The holidays are coming, so let’s all get out of the way — or at least use some books for protection. They also make good gifts. The 2007 crop of children’s and young-adult books includes quite a few tales whose lively, unconventional personalities offer a generation-spanning appeal.
Here are some suggestions:
“Angela and the Baby Jesus,” by Frank McCourt, illustrated by Raul Colon, $17.99. This book lovingly tells the tender tale of an Irish girl’s guileless heart, and her entirely logical justification for spiriting the infant figure away from her chilly church’s Nativity scene and into her own warm home. Published also in a Fireside version with illustrations by Loren Long. Ages 4 and up.
“The Children’s Illustrated Jewish Bible,” stories retold by Laaren Brown and Lenny Hort, illustrated by Eric Thomas, $19.99. It combines the publisher’s famously engaging graphics with comprehensible, approachable prose and detail boxes explaining the significance of relevant artifacts and customs. Ages 4 and up.
“Gallop!” by Rufus Butler Seder, $12.95. Seder employs scanimation, a patented visual technique that’s absolutely mesmerizing. Layers of transparencies put images into motion, like a latter-day kinetoscope. Even adults will marvel. Ages 4 and up.
“The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World,” $16.99. Two-time Newbery medalist E.L. Konigsburg’s witty, affectionate story about an eccentric World War II survivor and two adolescent boys who befriend her as she reluctantly prepares for an estate sale. Ages 10 and up.
“Previously,” by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Bruce Ingman, $16.99. Ahlberg examines the concept of precedents in relation to Goldilocks, Jack and Jill, the frog prince, Cinderella and other fairytale mainstays, tying a line of ultimately cosmic connections reminiscent of the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”
“Do Not Open: An Encyclopedia of the World’s Best-kept Secrets,” by John Farndon, $24.99. Here definitely is a book to open, especially if family tensions run high and everyone needs a new conversation topic. Maybe they can solve the mystery of 19th-century sailing ship Mary Celeste’s disappeared crew, one of the book’s many eclectic subjects.
“The Brothers’ War: Civil War Voices in Verse,” $17.95. This is a spare, elegiac and elegant book using primary-source books and letters for poems that make the War between the States as relevant as Iraq, with stunning period photographs. Ages 9 and up.
“The Night Before Christmas: A Cut-Paper Edition,” by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat, $16.99. A a must-have for every home where this classic poem is an annual tradition. The astonishing cutouts are extraordinarily detailed, with windows and doors ajar hinting at what’s coming next, and the final pages leap open for a breathtaking payoff. Ages 4 and up, but keep the little ones’ hands away from the pop-ups.
