The Wizard of Oz trailer

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. 

Gift Idea #5: Books Teachers Would Love

Give the gift that gives all year. An enchanting read-aloud, an illustrated moment in history, a story about a teacher who changed a child's world.

Here are six ideas -- for more gift ideas and close-ups of these covers, scroll down for a slide show or click here.

Watership Down, by Richard Adams, illustrated by Aldo Galli, Atheneum, $29.99, ages 10 and up, 496 pages. A band of rabbits flees its comfy warren to live in the Berkshire Downs after a psychic buck named Fiver predicts danger, in this first-ever illustrated version of the 1972 classic. Luminous pictures capture the magic of Adam's heroic tale -- originally told to his children over a long car journey.

Because You Are My Teacher, by Sherry North, illustrated by Marcellus Hall, Abrams, $16.95, ages 4 and up, 32 pages. A teacher takes her class on an imaginary journey to seven continents (by schooner, camels, helicopter and skis), in this beautiful, rhyming picture book by the creators of Because You Are My Baby. "If we had a schooner, we would have our class at sea / And study the Atlantic, where the great blue whales roam free," the book begins.

Books for Every Teacher

Holiday Gift Idea #3: Stocking Stuffers

Books that are small enough to slip into stockings and charming enough to belong there! (See Note for Santa at the end of each review.)

Bear Despair (Stories Without Words), by Gaetan Doremus, Enchanted Lion, $14.95, ages 4 and up, 32 pages, 2012. Never play keep-away from a bear. But if you dare, just beware. He has a big belly and he might stuff you in there -- until he's good and ready to let you out. In this hilarious sixth title in the wordless series, a bear chases down animals who've taken his teddy bear, then swallow them whole when they decide to be mean and toss the toy away.

A Charming Holiday App

Peter, Paul and Mary's 'The Night Before Christmas' App for iPhone & iPad. (First released in 2011 & updated in 2012 to enable users to draw on snow and send a holiday card.) (By Touchoo, iTunes, $1.99)

A Galactic Pop-Up Trailer

Snowman Bookmark How-To

Click Read more below for patterns and directions. (Shown above marking my page in Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed and illustrated by Barbara McClintock, Houghton Mifflin, $16.99,  2012.)

Holiday Gift Idea #1: For a Little Princess

A trio of picture books about feisty gals who aren't afraid to get their slippers wet.

Princess in Training, by Tammi Sauer, pictures by Joe Berger, Harcourt, 2012, $16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages. Princess Viola throws herself into life like a comic book hero.  But is that any way for a princess to behave? Her parents, the king and queen, think not and send her off to princess camp to make her prim and proper. But poor Viola only wants to run and leap. Rather than master waving at the wrist, she karate chops the air -- and soon she's dived into a moat in her taffeta gown and skateboarded up a drawbridge. By the end of the day, Viola feels like a total flop. But hey, what's a giant, fire-breathing creature doing at the princess dance? Could all of Viola's wild moves come in handy after all? Sauer's story shouts girl power, while Berger's art bursts on the page. Lichtenstein-style explosions (vibrant colors and Ben-day dots) and bold, superhero sound words (Hi-Ya! and Zip! Zup! Zoom!) convey Viola's unstoppable spirit. Best part: The energy -- it's hypnotic. Words and pictures are equally charged and together, deliver a one-two punch.

The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas, by Tony Wilson, pictures by Sue deGennaro, Peachtree, 2012, $16.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages. In this adorable twist on the Princess and the Pea, a woodsy prince finds true love by challenging his best friend to rough it. Prince Henrik could have any gal. Every time he leaves the castle, girls scream, toss him tulips and wilt, "Oh my goodness, it's him!" But how does a prince like Henrik find a real princess? A girl with a nice smile? Who loves camping and playing hockey? Henrik's brother Hans thinks Henrik should use the old pea-in-a-mattress trick. But that's if Henrik wants a wife like Hans's -- one that's fussy and demanding. What Henrik wants is a girl who can take what she gets. So, he comes up with special bed to weed out sensitive gals: an old sleeping bag over a thin camping mattress atop a bag of frozen peas. Though many girls visit his palace, none of them appreciate the accommodations. In fact, most wake up bent out shape and toss frozen peas in his face. Then one day, Henrik's old friend Pippa comes for a stay and after a rough-and-tumble day of play, he's smitten. So he sets her up in the guest room and waits for morning. But why would any girl want to sleep with a freezing bag of vegetables in her bed? Wilson's wry humor makes this a delight, while deGennaro's delicate drawings make it playful. Best part: DeGennaro's depiction of Henrik's groupies: girls with paper-thin bodies and legs jointed like jumping jacks'.

Olivia and the Fairy Princess, by Ian Falconer, Atheneum, 2012, $17.99, ages 3-7, 32 pages. Olivia the pig is in a tizzy over what she should be some day. Her father says she'll always be his little princess -- but come on. A princess? That's what every other girl (and some boys) want to be. And if there's one thing Olivia is, it's authentic, beyond compare -- and befuddling. In this funny sequel to the Olivia books, Olivia spends an entire day getting worked up over why anyone would want to be a princess. She reminds her mother of how bravely she resists the pressures to wear pink and act dainty. When other girls dress in ruffly skirts, Olivia wears a snappy sailor shirt. When other girls twirl like ballerinas, she makes dramatic poses in a black fabric tube (an avant-garde number without sleeves). By the end of the day, Olivia's so fired up that she's indignant. Her mother begins a bedtime story in which a beautiful maiden is rescued by a prince and Olivia can't believe where it's headed. Not another prince making a girl his princess! Her mother swiftly ditches the book and opens The Little Match Girl instead. But being a freezing little match girl doesn't sound like fun either. As Olivia tries to settle down for the night, she imagines doing something valiant with her life… Or should she just find a nice pedestal to put herself on? Witty as ever, Falconer writes to all those girls who'd rather go on an adventure than be rescued. Best part: Olivia's inspiration to ditch the tutu -- a photo over her bed from Martha Graham's "Lamentation."

Holiday Gift Guide: Day 2

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's a Book! It's a Card!

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

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...

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.

4. The Gift of Happy

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.

5. Pick Me! Pick Me!

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.

6. Bugs for a True Love

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!

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!

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.

9. Maxims That Pop

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!

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.