Alice Cary

Pull up a chair and dig into a four-course feast of picture books! These books offer innovative depictions of what it means to express gratitude, to share a meal and to be both welcoming and welcomed.

Thankful

“Every year when the first snow falls, we make thankful chains to last us through December,” explains the narrator of Thankful. She is stretched out on her bedroom floor, surrounded by a halo of colorful construction paper, hard at work transforming it into a paper chain. As she lists the things for which she is thankful, readers glimpse scenes of her life with her parents, new sibling and pet dog, at her school and with her friends. 

Author Elaine Vickers’ text is wonderfully evocative. The girl’s list includes concrete and sensory observations, such as gratitude for “the spot under the covers where someone has just been sleeping” and “a cloth on my forehead when I feel sick.” In a humorous beach scene, the girl reflects that she is thankful “for wind and sand—but not at the same time.” 

Readers will be entranced by Samantha Cotterill’s outstanding and unique art. To create her illustrations, Cotterill creates miniature 3D interiors, populates them with cutout characters, then photographs each diorama. She includes charming details, including real lights in various rooms and shining car headlights, along with construction paper chains so realistic in appearance that you’ll feel you could almost touch them. Colorful and original, Thankful will spark young readers to create their own thankful chains—and may inspire them to try their hand at making diorama art, too.

★ Let Me Fix You a Plate

The excitement of family gatherings is at the heart of Let Me Fix You a Plate: A Tale of Two Kitchens, inspired by author-illustrator Elizabeth Lilly’s annual childhood trips to see her grandparents. The book follows a girl, her two sisters and their parents as they pile into a car and drive first to West Virginia to their Mamaw and Papaw, then continue to Florida to visit their Abuela and Abuelo, before they finally return to their own home.

Lilly’s energetic illustrations capture these comings and goings, as well as the abundant details the narrator observes in her grandparents’ homes. At Mamaw and Papaw’s house, she sees a shelf of decorative plates and coffee mugs with tractors on them, eats sausage and toast with blackberry jam and helps make banana pudding. Abuela and Abuelo’s house is filled with aunts, uncles and cousins and the sounds of Spanish and salsa music. The girl picks oranges from a tree in the yard and helps make arepas. 

Throughout, Lilly’s precise prose contributes to a strong sense of place. “Morning mountain fog wrinkles and rolls,” observes the girl on her first morning in West Virginia, while in Florida, “the hot sticky air hugs us close.” Lilly’s line drawings initially seem simple, almost sketchlike, but they expertly convey the actions and emotions of every character, whether it’s Mamaw bending down to offer her granddaughter a bite of breakfast or a roomful of aunts and uncles dancing while Abuelo plays guitar. Like a warm hug from a beloved family member, Let Me Fix You a Plate is a cozy squeeze that leaves you grinning and a little bit breathless. 

Saturday at the Food Pantry

“Everybody needs help sometimes” is the message at the heart of Saturday at the Food Pantry, which depicts a girl named Molly’s first trip to a food pantry with her mom. 

Molly and her mom have been eating chili for two weeks; when Molly’s mom opens the refrigerator, we see that it’s nearly empty. In bed that night, Molly’s stomach growls with hunger. Molly is excited to visit a food pantry for the first time, but she isn’t sure what to expect. As she and her mom wait in line, Molly is happy to see that Caitlin, a classmate, is also waiting with her grandmother. Molly greets her enthusiastically, but Caitlin ignores her. “I don’t want anyone to know Gran and I need help,” Caitlin explains later.

Molly’s cheerfulness saves the day, and the girls’ interactions contribute to a normalizing and destigmatizing representation of their experience. Molly asks her mom questions that reveal how the food pantry differs from a grocery store. Mom must check in before she begins shopping, for instance, and there are limits on how many items customers can have. “Take one bundle” reads a sign in the banana basket. 

Author Diane O’Neil captures her characters’ trepidations head-on. Mom smiles “just a little, not like when they played at the park” at the volunteer who signs her in, and Molly is confused and sad when her mom tells her to put a box of cookies back because “the people in charge … want us to take sensible stuff.” Gradually, however, the occasion transforms into a positive experience for all. 

Food insecurity can be a sensitive topic, and O’Neil—who went to a food pantry when she was a child—handles the issue in a reassuring, informative way. A helpful end note from the CEO of the Greater Chicago Food Depository explains that millions of people in the United States need help just like Molly and her mom, and provides readers resources to find it. 

