Holiday Gift Idea #8: Wings to Fly

Bartholomew Biddle and the Very Big Wind, by Gary Ross, illustrated by Matthew Myers, Candlewick, $17.99, ages 6 and up, 96 pages, 2012.

A boy flies away from home to escape his ordinary life, only to discover that he misses his parents, his tasks and routines.

In this exhilarating poem by film director Gary Ross, Bartholomew Biddle straps on a bedsheet and soars out of his window at night to see what the world has to offer.

"'Why, that looks like fun! / Just look at those trees! They're bending in half -- yeah, that's quite a breeze,'" he says, as a wind blows in to carry him away.

In bare feet and pajamas, Bart paraglides out over houses and cars, and fancies himself the "World's Best Bedsheet flier."

"'Wow, this isn't bad!' / he said, swooping and soaring, / buzzing the rooftops while / people were snoring."

Wishing from Afar

Ever wonder what clever new books are springing up overseas? Here's a picture book I can't wait for.

The Paper Dolls, by Julia Donaldson, Pan Macmillan, 32 pages, 2012. A little girl takes her paper dolls on a fantastical adventure through the house and into the garden. First they escape the clutches of a toy dinosaur, then an oven-glove crocodile and finally a real pair of scissors. A charming picture book by UK's Children's Laureate and debut illustrator Rebecca Cobb. Donaldson is the author of the wildly popular The Gruffalo and my all-time favorite Room on a Broom.

Gift Idea # 6: A Bit of Magic

Here are two picture books that make anything seem possible.

Little Elephants, by Graeme Base, Abrams, $16.95, ages 4 and up, 40 pages, 2012. When locusts threaten a boy's farm, a stranger appears with a magical horn that brings a herd of tiny elephants to the rescue. In this enchanting picture book, Jim and his mother are nearly out of luck -- their harvester is broken and a swarm of locusts is headed their way. But then something incredible happens. Jim sees a mysterious vagabond wading through the wheat stalks. Though the man cannot stay to help, he tells Jim the wind will bring good luck. That afternoon, Jim discovers a bullhorn left on the gate and as he blows into it, clouds of dust waft out and set off a wondrous chain of events. First, a wild mouse that Jim had let loose the day before returns to his bedroom with a surprise: A herd of toy-sized elephants scuffling under his bed. They're frisky and mischievous, and Jim tries to hide them because his mom doesn't want animals in the house. But then the locusts descend, and the elephants break cover and come charging out. They sprout wings and with trunks swinging, launch themselves at the locusts and drive them away. At last, the wheat is safe. But how will Jim and his mother ever harvest it? Base once again dips his pen into a magical place and gives readers something to dream about. Best parts: Nighttime scenes of the elephants racing around Jim's room on toy cars and frolicking in the yard with egg beaters and spoons -- and later, flying off with the stranger into the sunset.

The Man from the Land of Fandango, by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar, Clarion, $16.99, ages 4 and up, 32 pages, 2012. A jolly man in a tricolor jacket leaps off a painting on a magical journey into make-believe, in this sparkly treasure by the late Mahy and her long-time illustrating partner Dunbar. After a girl and boy dab the last paint onto the man's portrait, he "bingles and bangles and bounces" off the picture and takes them on a musical romp with instrument-tooting animals. By the end of the picture book, the showman has danced on ceilings and walls, and taken the children bouncing on kangaroos and sliding down a wave of dreams. Mahy's rhymes skip and somersault across the page, while Dunbar's watercolors shout with glee. Characters smile with half-moon eyes and take trampoline leaps as stars and bubbles float about them. Every character in the story looks dizzily happy and that makes readers want to feel that way too. A wonderful farewell from one of the world's most beloved writers. Favorite part: Watching the man from Fandango leap into life and show us all that you're never too old to be playful  -- "He comes in at the door like a somersault star" and dances around as merrily as chimney sweep Bert from Mary Poppins before popping back into his portrait. 

The 12 Best Read-Alouds of 2011

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.