By Jill Norgren

Here is an opportunity for grandparents and special friends looking for children's and young adult books to hear straight from the mouths of young readers. This year I asked about gift suggestions from my granddaughters, 17, 13, and 10, as well as young friends 4 to 15 who live in Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, and New York City. I asked each of them, "which books did you most enjoy reading this past year that you think others your age would also enjoy?" Some of their favorites are new, but many are classics.

Out in St. Louis, Dwight, 5, is fond of the Mister Man books. He especially likes Mr. Happy and Mr. Fun. These inexpensive paperbacks are great for toddlers and new readers. Dwight also recommends the Thomas the Train books and the old stand-by Curious George. Another series on his list is Angelina Ballerina, about a wee-mouse who lives to dance. Animals are often a stand-in for humans in children’s stories. Dwight’s list ends with a book about a shy elephant, the charming Ella The Elegant Elephant, part of a series enjoyed for artwork and sweet tales.

In Cleveland, 4 year old William can literally often be found all curled up with Baron Baptiste’s My Daddy is a Pretzel: Yoga for Parents and Kids.  (Mr. Baptiste at right with student.) William’s mom is a professional violist so Jim Propp's Tuscanini is also on his list of favorites. Wemberly, a mouse with the habit of worrying, also tickles William’s imagination. It was written by Kevin Henkes who won fans with his Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse.

William also thinks that dog-lovers will enjoy Catie Copley about, what else, a Lab who lives at Boston’s Copley Hotel. A lovely but more sober book for three to six year-olds is prize-winning author Jacqueline Woodson’s Each Kindness, illustrated by E.B. Lewis. This picture book explores the efforts of a young girl to find friends in her new school. Woodson’s takes up questions of social exclusion, covering much of the same territory for this age group that Sheila Cole did for eight to eleven year-olds in Meaning Well.

Dwight’s older sister, Isabel, starts her list with the classic detective series, Encyclopedia Brown, a great read for youngsters 7 to 10. Four orphans stand at the center of the plots of the Box Car Children, a timeless series good for seven and eight year olds. Siblings are also featured in the Magic Tree House series, books that Isabel thinks younger elementary school students will fight to read. For slightly older readers Isabel favors Judy Blume’s less well-known Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. In this book Blume tells the story of a ten year old and her family after they move to post-WWII Miami, Florida (some people say this book is autobiographical).

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