Illustrator Brizida Magro is a wizard of texture, whether depicting Molly’s wavy hair or the wonderful array of patterns in coats, sweaters and pants. Her ability to capture facial expressions and convey complex emotions is also noteworthy; it adds to the book’s emotional depth and makes the eventual smiles all the more impactful. The pantry shoppers’ diversity of skin tone, age and ability underscores how food insecurity can affect anyone. Saturday at the Food Pantry brims with sincerity and a helpful and hopeful spirit.

A Hundred Thousand Welcomes

“In one place or another, at one time or another, in one way or another, every single one of us will find ourselves in search of acceptance, help, protection, welcome,” writes Mary Lee Donovan in her introduction to A Hundred Thousand Welcomes, illustrated by Lian Cho.

With poetic text that reads like an invocation, the book is a fascinating around-the-world tour that explores the concept of welcome. On each page, a household from a different culture entertains guests. Many pages include the corresponding word for “welcome” in that culture’s language, including words and phrases in Indonesian, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and Lakota Sioux. Back matter from Cho and Donovan explains the inspiration that sparked their collaboration and offers more information about the many languages spoken throughout the world and a detailed pronunciation guide to all of the words in the book.

Cho’s art is a multicultural feast of families and friends enjoying each other’s company. There’s a German chalet where kids play in the snow, a Bengali family greeting visitors who arrive in a small, colorful vehicle and more. The disparate scenes culminate in two shining spreads. In the first, people of all ages and nationalities share a meal at a table that’s so long, it can only fit on the page thanks to a breathtaking gatefold. In the next, an equally long line of kids sit atop a brick wall, chatting with each other and gazing up at a night sky full of stars as one child turns around and waves at the reader.

Although many picture books celebrate the fellowship of friendship and the love that flows during family gatherings, A Hundred Thousand Welcomes encourages readers to go one step further, to ready their own welcome mats and invite neighbors and strangers alike into their homes and hearts.

Here are some of our favorite new poetry books for children, selections that are bound to unleash the inner poet in even the youngest writers.

A PLAY ON WORDS
Readers of all ages will get a kick out of Bob Raczka’s clever Lemonade: And Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word. The premise of these short, fun verses is to take a single word (such as lemonade, pepperoni or playground), and make a short poem using only the letters in that word. So, for example, a poem called “Television” consists of the lines: “set is on / i sit.”

This book will appeal to both poetry and puzzle lovers, no doubt motivating them to choose their own words and write some poems.

LEARNING WITH VERSE
Over the last few years I have particularly liked books that combine poetry with nonfiction, such as Tracie Vaughn Zimmer’s Cousins of Clouds: Elephant Poems. This book is a visual and literary feast, with eye-catching mixed-media illustrations by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy.

Each page contains this duo’s illustrations, along with one of Zimmer’s imaginative poems and a short sidebar filled with interesting elephant facts, such as the recent discovery that elephants can communicate over extremely long distances with low tones that people can’t hear, and that they can feel these tones through their feet.

Many interesting topics are addressed, including elephants’ ivory tusks, their excellent memory and the term “white elephant.” The book’s title comes from the first page, in which we learn that some cultures once believed that elephants could control the weather. This blend of poetry, nonfiction and art is literature and learning at its best.

Similarly, Amy Gibson’s Around the World on Eighty Legs contains a menagerie of animal poems, organized by continent. The book begins with a world map showing how the poems and animals are grouped, and ends with an alphabetical glossary that sums up each animal with a few defining features. Daniel Salmieri’s watercolor, gouache and colored-pencil illustrations are lighthearted and fun, filled with animals that bear many amusing facial expressions.

There’s a nice blend of familiar and exotic animals, too, from the kangaroo to the cassowary, covered nicely with Gibson’s fun, never-pedantic poems. Here, for example, are a few lines about yaks:

The yakkity yakkity yak—
Why is it the yak never answers you back?
To a yak, nothing’s worse
than to have to converse—
The yakkity yakkity yak.

TELLING TALES
Animal lovers will also enjoy Lee Wardlaw’s Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku. The book opens with a short note explaining that these verses are a form of Japanese poetry called senryu, very similar to haiku.

Wardlaw’s book is wonderfully innovative, telling a story through a series of senryu that are compelling yet quite accessible to young readers. The tale is told from the cat’s point of view, who starts out in a shelter and gets picked to go home with a family in a poem called “The Choosing.” Next, in “The Naming,” the cat hears his new moniker and proclaims:

Won Ton? How can I
be soup? Some day, I’ll tell you
my real name. Maybe.

This is a touching tale, made even more dramatic by Eugene Yelchin’s sublime illustrations, which vary on every page, adding drama, emotion, fun and beauty.

