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Adventure stories and visits to other worlds intrigue the young—even while they’re tethered to classroom desks.Books are arguably the best entrée into those exotic places, but which book is the best one to give? Bookstorevisits can be dizzying experiences: immediately, you’re confronted with a plethora of volumes, all of them covered with effusive blurbs and snake oil promises. Independent booksellers can cut through the hype. Theymake personal recommendations to their customers everyday, each one tailored to a particular child.

The Book Sense Children’s Picks list—a companion to the adult edition—is a compendium of those book-sellers’ finds and insights. Highlights from the latest list follows, with a selection of books for children fromteens to toddlers.

LIVING OUT FANTASIESNewbery Honor and National Book Award-winning author UrsulaK. Le Guin’s Gifts (Harcourt) takes place in the Uplands, a barrenland settled by families who possess various powers passedthrough their bloodlines. While some of these so-called giftscould be considered good, others are terrifying, like the abilityto inflict blindness. Kim Fox of Schuler Books & Music in GrandRapids, MI, calls Le Guin’s latest “an intelligent teen fantasy”whose characters “find the courage to throw off their families’expectations and envision a world of light and grace.”

Thirteen-year-old Zazoo writes poetry and swims in the canalalongside her house. She was born in Vietnam, but has lived inthe French countryside since she was two. Life’s pleasant calmis interrupted when a young stranger asks her questions aboutthe local pharmacist she can’t answer. Zazoo’s investigationslead her to a deeper understanding of both World War II Franceand the Vietnam conflict. Zazoo by Richard Mosher(Graphia/Houghton Mifflin) “is a gem of a story,” says Sue Caritaof The Toadstool Bookshop in Milford, NH. It’s about “the wondersof nature, wartime memories, and regrets.”

Sometimes travel isn’t strictly voluntary. In MonsoonSummer by Mitali Perkins (Delacorte Press), fifteen-year-oldJasmine “Jazz” Gardner secretly loves her best friend, Steve. The

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trouble starts when Jazz’s mother returnsto India, the country where she was born, inorder to help build a clinic. Jazz has to leaveCalifornia comforts and crush-worthy Steve far behind. Nicole White ofVroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, CA, calls“Monsoon,” “accessible to teens, with a positive portrayal of young women.”

ANIMAL TALESThe younger the reader, the more animal-oriented our highlights become. A goodexample is Hachiko Waits, by LesléaNewman and illustrated by MachiyoKodaira (Henry Holt). “Hachiko” is basedon the true story of an Akita puppy whoeach morning accompanied his master toa Tokyo train station, and then returned towalk with him home. But one day,Hachiko’s owner died while still at work.Hopeful he would someday see his masteragain, Hachiko diligently waited at the station for the remainder of his life. DanaHarper of Brystone Children’s Books in FortWorth, TX, calls this book “a beautiful tribute” to Hachiko who “embodies all thebest qualities of a dog.”

Gregory Maguire, who reimagined “TheWizard of Oz” in his book (and later, the hitBroadway musical) “Wicked,” continues hisirreverence for the classics with LeapingBeauty and Other Animal Fairy Tales(HarperCollins). Illustrated by Chris L.Demarest, these fractured fairy talesinclude Cinder-Elephant who also goes tothe ball (but with glass pie plates on herfeet, instead of slippers) and a cobra namedRumplesnakeskin. Carl Wichman of VarsityMart in Fargo, ND, says, “Each tale is fun tocompare with your memory of the original.”

Laura Ziock of Altamont Books inLivermore, CA, asks, “What do you supposehappened to the Lilliputians whom Gulliverbrought to England?” T. H. White, author of“The Once and Future King,” answers thequestion in Mistress Masham’s Repose(The New York Review Children’s Collection).This rediscovered classic about “an orphanedheiress with evil guardians,” who discovers atribe of Lilliputians living on her tumbledownestate, is “marvelous,” Ziock says.

A Musical Journey: From the GreatWall of China to the Water Towns ofJiangnan, by Liow Kah Joon (SilkRoadNetworks) is a whirlwind travelogue ofChina’s twelve major cultural regions.Included are smatterings of history andfacts, drawings of costumed children—and aCD of original compositions, in the style oftraditional music. Intended for those who

seek to know more about China, “A MusicalJourney” is recommended by Leigh AnnJohnson of Seattle’s University Book Storebecause it guides “readers through China inan artistic, informative, and fun way.”

