.

So, when Eggplant tells him about a dreamy pastry chef overseas named Turkish Delight, Cupcake thinks his baking woes are over.

He quits his band and puts all of his time into bake sales so he can pay his way to Turkey and learn her baking secrets.

But could Cupcake be looking for help in the wrong place?

From the creator of the break-out gem, Robot Dreams, comes an adorable graphic novel-cookbook about true friendship.

After seeing all these yummy characters, readers will be hankering to bake their own.

(Lucky for them, Varon includes recipes for seven in the back, including a cupcake just like Cupcake.)

15. Lumphy, StingRay & Ball are Back!

2011-12-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

Toys Come Home

Written by Emily Jenkins

Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Schwartz & Wade , 2011

$16.99, ages 6 and up, 144 pages.

Learn how Lumphy the stuffed buffalo, StingRay the plush fish and Plastic the bouncy ball came to live with Girl in this charming prequel to the award-winning trilogy about the secret lives of toys.

Told in six interwoven stories, each as adorable as the next, this third book fills in details fans have been clamoring to know: how Sheep became one-eared and why StingRay is afraid of the basement.

The first book Toys Go Out debuted in 2006, followed by Toy Dance Party in 2008.

16. Give Me a Scratch

2011-12-14T18:28:00.000-08:00

Moo

Created by Matthew Van Fleet

Photography by Brian Stanton

Simon & Schuster, 2011

$16.99, ages 2 and up, 18 pages.

Pat the fur of fluffy creatures without leaving the couch!

From the creator of the wildly popular Heads, Cat and Dog comes a pettable book of farmyard animals.

Like having a petting farm in their hands, readers get to touch the fluffy wool of sheep and silky mane of a horse, and push a tab to help a rooster peck at food.

As author Matthew Van Fleet rhymes the sounds animals make, he also sneaks in a few giggles.

In one spread, readers pull a tab at the front of a cow and a farmer splashes milk into the mouth of house cat crawling between the cow's legs.

Readers meet seven kinds of animals in all, as well as read the sounds they make.

In addition, they learn the terms used for mothers, fathers and babies in each species.

A must for any child with the urge to race over and hug every animal she sees.

17. Doodle All the Days!

2011-12-14T18:27:00.001-08:00

Daily Doodle 2012 Daily Calendar

By Taro Gomi

Chronicle Books, 2011

$12.99, 5.1" w x 6.3" h, all ages, 366 pages.

Make every day child's play with this delightful daily calendar that a child helps to illustrate!

Tokyo illustrator Taro Gomi brings his doodling book concept to a tablet box calendar that kids can doodle on every day.

Each page presents a playful prompt and a black marker drawing to finish.

On one day, a child is challenged to draw as many riders as he can on the long narrow back of a horse.

On another, he's given the outline of a pedestal and asked to design the sculpture that goes on it.

My favorite: a dragon's mouth waiting for a pencil to make it breath fire.

Siblings will be racing to the tablet to make their mark. (Keep those drawing straws handy!)

18. Gifts for a Jedi

2011-12-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia
Dorling Kindersley, 2011
$18.99, ages 7-17, 208 pages.

It's a match made in toy heaven.

Lego Group joins with the Star Wars property to create an illustrated encyclopedia as irresistible as last year's Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary.

An exclusive minifigure of Han Solo tucked into the cover entices readers inside where more than 300 minifigures await, from the rabbit-eared Jar Jar Binks to a sinister looking Shadow Trooper.

Each minifigure is blown up in size to fill out a page, as diagram lines identify key attributes, from Anakin's battle scars to Chewbacca's bandolier loaded up with energy bolts.

Divided into eight Star War sections, the book covers minifigures from Episodes I through VI, the Clone Wars and the Expanded Universe.

Among the highlights, rarely seen minifigures, like a nondescript all-blue Watto from 2001, and multiple versions of key characters, including ten variations of Luke Skywalker.

Lego Star Wars fans will pour through this with the same passion their parents did through the Sears Roebuck's Christmas catalog as kids.

Star Wars Darth Vader
A 3-D Reconstruction Log
Created by Daniel Wallace
Illustrated by Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff
Scholastic, 2011
$19.99, ages 8 and up, 22 pages.

Peel back the layers of Darth Vader to discover the secrets of the Sith Lord in this fascinating 3-D reconstruction.

As readers turn paperboard pages, layers of Vader cut away, showing everything from his scarred face to his circuitry.

