16. Give Me a Scratch

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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.

Holiday Gift Guide 2011 - Day 1

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. Kangaroo for Christmas

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.

2. The Carpenter's Gift

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.

3. The Littlest Evergreen

Written & illustrated by Henry Cole

HarperCollins, 2011

$18.99, ages 4-7, 32 pages

A young tree digs his roots into forest soil, never imagining that he'd ever grow anywhere else, in this beautiful, tender story about a little Christmas tree.

The tree, an evergreen with fine, stubby needles, is the littlest one in the forest, at first no taller than a sparrow. Every day, he pushes his way further up through the grass to find the sun.

Though all the other trees on the hillside are much taller, the Littlest Evergreen doesn't mind because he's happy just where he is and he feels a part of something grand.

Every spring, the Littlest Evergreen inches a little more skyward, stretching the tip of his crown to try to catch up to other trees. And each day into summer, he soaks in the smells and sounds around him.

He marvels at the heat pulling the scent out of his needles and the crackle of lightning in the air. He delights in the downpour that follows, the feeling of rain washing away dust from his bows.

And when fall comes and his sap slows, he sleeps, with his roots tucked under a blanket of snow until titmice and chickadees herald spring once more.

Living there, in a carpet of trees, is serene -- and for a time, safe. But then one day, a terrible sound rips through the air and his companions begin to fall to the ground around him.

4. The Third Gift

Written by Linda Sue Park

Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline

Houghton Mifflin, 2011
$16.99, ages 7-10, 32 pages

A father and son walk a desert collecting tears of sap for market, not yet knowing that the largest of those pearls will become a gift for a baby named Jesus.

Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park joins with renowned illustrator Bagram Ibatoulline to weave a captivating tale about myrrh, the third gift given by the wise men to the Christ child.

Imagining a father teaching his son how to gather the treasured resin, Park describes the two walking with a basket, water-gourd and an ax across a landscape almost entirely of sandy rock to a grove of stunted and spiny trees.

The boy's father kneels by one of the gnarled trees "to see inside."  Gently, he feels the bark with his hands, and plucks off a leaf and sniffs, to determine whether its myrrh is ready to be harvested.

5. The Money We'll Save

Written & illustrated by Brock Cole

Margaret Ferguson Books, 2011
$16.99, ages 4 and up, 40 pages

In this rollicking read-aloud, a cozy family of six attempts to room with a turkey while they plump him up for Christmas dinner.

But as feathers begin to fly, it's not clear who's getting the better of whom.

One afternoon Pa returns home from market with a brilliant way to save pennies for Christmas dinner.

He'll fatten up a turkey poult and keep it in a wooden box by the stove of their tenement apartment.

But with five children, himself and his wife packed inside, the family's flat is already feeling crowded.

And much to Ma's chagrin, the turkey doesn't like to keep to one spot, and soon, he's also much too big for his box.

Suddenly Alfred, their turkey, must be shifted somewhere else, but where do you put a boisterous young fowl?

6. Christmas Eve at the Mellops'

Written & illustrated by Tomi Ungerer
Phaidon Press, 2011
$12.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages

Four little pigs brighten the rooms of a cold, dilapidated house with the spirit of Christmas, in this charming reissue of a German classic.

When each of the Mellops brothers surprises their papa with a Christmas tree, they find they've all had the same idea and they burst into tears. Oh no, "what a to-do."

Four trees are just too many. And it wouldn't be fair to pick one brother's tree over another, so Mr. Mellops suggests that the boys look for people in need to give them to.

The problem is everyone they ask already has a tree -- at the orphanage, hospital, prison and military barracks.

Poor Casimir, Isidor, Felix and Ferdinand, they really want to help someone and as the lug their trees back home, their ears wilt with disappointment.

But just as these well-meaning fellows resign to throw away their trees, they see a girl pig quietly sobbing on the sidewalk. Could this be the person they've been looking for?

7. Chanukah Lights

Written by Michael J. Rosen

Paper engineering by Robert Sabuda

Candlewick, 2011

$34.99, 5 years and up, 16 pages

Quiet, reflective scenes of Chanukah rise off the page, coaxing readers to linger and reflect, in this spectacular pop-up about the eight-day Jewish festival.

Celebrated author Michael Rosen leads readers around the world to imagine different times and places where the Festival of Lights was celebrated as each night's menorah is lit.

Then acclaimed paper engineer Robert Sabuda echoes Rosen's lyrical words with intricate pop-ups that rise off the page like silent exclamations.

8. The Twelve Days of Christmas

Written & illustrated by Jane Ray

Candlewick, 2011

$16.99, ages 3-6, $16.99

In this beguiling edition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, a suitor woos his love next door with a series of gifts that reflect his deepening affection.

