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Ages 6 and up Douglas Florian’s new book of poems is silly. And goofy and clever and playful. In other words, Laugh-eteria is a perfect book for any young reader who wants a laugh. Most of the poems in this collection are written with rhyming couplets or alternate rhyming lines, so there is a certain sameness. But Florian rises above that by writing in a variety of styles and voices. He includes a dialogue poem between two ogres trying to decide which is better. The opening lines: We’ve lots of warts./We’re very bad sports./We drip with drool./We lose our cool. List poems capture a playful rhyme. Some use internal rhyme, like Inventions I’d Like to See : A bully-pulley/A diaper-wiper/A teacher screecher/A cold-feet-heater. Others, like Don’t, use the more conventional end rhyme: Don’t slurp/Your soup/Don’t burp/Don’t stoop. And there are a handful of limericks that Edward Lear would applaud. Florian knows that poetry is meant to be read aloud, so he packs his poems with word play that lets the poems sing, like the opening lines of Graffiti, Graffiti : Graffiti, graffiti/On sidewalk and streeti/On glass and concreeti/And on subway seati. Make no mistake about it, Florian knows kids, so he writes about things that tickle their funny bones monsters, food, dinosaurs, and smelly feet. His Monster Menu features Staple soup seasoned to taste/With iron fillings and nuclear waste. His Baseball Bats have beady eyes./They’re very good at catching flies. And Arithmetickle ends with the battle cry, Let’s leave mathematics/ Forgotten in the attics! To top it all off, Florian has illustrated his poems with black-and-white drawings, done in broad strokes with a fat marker. Another kid-friendly touch. So, be advised: If you give this book to a young reader, be prepared for him or her to come back to you and say, You gotta hear this one. Paul B. Janeczko writes poetry for young readers and works with school children as a visiting poet.

Holiday books harvest laughter and warmth for young readers ÔTwas the season of giving, And all through the stores, Await bright racks and shelves, Filled with holiday books galore! Happy Hanukkah There’s a feast of Hanukkah books this year, starting with A Hanukkah Treasury, a collection of legends, history, recipes, crafts, and modern reminiscences. Don’t miss Jane Yolen’s touching poem, Ever After, about how she felt while her father was away fighting during World War II, and the intriguing short essay, A Menorah in the White House. Treat yourself to a short history lesson with The Menorah Story (Greenwillow, $15, ages 5-up, 0688157580), featuring the impressionistic images of Mark Podwal, a New York Times illustrator whose works are part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Pearl’s Eight Days of Chanukah (Simon ∧ Schuster, $16, ages 3-8, 0689814887) features a story and activity for each night of the festival. Pearl is a little lamb who has also been featured in Jane Breskin Zalben’s Pearl Plants a Tree and Pearl’s Marigolds for Grandpa. Stories are interspersed with recipes, songs, and explanations of the holidays. Zalben’s illustrations will add to the coziness and comfort of any family celebration.

Both the illustrations and the story in When Mindy Saved Hanukkah (Scholastic, $15.95, ages 4-8, 0590371363) are charming and exciting. Eric A. Kimmel has combined his memories of Manhattan’s Eldridge Street Synagogue with a saga of a little family (in the tradition of the Borrowers) named Klein. After Papa returns from an unsuccessful trip to find a candle with which to celebrate Hanukkah, young Mindy decides to set out on her own. Armed with garlic, a lucky stone, and a climbing hook (a paper clip with string), Mindy braves a pouncing cat and sheer terror. Barbara McClintock’s illustrations are superb.

Here’s hoping many super books find their way to your house this holiday season. Enjoy! Alice Cary is a reviewer in Groton, Massachusetts.

Do you know a young reader who is deep into one type of literature say, science fiction and devours great quantities of that one genre? Or how about the reader who nibbles at all types of literature but, like a novice at a Chinese buffet, knows neither the name of what’s being tasted nor the ingredients that go into producing such flavor? Well, Sandy Asher has pulled together the perfect guidebook for just such readers.

Asher’s But That’s Another Story: Favorite Authors Introduce Popular Genres provides an overview of ten genres, each with its own explanation and accompanying short story. The book covers the major genres from humor and adventure to suspense and science fiction, with a dash of contemporary realism and time-travel fantasy not usually found in such a collection. While each story provides readers with a fine first taste of a particular type of literature, the stories also combine unusual elements, like the Deaf narrator in Flying Away, a story that follows a quirky family through a move from Hopeville to George, a move only the narrator seems to understand. Such elements are sure to have readers curious about the people who wrote the stories. To satiate that curiosity, at the end of each story Asher includes a brief Meet the Author biography and thorough list of the author’s additional works. But most tantalizing to young readers will be the discussion between Asher and each author about the included story. For instance, Barbara Robinson tells Asher that Alligator Mystique evolved from her family being too embarrassed to let her talk to someone dressed in an alligator suit at a restaurant. So, as Robinson puts it, she had to write the story to get some answers. And, to be sure, readers will get some answers from reading But That’s Another Story. They’ll learn about different types of literature; they’ll learn the elements of each genre and have read a hardy example of each. But even better their appetites will have been whetted and they will want to read more.

Jamie Whitfield has taught literature and English for nearly 20 years.