IMAGINATIONS RUN WILDChildren who resolutely read aloud to theirpets will love Wild About Books by JudySierra, illustrated by Marc Brown (Alfred A.Knopf). A wayward librarian ends up at thelocal zoo, and “by reading aloud from thegood Dr. Seuss . . . quickly attracted a minkand a moose.” Betty Bennett of BennettBooks in Wyckoff, NJ, says, “The animalsdiscover the joy of books and, in their ownunique ways, become avid readers. Thefanciful illustrations make this a book youwill want to read again and again.”

Little is known about Aesop, the fabulistwho lived more than 2,500 years ago, buthis tightly written tales of talking animalswith varying vices and vanities succinctlydemonstrates the foibles of modern life.Carol Moyer of Quail Ridge Books & Music inRaleigh, NC, calls the illustrations to theadaptation Unwitting Wisdom: AnAnthology of Aesop’s Fables, retold andillustrated by Helen Ward (ChronicleBooks), “elegant and sophisticated.” Shealso notes that its “oversize format makes itgreat for sharing with a large group.”

Barbara Cooney, author and illustratorof the well-loved “Chanticleer and the Fox,”also illustrated When the Sky Is Like Laceby Elinor Lander Horwitz (Viking). KellyJustice of The Fountain Bookstore inRichmond, VA, says the reissue of thispoetic ode to “bimulous” nights “is causefor celebration. I love the Lewis Carroll-likeprose, and the lavender, cornflower blue,and ochre softness of the silly illustrationsthat gives this absolutely delightful gem aglow, reminding me of lantern light.”

WARM AND FUZZYDogs, fish, and even a dragon dominate theselection for toddlers and preschoolers. Dog Blue by Polly Dunbar (CandlewickPress) is “a charming story,” says WendiGratz of Joseph-Beth Booksellers inCincinnati, OH, of a boy who desperatelywants a blue dog, only to get a black-and-white one. After a moment of doubt and disappointment, the boy comes to love hisvariegated canine.

The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle,illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama (DuttonChildren’s Books), has a retro-fifties flavor toits illustrations, befitting the tale of a boy

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and his beatnik dragon wholikes to “roast hot dogs inthe living room.” SusieFruncillo of Lake CountryBooksellers in White BearLake, MN, says the bookhas “terrific illustrationsthat match its sweet andfunny story.”

Razor-sharp, digitally pro-duced renderings make TenLittle Fish, by Audrey Woodand illustrated by BruceWood (The Blue Sky Press/Scholastic), “the countingbook for the twenty-first cen-tury,” says Erin Shuster ofSchuler Books & Music in Lansing, MI. Sheadds, “Any fan of ‘Finding Nemo’ will bethrilled with this fun adventure.”

Goodnight Goodnight Sleepyhead,by Ruth Krauss and illustrated by JaneDyer (HarperCollins), may be the perfectbedtime story—children are asked to saygoodnight to their toys, and even to theirbedroom walls and floors. “It’s a beautiful,newly illustrated edition of an old favorite,”

says Lois Proctor of The Bookseller inArdmore, OK. “Warm fuzzies reach outfrom the pages as you work your way tosleepy time. A true delight!”

For more information on the BookSense Children’s Picks list, consultyour local independent bookselleror visit www.BookSense.com.

PUBLISHERS’ PICKS

Ella is an elephant on an island of elephants, who’s nervous about herfirst day of school. She wears her grandmother’s lucky hat, but thatonly brings her scorn. Classmates taunt Ella and tease her—until thepachyderm (and her wide-brimmed hat) save the day. Fashionablyillustrated, Ella the Elegant Elephant by Carmela and StevenD’Amico (Arthur A. Levine Books) is an ideal read for the sartoriallydistinctive child.

A whodunit, Detective LaRue: Letters from the Investigation, byMark Teague (Scholastic Press) follows Ike LaRue, a dog accused of kidnapping a pair of cats. Told in a series of letters by the canine to hisowner, the plot gets increasingly shaggy-dogged as Ike solves thecrime while also evading the long arm of the law.

Everything is pink on Priscilla’s planet. Her toys and bike are rosy-tinted, as are hershoes and clothes, and morning porridge. Priscilla journeys through pink swamps, pastpink meadows, in search of other colors until she finds a multihued butterfly. Priscillaand the Pink Planet by Nathaniel Hobbie, illustrated by Jocelyn Hobbie (Little, Brownand Company) is perfect for those girls with persistently pink preferences.

In Saving Francesca, by Melina Marchetta (Alfred A. Knopf), sixteen-year-oldFrancesca transfers to St. Sebastian’s, a former boy’s school where she is one of onlythirty other girls. What could have been a paradise for Francesca alternates between“living in a fishbowl” and feeling like she doesn’t exist. Adding to the strain, her mothersuffers from acute depression. Richly drawn, Francesca finds her way, despite insurmountable odds.

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