The suitor, an elegant man with twinkling eyes, watches his gifts arrive from his window until the last one is delivered, and he feels brave enough to a walk over and declare his love.

As the first of 12 gifts come, tiny puffs of snow float down outside a row of color-washed houses by a canal. A postman knocks at flat #4 and the woman, her hair swept back with a ribbon, answers the door and gasps with delight. 

There on the step is a potted pear tree, each branch perfectly positioned as if espaliered, and a partridge with mottled feathers perched on a limb. A tag dangles from another branch addressed, "To My True Love X."

Every day greater numbers of things arrive on her stoop, each more whimsical and grand than the last.

9. The Story of Christmas

Text based on the King James Bible

Illustrations by Pamela Dalton

Chronicle, 2011

$17.99, all ages, 32 pages

In this reverent retelling of the nativity story, illustrations look as if they were pulled from the walls of a church.

Using a technique rooted in 16th Century folk art, Pamela Dalton scissor-cuts designs from a single piece of paper, then watercolors in details and mounts the scenes on a black backdrop.

Each design is a fragile tapestry of paper and has a mural-like quality. Ornate and naturalistic, it conveys a feeling of antiquity that works beautifully with the story, retold here from the King James Bible.

In one spread, readers see the angel Gabriel alighting before Mary, an Easter lily being offered in his hand, and later, three shepherds arrive at the manager to see baby Jesus, each of their gowns elaborately cut in repeating patterns.

10. One Starry Night

Written by Lauren Thompson
Illustrated by Jonathan Bean
Margaret K. McElderry, 2011
$16.99, ages 1-6, 32 pages

The story of Jesus's birth feels like a whispered lullaby in this breathtaking book that alternates line by line between two poems.

In the first poem, author Lauren Thompson describes nativity animals keeping vigil over their young, while in the second, she assures a child she'll always stay near.

The effect is lovely, and it allows the adult reading the story aloud to draw the reader in in a very intimate way.

When Thompson writes that on a starry night, a sheep watches over her lamb, the words, "I am here," echo afterwards in italics, as if spoken in a hushed voice to a child.

11. Jingle Bells

Written by John Harris
Illustrated by Adam Gustavson
Peachtree, 2011
$16.95, ages 6-10, 32 pages

A minister lifts the spirits of a downtrodden congregation with the sound of sleigh bells and a flurry of snow-white feathers, in this charming twist on history.

John Harris, the co-writer of A Giraffe Goes to Paris, weaves a tender tale of how John Lord Pierpont came to write the holiday song Jingle Bells in the sticky heat of Georgia in 1857. 

Though little is known about what spurred Pierpont to write the beloved carol, Harris gathered what facts he could, then pieced them together with his imagination to create this heart-warming story.

Many historians believe Pierpont wrote the song in Medford, Massachusetts, but others like Harris believe he was more apt to have written it in Savanna while serving as a church music director.

12. Little Bunny and the Magic Christmas Tree

Written David Martin
Illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev
Candlewick, 2011
$15.99, ages 2-4, 40 pages

It's Christmas Eve and Little Bunny is fed up with being the shortest bunny in his family.

His younger but taller twin brothers have hung his fire engine ornament out of his reach and his big brother is calling him "Teeny-Tiny" bunny.

So Little Bunny does what any frustrated little bunny might do: he dives under the Christmas tree and refuses to come out.

But being mad is tiring and while he's under there, Little Bunny drifts off to sleep.

Then something magical happens.

In the night, Little Bunny feels a tiny scarf land on his shoulder and hears a teeny voice.

Could that really be the snowman ornament calling down from a branch above?

What a Hoot!!!

Yipeeee! (Little Hoot, Chronicle)

Chronicle Books announced today that Where the Best Books Are! has won the Happy Haulidays Giveaway!!!

Thank you so much Chronicle Books!  It's been a joy to be part of this wonderful giveaway!

And the best part: I get to share the fun!

My charity, Fairview Elementary School, in Denver will receive Chronicle books totaling $500.

And one commenter on my Happy Haulidays post is also a winner!

Drum roll, please.... 

And the winner is: Kris Scott of Broomfield, Colorado!

Congratulations, Kris!!! Kris will receive copies of all 29 books on my list.

Thank you all for participating in the most fun giveaway of the year!

Be sure to stop by Chronicle Books for a great selection of gift ideas this holiday!

Happy "Haulidays" to everyone! Thank you for all of your support!