Then off to the side, the surgical droids who transformed Anakin Skywalker into Vader explain each component in informational break-outs.

Readers see inside the black knight's chest computer, which regulates his breathing, and learn how his bodysuit self-seals against cuts and punctures.

Nothing, it seems, is left unanswered, though luckily some of Darth's coarser parts are left to the imagination, including an implanted bladder filled with nutrient paste. Yikes.

Coming a year after the popular Star War Millennium Falcon 3-D Reconstruction, this is must for any Star Wars fan who craves to know more, just not every nitty-gritty detail.

19. Dish Up a Doodle

2011-12-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

Doodle Cook

Created by Herve Tullet

Phaidon, 2011

$14.95, ages 5 and up, 48 pages

Would you care for a dish of Dot Stew? Or perhaps a few Crayon Puff Pastries?

The creator of this year's best-selling Press Here offers 18 imaginary dishes for children to cook up with markers and crayons.

Readers are given an empty plate, then a recipe with prompts, such as draw loops or sprinkle on tiny strokes, to fill it in.

In one recipe, readers draw 500 lines in succession. In another, a plateful of blobs. In others still, they blow on their creation or have someone jiggle it as they draw.

For a recipe called, "Nameless Soup," Tullet asks readers to draw a vegetable soup that names itself.

Readers scatter letters from their name and the name of someone they really like within the outline of a plate.

Then they add letters to those letters to make syllables. Afterward, they randomly circle some of the syllables to form the name of the soup.

Readers get swept in by Tullet's sense of adventure, much as they did with Press Here.

A Hand Salad? Why hands? we could ask. But then again, does it really matter?

After Press Here, we'd follow Tullet just about anywhere in a book.

20. Color Me!

2011-12-14T18:24:00.001-08:00

Zolocolor!

By Byron Graser and Sandra Higashi

Little Simon, 2011

$6.99, ages 6 and up, 96 pages.

Black lines loop around and bubble up on the page of this open-ended coloring book by the creators of ZoLO toys.

"Somewhere between black and white lies an infinite range of hues, tones, patterns, textures, moods and ideas that make up the colorful spectrum of your imaginations," the book's creators write in an intro. "This book is designed to spark your creativity and inspire the many uncommon ways to color."

Doodlers are invited to color pages any way they fancy, whether it's inside the lines, outside the lines, on them or around them.

They can also choose whatever medium they like, colored pencils, crayons, pens or paint, and even create designs within designs if they want.

Every pattern has an abstract, modern look and feels like it's challenging itself to be something other patterns are not.

Some patterns are busy, filling up pages, with interlocking triangles that look almost like stars or with puzzle shapes with torn edges.

Others are bold and spare, with big splashy shapes or ovals amassed on a black backdrop like a collection of unused speech bubbles.

This is a book that's soothing to do, almost meditative. It puts your focus on the page and makes everything else fade away -- if only for a doodle or two.

For more about ZoLO toys, click here.

21. Mad Science 101

2011-12-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

Alien Robots Kit

Created by David Eckold

Dorling Kindersley, 2011

$24.99, ages 7-12, 48 pages.

Monster-eyed paper robots scuttle and spin back to life, in this fun adventure kit that teaches the basics of power and motion.

Imagine that an alien robot ship has crashed on Earth and the bots are looking to you, the owner of this kit, to gather up their pieces and do repairs, writes the kit's author Eckold.

First you'd need to reconstruct the spinning bots that protect the other bots. Then you'd have to repair the robot's handyman, a pink, one-eyed fellow that vibrates to move, and reassemble the bot that communicates signals into space.

That leaves just two more aliens to patch up: a blue spinning bot that can drill for resources and a yellow propeller bot that filters toxic gases out of the atmosphere.

Along the way, you, the cosmic scientist, will learn a glossary of science terms from atom to insulator.

Each kit comes with two motors, one axle, two battery holders, a propeller, two rivets, four foam disks and 25 card parts, as well as a science book with instructions, definitions and tips for making robots perform smoothly.

Just the thing for the child who takes electronics apart and tries to put them together again.

22. Dolce, Gabbana and You!

2011-12-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

My Fabulous Look Book

Created by Karen Phillips

Klutz, 2011

$19.99, ages 8 and up.

Doll up drawings with the latest in-things in a drawing kit that's sure to elicit squeals when it's opened.