I have long been a fan of Kristine O’Connell George’s poetry collections, and her latest, Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems, is a real winner. Fourth-grader Jessica both loves and loathes her little sister Emma, and this is the essence of her “Emma Dilemma.”

Jessica voices her wide-ranging emotions through a series of poems that are spot-on for real situations and feelings, getting right at the heart of what it means to be a sister, chronicling both its delights and demons. Nancy Carpenter’s lively illustrations manage to capture every bit of the fun and fury.

There is drama here, too, when Emma tries to join Jessica and her friend in their treehouse and falls, breaking her arm, prompting guilt in Jessica that she should have been closer paying attention to Emma. Kids of all ages will be both moved and entertained by this engaging poem-story.

POEMS WITH A THEME
Lee Bennett Hopkins is another kingpin of children’s poetry, having assembled many wonderful collections over the years. His latest, I Am the Book, is a collection of poems—including one of his own—all about books and the pleasures of reading. These are fun, animated poems, such as this verse from Beverly McLoughland’s “When I Read”:

When I read, I like to dive
In the sea of words and swim
Feet kicking fast across the page
Splashing words against my skin.

The energy is enhanced with acrylics by an illustrator named Yayo, whose vibrant colors enliven every page. In the illustration for this poem, for instance, a streamlined diver plunges into a bright blue sea, which rests on top of a gigantic book, all atop a sandy yellow background.

More creative illustrations are waiting in Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts about Peace by Anna Grossnickle Hines, a follow-up to her lovely A Year in Poems and Quilts. Hines’ illustrations are photographs of her own amazing, handmade quilts. And phenomenal they are, with wonderful backgrounds and vibrant colors, patterns and textures, and people, too, such as a boy in a kayak or a curly-haired girl holding a butterfly.

Hines’ poems are just as wonderful and varied as her quilts, discussing peace in its many forms, whether between a hamster and a snake, siblings, schoolmates, armies or countries. There’s plenty of food for thought here, including a spread dedicated to eight peacemakers, ranging from Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. to child peacemakers Samantha Smith and Mattie Stepanek.

Hines ends her book with a few pages explaining who these peacemakers are, and also discusses how she created her quilts. She relates the long history of quilt-making, storytelling and artistic and community collaboration. This is indeed a treasure trove of beauty and inspiration.

Books are my favorite gifts to give and receive. It’s always been that way and will no doubt remain that way (despite my continued love affair with my Kindle, a holiday gift last year). Here are some great new books to give to the children in your life.

Old favorites
I’ll start with a holiday classic that’s good for all ages: Jan Brett’s delightful Snowy Treasury. Here in one handy edition is a collection of four of Brett’s wonderful picture books: Gingerbread Baby, The Mitten, The Hat and The Three Snow Bears. Brett’s meticulous illustrations have long been a favorite in our house, and the stories in this volume transport readers to the snowy kingdoms of a Swiss forest, a Ukrainian woodland, Denmark and the Arctic. Put Snowy Treasury out within easy reach and you’ll see everyone from adults to preschoolers snuggle in for a warm, cozy read—preferably next to a crackling fire.

Yet another treasure—literally—is a new, unabridged edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, featuring woodcuts by John Lawrence, acclaimed author and illustrator of books such as This Little Chick. This large-format edition with large print makes Stevenson’s swashbuckling story easily accessible for a new generation of readers. With a yo-ho-ho to Long John Silver, Lawrence’s many woodcuts and their soft pastel hues are a fine accompaniment to Stevenson’s exciting tale.

Special treats
Such excitement may well work up an appetite, so consider giving your favorite little chef a copy of Paula Deen’s Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set with Martha Nesbit, illustrated by Susan Mitchell. My 10-year-old daughters and I will definitely be trying this out soon. The colorful, spiral-bound book is well written with clear, numbered directions for young cooks. It’s also attractively laid out, with labeled illustrations at the beginning of each recipe showing not only what ingredients are needed, but also what kitchen tools are required. The varied chapters include such themes as bake sales, sleepovers, family cooking night and a Christmas cooking party. My girls and I will soon be trying Stained Glass Cookies, Oreo Truffles and Cheese Bread. The recipes are kid-friendly, yet packed with Deen’s down-home style.

How about treating someone special to a few of Julie Andrews’ favorite things? She and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, have collaborated on Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies. This collection would make a great present for everyone from newborns to elementary school children, the latter of which will enjoy the wide variety here, as well as the lovely watercolors throughout by award-winning artist James McCullen.