Blowin' in the Wind

Lyrics by Bob Dylan

Illustrated by Jon J. Muth

With CD of Dylan's original recording

Sterling, 2011

$17.95, ages 5 and up, 28 pages

In this sublime picture book adaptation, a paper airplane gliding across the sky becomes a breathtaking metaphor for the roles we all play in making a better world.

Award-winning Jon Muth meditates on Bob Dylan's remarkable 1963 protest song with sweeping illustrations steeped in symbolism, the most resonant being that of the toy plane.

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.

Passing overhead in almost every spread, a folded airplane symbolizes "the answer" in Dylan's refrain, "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind," a figurative verse about opening one's heart to all of humanity.

Out of Everywhere Into Here

What do you give a newborn boy,

With eyes that twinkle full of joy?

A bundle of books just his size,

Full of wonder, love and surprise.

Click the links below for reviews of four board books "for now and to grow on." Or scroll down the page!

This New Baby by Teddy Jam

It's a Little Book by Lane Smith

A Box of Bugs by David Carter
You Are My Cupcake by Joyce Wan

This New Baby

Written by Teddy Jam

Paintings by Virginia Johnson

Groundwood Books, 2011

$8.95 (board book), 22 pages

A mother watches her newborn, and wonders about all that he sees and feels in this tender poem originally published in 1999 as a picture book. 

"This new baby / sleeps in my arms / like a moon / sleeping on a cloud," the mother muses, as she holds him close, her face touching his.

Later, she says, as he drifts into a dreamworld in father's lap, he's "like a hawk drifting through the sky."

For a time the baby's still, then something stirs inside him, disquiets him, "the sound of hawks' wings lifting," and he lets out a cry, deep from inside.

It's a Little Book

Written & illustrated by Lane Smith

Roaring Brook Press, 2011

$7.99 (board book), ages 4-8, 24 pages

A baby donkey tries to guess what a book is for and comes up with adorably silly uses in this pint-size companion to Lane Smith's gem It's a Book.

Instead of facing off over reading formats (the donkey's laptop verses the gorilla's book), as they did in last year's book, the two discuss the purpose of books as only babies would:

Plunked down on the floor, with their legs straight in front of them, as if they just lost their balance and tipped over -- both saying things, but not quite talking them over.

The donkey suggests what a book could be, as his ears perk up in a quizzical way. The gorilla, a burly little guy with a tiny hat, dismisses every guess with a matter-of-fact "No."

A Box of Bugs

4 Pop-Up Concept Books

Created by David Carter

Little Simon, 2011

$14.99 (board book set), 64 pages, ages 4-8

Boys and bugs. It's one of life's sure things.

It seems as soon as boys can walk, they're hunkering down with a hand in the path of a roly poly, trying to coax it up for a ride.

And you know what that means. It's just a matter of time before they're carrying them inside, asking if their bugs can stay. 

As parents, we love to see them enthralled in nature, but wouldn't it be nice if some of the bugs in their hands weren't so real, yet still moved about as if they were?

Well, the bugs in Carter's adorable set of four pop-up books do just that. They flap and crawl, while introducing toddlers to the basics of colors, opposites, counting, and up and down.

You Are My Cupcake

Written & illustrated by Joyce Wan

Scholastic, 2011

$6.99 (board book), 14 pages

Babies have us the moment we see them. One look at those cheeks and eyes, and we get all melty inside.

And when they're our babies? Well, we think we'll burst from happiness, or as the idiom curiously goes, we'll "just  eat them up," every little toe.

In this adorable board book, Wan plays off that familiar expression and the intoxicating feeling we get from babies with names we reach for to show our affection.

Two Books for a Big Brother and Sister

Here are two ideas to keep a big brother and sister happy and busy while mother and baby snuggle nearby.

Cupcakes! (A Sweet Treat with More Than 200 Stickers), by Brandy Cooke, photos by Connie Kramer, Little Simon, $6.99 (board book), ages 3-5, 18 pages, 2011. A little decorator is needed quickly to sprinkle on toppings and make them stick! In this sweet board book, nine cupcakes with towering swirls of frosting are laid out for readers to decorate with colorful stickers. The stickers, stored in an envelope on the inside cover, are photographs of real-life confections and look as yummy as the frosting they stick on. There are sugar bugs to crawl up a chocolate mound of buttercream, gumpaste flowers to decorate a verdant swirl of frosting, and a host of mammals to swim and climb about the others, from gummy whales to a koala, lions and dinosaurs. In the first five spreads, Kramer suggests toppings that would match a frosting's color scheme. On the last spread, which unfolds four ways with a cupcake on every page, she invites readers to decorate frosting any way they like. Charming and irresistible, Cupcakes! is a delicious-looking project -- without any mess!

