I love to give and receive books. My nine-year-old son has requested books for Christmas, which I think is great! It warms the hearts of his librarian parents. Here are a few of my favorites for gifting this year.

Ages 3 and Under

Bright Baby Books-My Big Animal Book
The clear, bright photographs make these enticing for the little ones.

Max’s Toys
Max and Ruby are a favorite here. I especially like the older titles.

Roses are Red. Are Violets Blue?
This is my favorite book from childhood. I have our original copy. It is a color naming and color mixing book. If you can find a used copy, it is worth it!

Car Wash
An easy, fun picture book that has collage pictures.

Ages 4-8

Make It
Crafts for kids made from recyclables. We originally checked this out from the library, but C. loved it so much, I thought she needed her own copy. It is a great book.

How to Build an A
Build the alphabet with the included shapes.

Giant Play and Learn
From Chronicle Books, fun and quiet entertainment!

Zoo-ology
A fantastic book to give as a gift. This oversized book has beautiful illustrations of animals. The animals are grouped into categories including “On the Seaboard”, “Underground”, “Spots and Stripes”, and “Black and White”.

3-D Atlas and World Tour
Really for big kids too-who doesn’t love 3-D?

Big Words for Little People
Usually I am not a big fan of celebrity written books, but her books seem to resonate with kids. Her playful language and themes are a hit.

Ages 8-14

Magic Thief
Once kids really start reading, it is hard to keep them in books. They go through them so fast! This wizard adventure book is just what my son has in mind for a relaxing Winter Break read.

Gods of Manhattan
An adventure story, featuring thirteen-year-old Rory as the main character. Rory finds a parallel city to Manhattan, called Mannahatta, which is populated by Gods.

Savvy
The Beaumont family each is endowded with a special talent-a savvy- on their thirteenth birthday. When middle child, Mississippi, turns thirteen her adventure begins.

Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guide: Extreme Junior Edition
I think this will get some laughs from my nine-year-old, and spark his imagination.

Almost Everything
By the same author as Zoo-ology, this giant book has categories including “Trees and Flowers”, “Human Body”, “Costumes of the World”, and “Tools”. The index has a description of each picture.

Hey, I didn’t even have to make up an attention grabbing title for this post-who doesn’t want to know what a Grumbling Splunk is?
In Otis and Rae and the Grumbling Splunk , by Laura Espinosa and Leo Espinosa, friends Otis and Rae set out on a camping trip. Rae wants to tell scary stories and track wild beasts. Otis just wants to eat his peanut butter and banana sandwiches (PB & B) and go to sleep. After Otis accidentally encounters and runs from a Grumbling Splunk in the middle of the night, Rae insists they go back out in search of the beast. On their adventure they discover Grumbling Splunks aren’t actually scary, and they find out what they have in common with the strange sounding beasts.

When H. was little he did not like to be scared at all. This is a great book about monsters for those who do not want to be scared. Other non-scary monster books we like include the following:

Jitterbug Jam, by Barbara Jean Hicks – A monster is scared of a boy under is bed.

Scared Stiff, by Katie Davis – Objects that appear scary turn out to be ordinary.

The Monster at the End of this Book, by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin – Grover imagines he is getting closer to the monster at the end of the book with each page you turn.