The kit, a fashion diary and lesson in one, comes with pen outlines of posed bodies, faces, hands and feet, and accessories to color in.

A packet of five double-ended pencils offer 10 colors to style with, from lipstick red to cool indigo, and tucked into the back of the book are silver stickers to add bling to faces and shoes.

Readers receive mini fashion lessons in how to shade in a ruffled camisole, draw a pleated skirt, or accessorize with drawings of pumps or handbags.

They also learn how to draw different hair styles, textures and coloring, and apply pencil like makeup, to add blush, mascara and lipstick to model's face.

Then readers flip through their body of work, gather their best looks and display them in scrapbook-style frames in the back of the kit.

Get ready Michael Kors. The next generation is already practicing in the wings.

23. Snicker and Doodle

2011-12-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

Mega Mash-Up

Draw Your Own Adventure! series
By Nikalas Catlow & Tim Wesson

Nosy Crow, 2011

$6.99 each, ages 7 and up, 96 pages

Crash, smash, kapowwe.

It's music to a boy's ears and when those words appear in books for reluctant boy readers, they're brilliant.

Fresh from Britain, this silly new series is a perfect fit for boys who'd rather be tearing it up than reading.

Catlow and Wesson think like boys and write as boys want to write: with lots of nutty scenarios and mash-ups.

In the first book, Robots take on gorillas. In the next, Romans clash with dinosaurs. And in the third, aliens tangle with mad scientists under the ocean.

Not only are there lots of bold sound words in the text, but there are plenty of burps, Kabooms and invitations for boys to join in the silliness.

As boys read an adventure, they're prompted to fill in missing details in pictures: icky things in a scientist's jar, missing body parts on a strange beast...

Sometimes they're even invited to invent contraptions with a stroke of their pencils.

In one book, they finish drawing a magnetic machine that will get the Earth spinning again. In another, they write sound effects for a fight in speech bubbles.

Catlow and Wesson's motto: "Prepare to laugh while you doodle and snicker while you read."

Now out: #1 Robots vs. Gorillas in the Desert, #2 Romans vs. Dinosaurs on Mars and #3 Aliens vs. Mad Scientists Under the Ocean.

For more about this new series, go to megamash-up.com. Books #4 and #5 make their U.S. debut in July.

Holiday Gift Guide 2011 - Day 1

2011-12-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

HO, Ho, HO! Here we go!

This holiday my stocking runneth over. There are so many incredible books to share and so little time to write.

So, to try to get in as many books as I can, I've divided up the guide among four days.

Today, the first day, I've posted my 12 favorite holiday stories with full reviews. (Each title appears at the end of this post as a live link. Click the link to go directly to a review or scroll down the page.)

On Dec. 14, I'll spotlight books that look and feel as good as toys. This list will include pop-up books, crafts books, drawing books and books about, well, toys!

Then Dec. 29, I'll share a few of my favorite things. Among them Bumble-Ardy, the first book written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak in 30 years.

I'll wrap up the guide the first week of January, with my lists of the best books of the year, from the best illustrated picture books to the most fun read-alouds.

To get as many in as I can, reviews will be Twitter-style, short and quick.

I hope you enjoy this year's guide and it leads you to just the book you're looking for!

Happy holidays everyone!!!

1. A Kangaroo for Christmas

2. The Carpenter's Gift

3. The Littlest Evergreen

4. The Third Gift

5. The Money We'll Save

6. Christmas Eve at the Mellops'

7. Chanukah Lights

8. The Twelve Days of Christmas

9. The Story of Christmas

10. One Starry Night

11. Jingle Bells

12. Little Bunny and the Magic Christmas Tree

1. Kangaroo for Christmas

2011-12-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

Written & illustrated by James Flora

Enchanted Lion Books, 2011

$16.95, ages 4 and up, 40 pages

A little girl gets a kangaroo for Christmas that takes her on a rollicking ride through busy city streets, in this joyful reissue, originally published nearly 50 years ago.

James Flora's gem will have readers in stitches as Kathryn holds on for dear life to the back of her skittish new pet, and the pair bounce and crash through obstacles to Grandma's house across town.

When Adelaide pops out of a crate from her uncle on Christmas Eve, Kathryn can't believe her eyes. A kangaroo from Australia -- just what she never knew she always wanted!

She must show grandma.

So the two leap out the door with matching pink-and-black scarves, ready to brave the nippy air, with Kathryn chirping out the first lines of Jingle Bells.

