This week, I going to make some suggestions for books that might appeal to children and young people. Those who are planning to participate in the Country Bookshop’s “Angel Tree” project might select one or more of these for a child whose name is on the tree.
There are a couple of books with a Christmas perspective that might interest children who like picture books or who are old enough to read simple chapter books.
“Little Whistle’s Christmas” by Cynthia Ryland with illustrations by Tim Bowers (Harcourt Brace) features a guinea pig who lives in a toy shop. At night, the toys come alive, and now they’ve written to Santa to ask if he made them.
The Crunchy, Munchy Christmas Tree, a Holiday House Reader, was written and illustrated by Karen Gray Ruelle. This reader is for first or second grade level and tells the story of Harry and Emily (cat siblings) who have to deal with a different Christmas celebration after a snowstorm prevents the family from going to visit the grandparents.
For those eight and up, especially girls, these “classic” books might appeal. (I always found myself trying to interest my daughter in books I remembered from those years, but alas, our tastes are different.)
Virginia Sorensen is the author of “Miracles on Maple Hill and “Plain Girl,” both recently released in paperback as Odyssey Classics by Harcourt.
“Miracles on Maple Hill” is about a family whose move to Grandmother’s house makes for a nice change in all of them.
“Plain Girl” is about Emily, a young Amish girl who must attend public school and fears the new atmosphere there.
For boys ages 8 to 12, Bruce Hale’s Chet Gecko mysteries are fun reads. A recent release is “Trouble Is My Beeswax,” in which Chet investigates the theft of answers for a history test. It kind of makes you think of a Mickey Spillane novel. Other titles in that series include “The Hamster of the Baskervilles” and “Farewell, My Lunchbag.” These are available from Harcourt in both hardback and paperback.
For those whose children enjoy listening to audiobooks while on car trips, you can’t go wrong with “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (or any of the Harry Potter books) available from the Random House Listening Library. Here’s an interesting fact: the unabridged reading of this book is 26 hours and 30 minutes. If you started it while driving west from New York City, you wouldn’t finish it until your arrival at Mount Rushmore!
And guaranteed to bring a smile to adults and children alike are the tapes “The Cat in the Hat and Other Dr. Seuss Favorites” or “Green Eggs and Ham and other Servings of Dr. Seuss.”
Parents will enjoy them because the stories are read by well known actors, such as Kelsey Grammer, Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crystal, Jason Alexander and others. Kids will love them simply because they love Dr. Seuss.
And with the new film release of “The Cat in the Hat,” Seuss will be hot. These are also available from Listening Library.
Faye Dasen may be reached at fdasen@thepilot.com.