You’ll find classics from the likes of Kenneth Grahame and Robert Frost, along with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and Ira Gershwin. As Andrews explains: “I feel that many lyrics are poems in themselves. For me, it’s so hard to separate the two that I chose to make this collection embrace both.”

A pair of pop-ups
Leave it to Mo Willems to do something different. This award-winning author/illustrator has created a “Pop-Out” book called Big Frog Can’t Fit In with paper engineering by Bruce Foster. Though there are few words, this story about an oversized frog who needs the help of her friends is funny, ingenious and guaranteed to be loved by the seven-and-under set—all typical of Willems’ work. (Be sure to note the book’s odd shape when you see it.) It’s hard to beat Mo Willems when it comes to creating laughs with simple illustrations and text.

Matthew Reinhart’s A Pop-Up Book of Nursery Rhymes is another small book that packs a lot of pop-up punch. Each spread has one big pop-up, such as the cow jumping over a grinning moon, along with two smaller pop-ups, much like little books that unfold on each page. This beautifully executed little gem is perfect for a short bedtime treat.

Interactive adventures
Where was My Little Red Fire Truck when my son was a preschooler? Oh, how he would have adored this book! Stephen T. Johnson, the creator of My Little Red Toolbox, has produced another delight in which children can fill up the fire truck’s gas tank, check the tire pressure, drive and more. The book has built-in, removable tools (made of sturdy cardboard) so that all of these tasks can be taken care of by your busy young firefighter. He or she will love being on the job!

Preschoolers will also revel in Dinosaur Park, with illustrations by Steve Weston. This Jurassic play set includes nine press-out dinosaurs, four different play scenes, plus a field guide perfect for young dino fans. Open it if you dare!
On a more graceful note, elementary-age dancers will enjoy Kate Castle’s The Ballerina’s Handbook. This compact volume contains letters, postcards, flaps and an insightful tour through the ballet world, from a beginning class through a professional company on tour. There are many clever sidebars, too, on such topics as healthy food and makeup tips for dancers, a glossary of terms and a short list of legendary dancers.

Finally, older elementary students can explore the world with Philip Steele’s A Mariner’s Tale. The highly interesting and illustrated text discusses the early days of exploration and includes 3-D artwork, pull-out flaps, a model caravel ship and a secret mariner’s chest with a compass and telescope to construct. Readers can sail along with the world’s most famous explorers, from the Phoenician sea traders to the Vikings and Columbus. This fun package is perfect for whetting the appetites of young Marco Polos!

A book that truly stands out (and up!)
Is someone on your holiday wish list begging for a pet? Try the next best thing. Eye-Popping 3-D Pets: Phantogram Animals You Can Practically Pet, by Barry Rothstein and Betsy Rothstein, is a gift guaranteed to have tremendous appeal. Who can resist popping on a pair of 3-D glasses? (And thoughtfully, the book comes with not one but two pairs.)

The book’s subtitle is absolutely correct—these glasses really do make viewers feel as though they are petting the animals. Rothstein uses a special process known as phantogram 3-D, which makes the images appear to stand up. What’s more, the book is large, so some of the animals are actually life-size. Eye-Popping 3-D Pets begins with a two-page guide to how the phenomenon works and ends with an interesting spread about another type of 3-D (stereo).

The 28 pets covered include cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, potbellied pigs, fish, frogs, rosy boas, corn snakes, tarantulas and more. Each spread also contains basic information on taking care of these pets, so the book is not only fun, but a helpful guide should your family ever get the real thing. Just be forewarned: the three hairy tarantulas contained in these pages will look like they’re crawling in your living room. No screams allowed!

Alice Cary explores the world of children’s books from her home in Groton, Massachusetts.

In my house, it seems, daddies can do no wrong—especially in the eyes of my 11-year-old twin daughters. (The same cannot always be said for dear old mom!) In honor of Father’s Day, here are four new picture books that salute proud papas everywhere.

Young children will enjoy the gentle rhymes of Sherry North’s Because I Am Your Daddy, illustrated by Marcellus Hall. This follow-up to Because You Are My Baby begins: “If I were a pilot, I would fly you to your school. / Your friends would all look up and say, ‘Your daddy is so cool!’ ”

The rhymes continue with the father voicing many “If I were” thoughts about being a baseball player, paleontologist, park ranger, movie director and all sorts of exciting professions. With each imagined activity, daddy, daughter and her dolly have an exciting adventure. This poem of mutual admiration ends with: “And if I were a wizard, I would make your dreams come true. / Because I am your daddy, I would do anything for you.”

