Roberta Dyer and Sally McPherson

www.broadwaybooks.net 


The Tortoise & the Hare by Jerry Pinkney ($18, Little Brown) is a lovely retelling of the old fable in a Southwestern setting. Caldecott medalist Pinkney always gives us beautiful, wise picture books, and here he even lets the hare have some grace. Children and adults will enjoy the expressive and gently humorous illustrations.

Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Dusker Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld ($16.99, Chronicle) is the perfect marriage of truck book and bedtime story in one clever picture book. The theme carries forward in complementing magnetic characters and a matching game. These are also the authors behind Steam Train, Dream Train, another winning bedtime story.

The Middle Grades

The Animal Book: A Visual Encyclopedia of Life on Earth by the Smithsonian Institute ($24.99, Dorling Kindersly) is a beautifully and generously photographed encyclopedia of life on earth -- the other planets will have to wait a while. It's an easy book to get lost in, and a wonderful value. This is a gift that will last -- the first grader who loves it for the gee-whiz factor will turn into the high school student using it for assignments and then the adult referring to it out of curiosity or in search of crossword answers. Numbats and bilbies and quolls, oh my!

The Animal Book: A Collection of the Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest--And Most Surprising--Animals on Earth by Steve Jenkins ($21.99,

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) lives up to the claim of its subtitle. Beautifully illustrated a la Eric Carle, it is sure to enthrall young fans of anything biggest, fastest, loudest but there is much to interest the older animal lover as well -- the tenrec, for instance. (Personally, I am not going to choose which Animal Book is best -- I'll be sending them both to my niece's little boys.)

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo ($17.99, Candlewick) is the charming story of a girl and the squirrel with vacuum-cleaner-caused superpowers. DiCamillo is the author the classic The Tale of Despereaux and hasn't lost her touch a bit, although she has more fun with this latest book for second-to-fifth graders. The illustrations are deft.

 The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland And Cut The Moon In Two by Catherynne Valente ($16.99, MacMillan), the third in a series, tells the tale of September, a seemingly ordinary girl from Nebraska, and her adventures beyond the fields we know. Think you've been there before? Think again. Valente brings so much invention, humor, and just plain good writing to the table that the story seems brand new. Kids will devour it, but I recommend it as well to adult fantasy fans -- and even to the teens who might think they're too grown-up for it.

"When Did You See Her Last?" by Lemony Snicket ($16, Little, Brown) is another entry in the extraordinary "All the Wrong Questions" series. Sly Boots Snicket is the perpetrator of the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books, and once again he writes for children without condescension but with humor and intelligence. This is a gift that can be relished by kids and adults alike.

Who knew going out for milk could be such an adventure? Clearly Neil Gaiman did, and he tells of a father's wild adventure through time and space in the hilarious story Fortunately, the Milk ($14.99, Harper). Gaiman won the Newbery for The Graveyard Book and knows a thing or two about holding kids' attention (and adults too, for that matter).

Still not sure what to get that younger reader in your life? You can't go wrong with The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster with illustrations by Jules Feiffer ($6.99, Random House). Sure, it's fifty+ years old, but there's nothing wrong with being older than fifty! Anna Quindlen wrote a book report on it when she was ten, saying it was "the best book ever." We couldn't agree more.

Young Adult Books

Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott ($16.99, Henry Holt) is a well-written tear-jerker from a Washington native who draws in reluctant readers as well as literature addicts. Our hero is a Nirvana-addicted suburban Puget Sound high school student, betrayed by his parents and saved in the end by his friends and teachers. Good poetry, and yes, you'll be weeping at the end.

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein ($17.99, Hyperion) is a heart-rending companion novel to last year's Code Name Verity, the grim star of last year's YA season. Rosie, an American pilot, is shot down in occupied Europe and spends the rest of the war in Ravensbruck. Wein herself is flyer of small planes and her prose makes the novel soar.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell ($18.99, St. Martin's) is aimed at older teens, by the author of Eleanor & Park. Cath, the fangirl of the title feels adrift as she starts her first year of college -- she suffers through a falling-apart family and a mean roommate, she can't write, boys are a mystery, and she can't stop obsessing over a Harry Potter figure when all her peers have moved on. Rowell has got the hook, though, and readers will find the ending satisfying and believable.