But before she can get to "Oh what fun," she's gulping down a big "Oh no!" A beefy dog with an even bigger bark has startled poor Adelaide, and she's shot off like a rubber band.

Rebounding off roofs of cars, Adelaide leaps pell-mell through windows, startling poor Mr. Zwicky in his bath, then through stores, each time riding out with a token from a collision inside.

Adelaide hops out of a bakery with a frosted three-tiered hat and her tail beaded with doughnuts, and launches out of the toy store with roller skates on her paws.

Every leap lands them in a more outrageous spot until they're zipping down electrical lines. Oh dear. But wait, isn't that Grandma's house below?

On Kathryn's cue, Adelaide leaps down, but oops. She's landed right in a big pan of taffy that Grandma's cooling on her porch. Startled, Adelaide ricochets off the pan and plunk, right on top of Grandma's fancy electrical car.

Uh oh. She's stuck. What will they ever do now?

Flora's classic is joy unleashed.

This is picture book that captures the delirious feeling a child has ripping open a gift, the gush of surprise that follows and her giddiness to love whatever is inside.

2. The Carpenter's Gift

2011-12-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

Written by David Rubel

Illustrated by Jim LaMarche

Random House, 2011
$17.99, ages 4-8, 44 pages

A wish made on a paper star one chilly Christmas Eve long ago leads to a magical sequence of events, in this beautifully illustrated picture book.

Recalling back to childhood, an aging carpenter tells of how an act of kindness in 1931 inspired him late in life to pay that generosity forward.

That year, the carpenter, then a boy named Henry, and his parents were at their lowest. His father had lost his job, and their house had deteriorated into a drafty shack.

It was the Depression and as with many families, jobs were sparse and people had to eke out a living however they could.

So the night before Christmas, Henry and his father cut down trees in the woods, then drove an hour to New York City to try to sell them.

Pulling off a city street, they saw a construction crew and asked if they could share their lot to sell the trees.

The crew could see from their worn faces and clothes that Henry and his father were down on their luck, and welcomed them in.

Soon, the workers were also hurrying over to help unload trees, unaware that the next thing they would unload would change Henry's life forever.

At the end of the day, with a good trickle of sales behind them, Henry's father showed his gratitude in the best way he could. He offered the workers their tallest tree to set out on the lot.

Together, Henry and his father, and the crew, cobbled together things to decorate it with, cranberries, empty tin cans and newspaper star that Henry folded.

Before hanging up the star, Henry closed his eyes and made a wish that his family would one day have a warm house to live in.

Just as he opened them, he noticed a pine cone from the tree on the ground and slipped it into his pocket.

That night, Henry and his father drove home, their hearts brimming with hope. Little did they know, Henry's private wish had floated into the thoughts of the crew.

The next morning, Christmas Day, Henry woke to the toot of horns. The crew had pulled up in their trucks and the beds were loaded down with lumber leftover from their job.

Seeing that Henry's home was in terrible disrepair, the workers proposed that they tear it down and build Henry's family a new one. Within a week, the workers had framed in the walls and begun to build the roof.

When the final nails went in, one of the workers gave Henry his old claw hammer so he could keep up any repairs came up. For Henry, the hammer became a dear reminder of their kindness.

One moment, these workers were strangers on lot, and within a week, they'd changed his family's life and without knowing it, begun a legacy of giving.

That spring, Henry was wondering how to show his gratitude, and found the pine cone from Christmas Eve in his jacket and decided to plant it beside his new home.

The years slipped by as years do. The seed grew into a tree and Henry grew older, and one day, he returned to his family's home.

Seeing it was in need of repairs, he pulled out his claw hammer and began nailing down wood here and there. Beside him, the tree rose high above the roof, now a green spire piercing the sky.

Then one day an arborist arrived at the house, asking to cut down his spruce for the Rockefeller Center tree.

At first Henry was reluctant. But then the man explained that after the holiday, the tree would be milled and used to build a new home for a family need, and Henry instantly knew what to do. It was time to pay forward a kindness.

LaMarche's closeups of Henry's face show emotion so genuine and sweet, that one look at them and I felt a flush of warmth flow through me.

This is a wonderful story of how one act of compassion can lead to another, and though it is fictional, it feels like it could have happened -- and leaves you wishing it really did.

The story also shares a little-known fact about the Rockefeller tree, that each year its wood is passed on to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit Christian organization that builds homes for families in need across the world.