Daddy/daughter bedtime reading doesn’t get any cozier. The text is accompanied by Hall’s fun and stylishly retro watercolors. His airline pilot and robot look like they could have come from the 1960s, while his use of color is lovely, especially in a northern sky night scene.

What's in a name
Acclaimed children’s author Jane Yolen wrote the delightful tribute My Father Knows the Names of Things in honor of her late husband, David Stemple. The encyclopedic dad in this book knows the names of many wonderful things, including mosses, insects, fish, cows, stars, cats and candies.

Stéphane Jorisch’s illustrations (watercolor, gouache, pen and ink) are whimsically delightful, making the father/child explorations great fun. The explorers wade through hugely tall sunflowers, head for the clouds in a biplane and explore the planets from an amusement park ride. Everything is fun and full of expression in Jorisch’s world—even a row of colorful birds in a cage.

Standing tall
Daddy Devotion is also alive and well in My Father is Taller Than a Tree, by another award-winning children’s author, Joseph Bruchac. This rhyming text features a variety of boys with their dads: old, young, white, black, Hispanic, Asian and even a blind dad. Wendy Anderson Halperin’s pastel illustrations show fathers and their sons enjoying splendid times together—playing the piano, walking on the beach, reading, playing chess, painting a doghouse. These tender scenes conclude with a panorama of sons and their dads, and this lovely line: “When I grow up and have a kid / we’ll do all the things that Dad and I did.”

Saluting stepfathers, too
Finally, blended families will adore Dad and Pop: An Ode to Fathers and Stepfathers. Writer Kelly Bennett celebrates how both a father and a stepfather can be equally fun and loving in very different ways. For instance, both father and stepfather bike (one on a bicycle, one on a motorcycle) and both love music (one goes for the symphony while the other rocks out). Paul Meisel’s colorful, energetic illustrations show dads with their daughters enjoying all sorts of entertaining outings together.

On Halloween night, the streets of our small town burst with goblins and strolling parents. It’s a once-a-year party that can’t be beat. Here are four picture books guaranteed to get you in the “spirit.”

Jon J Muth continues his captivating, thought-provoking Zen series in Zen Ghosts, a unique Halloween tale. As in Zen Shorts and Zen Ties, the story features a giant panda, Stillwater, who pays an instructive visit to three siblings. After trick-or-treating, Stillwater “draws” the trio a mysterious story, based on a Zen koan, or parable. Muth explains in an author’s note that this great ghost story “leaves you with more questions than answers,” and he’s right. His trio of Zen books can truly be enjoyed—and contemplated—by all ages.

HAUNTED HOUSE
The Curious Little Witch, by the late Belgian author/illustrator Lieve Baeten, is a delightful book, perfect for youngsters who want some non-scary Halloween fun. Lizzy and her cat are taking a spin on Lizzy’s broomstick when they spot an unusual house, which turns out to be full of magical details and friendly witches. Upon landing, Lizzy breaks her broom, leaving her in a pickle. She explores the house room by room, from top to bottom, finding a different witch in each location. Young readers will enjoy lingering over Baeten’s intricate illustrations, including a final large cutaway floor plan. The Curious Little Witch is likely to be enjoyed all year round, not just at Halloween.

MOM’S ADVICE
Another good no-scares book is Always Listen to Your Mother written by the mother/daughter team of Florence Parry Heide and Roxanne Heide Pierce. Ernest is a good little boy, who always “picked up his toys, ate all his vegetables, sat up straight, and listened to his mother.” When a new family moves next door, Ernest befriends young Vlapid, who loves to swing from the chandelier, write on the walls and create all sorts of havoc. This might seem a friendship destined for disaster, but the joke is that Vlapid’s mother likes life that way, and Ernest can dutifully report that Vlapid always listens to his mother. Children will love this gentle tale, made all the more fun by the whimsical illustrations of Kyle M. Stone.

FEARFULLY POETIC
For frightfully fun Halloween poems, a treat is waiting with Hallowilloween: Nefarious Silliness from Calef Brown. Brown is well known for his magical wordsmithery, as seen in his best-selling book of nonsense poems, Flamingos on the Roof. His verbal acrobatics continue here in high form, in lines like these from “Not Frankenstein”: I’m not Frankenstein, / but people say / I’m “Frankensteinesque.” / I sit at a desk / in my mountain lodge / and do decoupage. / It’s an homage you see, to the human collage—that’s me! While easily accessible, these are verbally dazzling poems, perfect for elementary students and sophisticated preschoolers. Both audiences are likely to benefit from additional explanations of some finer points of vocabulary and idiom from an adult, but the poetry is far from pedantic.