Guido's Great Coloring and Drawing Book, created by Guido Van Genechten, Clavis, $14.95, ages 9-12, 176 pages, ages 7 and up, 2010. Get ready, get set, draw! In this whimsical activity book from Holland, children receive coloring assignments designed to tickle their imaginations. In some, they're asked to finish drawings, such as color sweaters onto fish, draw a face around a pair of glasses or draw a line around a grid of dots to match a pattern. My favorite prompt challenges children to draw strange little animals that might live in the beard of a gnome pictured on the page. Other prompts are wide-open -- an assignment is written but nothing else appears beneath it. In one of these, children are asked to draw a nice picture with a single line and in another, they're asked to draw a lucky person. Some prompts are challenging, like drawing a bundle of noise, but others are just silly.  Sprinkled here and there are also a maze, a few math problems and a writing prompt. As with Taro Gomi's coloring books, there's a magical quality to Guido's book because in order for it to be completed, it needs a child's imagination. And since imaginations flow about, the outcomes are unique to the moment and delightfully unpredictable.

Over the River and Through the Wood

The New England Boy's Song

About Thanksgiving Day

Written by Lydia Maria Child

Illustrated by Matt Tavares

Candlewick, 2011

$16.99, ages 4 and up, 32 pages

A family's eagerness to get to grandfather's house is felt in every verse and slide of their sleigh, in this handsome, cozy edition of a beloved Thanksgiving song.

Acclaimed Matt Tavares illustrates Lydia Maria Child's 1844 poem, "A Boy's Thanksgiving," which became the song, "Over the River and Through the Wood," and in the most regardful way, keeping to the simplicity of her words and the time.

The boy remains the center of the family's New England outing, leaping onto the sleigh to grip the reigns before his family steps inside. As he holds them high in his mittened hands, the boy imagines flying through a spray of snow.

After his family climbs in, the boy slips over onto the bench, and his father, sitting next to him, leans forward and raps the reigns. His mother, in a bonnet, long gold coat and billowy scarf, scoops his little sister onto her knee so she can see store fronts as they pass.

The boy's face is gleeful and eager, and his left arm, as if spring-loaded, shoots in front of his father to point to freshly made toys in a store window. The father isn't jolted in the least. If anything his jaunty countenance only grows as he soaks in his boy's joy.

But as the poem goes, nothing delays them today; only family is in their sights. "We would not stop / For doll or top, / For it is Thanksgiving day," the boy seems to sing out with not a grumble or sigh.

Balloons Over Broadway

Written & illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Houghton Mifflin, 2011

$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.

In this marvelous tribute, Caldecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet uses a menagerie of objects and illustrations to tell the story of Anthony "Tony" Sarg, the artist behind Macy's parade balloons.

Sweet's telling is wondrous, as she echoes Tony's creative genius with her own playful use of wood, fabrics, color and sketches.

To Fly or Not to Fly?

From George Flies South by Simon James

As icy winds scatter the last of fall leaves, our skies fill with flocks of birds arrowing southward at a purposeful pace.

But was it easy for our plumed friends to go? Or for us to see them go? Here are two picture books about the angst of saying farewell, even if only for a season.

Acorns and Stew, Too is about a girl who finds a way to keep ducks safely grounded and George Flies South is about a baby bird mustering up the courage to fly away.

Click the titles above to go directly to the reviews or scroll down the page.

Acorns and Stew, Too

Written & illustrated by Ruth Orbach

Kane/Miller, 2011

$15.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages

A gumptious little girl uses nails and needles, acorns and stew to safely keep a flock of friends with her through the winter in this adorable picture book.

Illustrated in vintage style, with ink drawings punctuated with bright cheery color, the story plays out an imaginative plan that readers will feel a part of too.

Lenore looks every bit the free spirit with her tousled straight hair and cherry-red jumper over a fuschia shirt, and she knows what she needs:

To keep everything she loves just as it is.

Her house, its yellow door, her street with birds and trees, her cozy room, her everyday breakfast of pancakes, butter and jam, and her cat Sam.

But mostly, she wants the ducks in the lake nearby to stay where they are. Everyday she slings a bag of bread crumbs over her shoulder to share with them.

George Flies South

Written & illustrated by Simon James

Candlewick, 2011

$16.99, ages 3 and up, 40 pages

A fledgling takes flight in a way he never imagined in this darling book by the creator of Leon & Bob.

George, a tawny wisp of a bird, would rather snuggle in his nest than try out his wings and fly south.

Perched midway down the branch of a big tree at the entrance to a city park, the nest seems cozy and safe.

But Momma bird knows it won't be either for long.

Only a few leaves still cling to the tree and soon snow will come and worms will be hard to find.