NEW KID IN TOWN
You’ve heard of spaghetti westerns, of course, but what about a Halloween western? Rhode Montijo brings the genre entertainingly to life in The Halloween Kid, a rootin’, tootin’ romp. The Halloween Kid keeps order in town, wrassling “pumkin-suckin’ vampires” and tickling leaf-pile ghosts, whom he calls “heap-hauntin’ holligans” (parents, get ready—this book is best read with a Western-drawl). He’s got a new mission now, wrangling the Goodie Goblins, who are stealing sweets and terrorizing trick-or-treaters. Did I mention that the Kid is cute, with a Lone Ranger hat, mask, and lariat, and always astride his trusty stick horse?

Montijo’s illustrations are the perfect blend of modern and retro, featuring oranges, yellows, and an effective use of black, some done in silhouette—all adding to the tale’s energy. There’s plenty of old-fashioned excitement (but nothing gross or garish), including an ambush in a cave and a daring escape and rescue by the Kid’s sidekick horse. In the end, the Kid restores order and rides out of town under a moonlit sky, saying: “Y’all keep trick –or-treatin’ now, ya hear?” Yee-ha, this is one clever book!

SCAREDY CAT
A full Halloween moon and a brisk wind set the spooky stage for Nancy Raines Day’s On a Windy Night, in which a young boy in a skeleton costume walks through the woods alone. The gentle rhyming text builds tension as the boy imagines he hears a voice: “CRACKLETY-CLACK, BONES IN A SACK. / THEY COULD BE YOURS—IF YOU LOOK BACK.” The voice gets louder; clouds become ghosts; skeletons dance in the field, and the boy fears he felt a head in the field.

Just when things could hardly get worse, the boy realizes that he is being stalked by a cat, not a ghoul. George Bates’ pen-and-ink, digitally colored illustrations add to the charged atmosphere, with dark blue, orange and black tones filled with just the right amount of “comfortable” scariness, as readers spot the cat stalking the boy, and watch tree branches, for example, morph into an image of a giant bat. For preschoolers, this book will likely be the source of repeated read-alouds filled with spine-tingling squeals of fright and delight.

Don’t forget to deck your halls with picture books for the little ones. Here are some jolly new selections to add to your holiday favorites.

DAVID'S AT IT AGAIN
When it comes to kids, “no” is a much-used word by adults during the crazy days and weeks leading up to Christmas. So a Christmas story is a natural for the hero of the award-winning “No, David!” books. Author David Shannon presents plenty of hilarious shenanigans in It’s Christmas, David!. His title character is the personification of a nonstop, super-curious, fearless kid, ready to get away with anything.

David’s latest quests go from bad to worse. First he peeks around corners and reaches for cookies, but then his exuberance takes him streaking down a snow-covered sidewalk wearing only a hat, boots and mittens. Later, he writes his name in the snow with a highly suspicious-looking yellow liquid. The brilliant accompanying text says simply, “Naughty list, naughty list, naughty list . . .”

You’re likely to read this delightfully fun book over and over again to your eager little elves—and you’ll all enjoy every minute of it!

CHRISTMAS IN THE FOREST
Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas is a lovely holiday book, sparkling in both language and illustrations. This is the third book about Fletcher the fox and his forest friends, and it contains gentle drama that’s all about friendship, helping others and holiday anticipation.

Fletcher’s friends, the rabbits, have moved, leaving Fletcher to worry that Santa may not be able to find their new burrow. So he and his pals use sticks to show Santa the way. However, a nighttime snowfall covers their trail of twigs. How will Santa find them?

Writer Julia Rawlinson uses precise prose that enlivens every page, while artist Tiphanie Beeke’s pastels are full of layered, lavish color. Fletcher and Squirrel are so fuzzy you can practically touch them, while the forest is a rainbow of soft color. Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas is a wonderfully cozy bedtime read.

NEW FACES AT THE NORTH POLE
For some snappy Christmas fun, try a ride on Santa’s sleigh with Jeannette Claus Saves Christmas. Jeannette is Santa’s daughter, and she’s got plenty of gumption, thanks to the writing of Douglas Rees. Santa’s in a pickle, because he’s too sick to man his sleigh. Jeannette quickly steps to the plate, listening to her dad’s advice about how to handle the tricky reindeer. (“Dasher’s the worst. If he had his way, no one would get any presents.”) This is an adventure with plenty of fun ’tude.

On Christmas Eve, an equipment malfunction allows Dasher and his gang to soar off into the starry night, leaving Jeannette—and Santa’s presents—stranded on a city roof. This crafty kid quickly rounds up a gaggle of cats and dogs to deliver the gifts. And imagine the reindeers’ surprise back at the North Pole when Jeannette introduces her new team: “Buster and Blackjack, Wheezer and Grover, Tiger and Squeaky, Caesar and Rover.”

Olivier Latyk’s illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to this funky, spunky tale, adding a crisp, retro-modern look.

A COLOSSAL PROBLEM
More trouble is brewing at the North Pole in The Christmas Giant, a tale of ingenuity and friendship between a giant named Humphrey and his elf friend, Leetree. The pair is in charge of designing Santa’s wrapping paper, but in the off season they are asked to grow Santa’s Christmas tree. Their beautiful tree floats away on an iceberg, however, and they must quickly find a solution.

The pair triumphs, and author/illustrator Steve Light’s soft, carefully drawn pen, ink and pastel illustrations give this story a soothing glow. This is a lively, yet quiet tale, far removed from the usual holiday hubbub.

AFRICAN LORDS-A-LEAPING
In need of a vigorous holiday diversion? Grab Rachel Isadora’s The 12 Days of Christmas. I’ve seen plenty of renderings of the “12 Days” over the years, but this one stands out, bursting with color and energy, recounting the well-known song with African images, patterns and palette. Isadora, inspired by her own visits to the continent, has created pages filled with color that remind me of Ashley Bryan’s wonderful books.

A map and note at the end explain some of the artist’s influences. The ladies dancing, for instance, come from Swaziland, while the drummers’ drums are from Ghana and Nigeria.

An added bonus for young readers is Isadora’s use of a rebus to stand for each of the 12 days. As the verse progresses, rebuses for all the previous days fill the pages, giving children a colorful, creative “code” to crack.

A NEW NATIVITY
Preschoolers will enjoy a fresh new look at the nativity story with Christmas Is Here. In this highly accessible, warm book, a young family walks through falling snow in a small town, where a sign announces, “Live Nativity Tonight!” The first few pages are wordless, as the family rounds a corner and sees the actors and another sign saying, “Come celebrate Jesus’ birth!”

A young child peers at the sleeping manger baby, imagining the Christmas story. On the next page, readers are taken back to the time of Jesus’ birth, and the simple words of the King James Bible tell the age-old story. The ink and watercolors of artist Lauren Castillo cast soft gray-blue tones on the nighttime story, drawn in simple lines and keeping the action front and center. In the final pages, we come full circle, returning to the watchful family of today. Christmas Is Here is simply and artfully told and illustrated.

TODDLER-FRIENDLY
Another excellent choice for young children is the toddler version of The Child in the Manger. Belgian-born author/illustrator Liesbet Slegers illustrates with bright primary colors and dark, thick lines, making the artwork appear childlike. The nativity story is full of solemnity, but Slegers conveys this sacred story in a warm way that never overwhelms.

The Child in the Manger is the perfect introduction to the Christmas story for the very young. It’s excellent, also, for both religious and nonreligious families, thanks to the carefully worded conclusion:

Now everybody knows who Jesus is. / He was born on the day we call Christmas. / And when you get a Christmas present, / it also celebrates the birthday of Jesus.

In need of some merriment? Then look no further. These picture books for little ones will fill your household with marvelous doses of holiday cheer.

TWO NOVEL NATIVITIES
Every holiday season brings a fresh crop of nativity books and one of my new favorites is Linda Sue Park’s The Third Gift. This book was sparked by Park’s childhood curiosity about myrrh, one of the nativity gifts from the three wise men. Her beautifully written tale follows a father and son who collect this myrrh from trees in the Arabian desert.

Bagram Ibatoulline’s truly masterful illustrations are rendered in earthen tones, all suffused with a majestic golden glow that transports readers to another time and place. Father and son are so perfectly painted that they almost seem to have been photographed, as the boy learns his father’s trade and extracts one special “tear” of myrrh. Next, they go to the magical world of the spice market, where three reverent wise men are looking for a special gift to take to “a baby.”

The tale ends with an illustration of the wise men on their camels as they approach the holy family and a detailed, historical author’s note. Regardless of your religious beliefs, this is a rich, wondrous book.

A more lighthearted look at the nativity for younger readers can be found in Sally Lloyd-Jones’ Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story. Instead of focusing on the well-known journeys of Mary, Joseph and the three Wise Men, this book focuses on the excitement felt in the natural world, especially by creatures around the globe.

Lloyd-Jones’ spare text works perfectly with the luminous illustrations of Alison Jay, who works with quick-drying oil paint on paper and then adds crackle varnish for a centuries-old look. In this celebration of nature, Jay shows squirrels and owls listening to the wind’s message, whales diving, sandpipers darting, wild stallions galloping and a host of triumphant angels filling the sky.

HOLIDAY FUN TIMES THREE
Whether your household is naughty or nice, you’ll enjoy Nick Bruel’s latest romp, A Bad Kitty Christmas. In case you’re not familiar with Bruel’s popular feline, Bad Kitty is a curmudgeonly cat depicted in alphabetical rhymes like this one:

Our Yuletide looked Yucky!
My Zeal had been Zapped
When I had found Kitty
In the shreds where she napped!
“Oh, Kitty! Bad Kitty! I’m filled with
    distress!
You’ve ruined our Christmas!
Just look at this mess!

Bad Kitty has mangled the Christ­mas tree and gifts and ends up running away in anger. Alas, she finds herself lost in the city, but is rescued by a lonely old woman who teaches Kitty the real meaning of Christmas. As always, Bruel fills both story and pictures with energetic doses of magical mayhem.

For many, Christmas isn’t complete without a holiday tale (or two or three) by master writer and illustrator Tomie dePaola, and fans will be delighted by Strega Nona’s Gift. The book features two of his classic characters, who live in an Italian village and are perfect foils for each other: the magical cooking wizard Strega Nona and the dimwitted blunderer Big Anthony.

Strega Nona is cooking up a holiday feast for her animals, and she asks the starving Big Anthony to deliver the treats—but Big Anthony can’t be trusted and things go awry.

DePaola takes readers on a wonderful village tour during a holiday season filled with celebrations, from the Feast of San Nicola on December 6 until the big feast of Epiphany on January 6 (dePaola explains them all briefly in a helpful note).

Like Strega Nona, dePaola has a magical way, creating a snappy story with illustrations painted in transparent acrylics that resemble watercolors with their soft tones. He gets everything right, from Big Anthony’s stubby blond moptop to a Christmas Eve sunset that is stunning in its simple beauty.

Next is Eileen Spinelli’s The Perfect Christmas, which spins a warm tale of two very different families. At the Archers’ home, treats are served on three-tiered trays and relatives are dropped off by their chauffeurs. Next door to the Archers, however, holidays are a happy but haphazard affair, with macaroni reindeer decorations and home-baked cookies so hard that they can break a toe.

No matter which style of celebration you prefer, you’ll enjoy peeking in on these two families, courtesy of JoAnn Adinolfi’s fun-filled illus­trations. Don’t miss details like the mouse wearing a hard hat as Grandma’s cookies fall off the tray, or the refrigerator covered with magnet snowflakes, a math test and, of all things, a postcard from Tijuana.

TRADITIONAL TALES
David Rubel’s The Carpenter’s Gift has everything you want in a children’s holiday story: historical drama, superb illustrations and a meaningful message. Young Henry is used to waking up shivering in his family’s shack, but the chill wears off on Christmas Eve, 1931, when he and his out-of-work father borrow a truck, cut down some spruce trees and head to New York City to sell them. There they meet a kind man named Frank. At the end of the day, Henry and his dad leave an unsold tree for Frank and some other workers to enjoy.

On Christmas morning Henry is awakened by the toot-toot of several car horns: Frank and friends have come to build a brand-new home for Henry’s family. Henry grows up to become a carpenter himself and plants his own spruce tree, which many years later ends up being used as the Rockefeller Christmas tree.

Jim LaMarche’s illustrations are perfect, with faces full of emotion and outdoor scenes that capture the warm light of the many special moments in this story.  The author’s notes at the end of this book explain the history of the Rockefeller tree and the intriguing search to find it each year.

Enjoy another historical adventure with Frances and Peter, who live on a small New England island where their father works as the lighthouse keeper in Toni Buzzeo’s Lighthouse Christmas, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Their mother has died and they’re waiting for a boat to Aunt Martha’s house on the mainland for a festive holiday celebration.

A raging snowstorm prevents Frances and Peter from traveling to Aunt Martha’s. Frances then has to keep the lighthouse lantern lit while her father rescues a shipwrecked mariner. With supplies running low, the celebration seems destined to be bleak.

Thankfully, the “Flying Santa” saves the day, dropping a sackful of presents onto the island. The Flying Santa Service began in 1929 to honor lighthouse keepers and their families in Maine. Buzzeo, who lives in Maine, explains in a historical note how the lovely tradition has spread and continues.