Fourteen year old Hannah has reached the age at which she must leave the orphanage and be placed in a place of employment. Hannah finds herself employed as a scullery girl in a wealthy Boston home. Not everyone loves the sea, however, the sea beckons to Hannah. Only Mr. Wheeler, a guest in the Hawley household, has any idea who or what Hannah is. Even though Hannah does not understand what is happening she is certain that a change is coming. A fun read. Ages 9 and up.

Ok, so, I haven’t focused on the babies in a while…the following make GREAT gifts as well!!

One of my favorites!  Can You Find Me by Priddy Books:  about 10 thick pages of various themes such as Farm Animals, Construction, Vegetables, Toys, etc.  There’s a little baby boy on each page that is fun to find (kinda like Goldbug in the Richard Scarry books). Absolutely wonderful and age appropriate for boy and girl of 16 months plus.

Have You Ever Tickled A Tiger? by Betsy Snyder:  a very easy-to-hold touch-and-feel book with vibrant, sharp colors throughout where one touches a walrus’s whiskers and plays with an ostrich’s feathers.  love it!!  best for boy and girl of 8 months plus.

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Alphabet by Matthew Van Fleet:  one of the great Van Fleet books (out of Cat, Dog, and Tails), this is a Lift-the-Flap thick book all about the Letters of the Alphabet!  so, there is a letter beginning a word (such as Alligator) and a fun, vivid picture of the alligator next to it and so on.  A clever way to introduce letters to an 18 month and up child.

Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein:  a great LAP-BOARD book, especially for someone having a birthday as this little book is about a little gorilla, beloved in his world by all his friends until one day he grows and grows and grows! and everyone still loves him in the midst of his changes and growing up, so much so, they shout “Happy Birthday!” to him and throw him a party.

Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed by Eileen Christelow:  another great LAP-BOARD book and this one involves counting as one by one, each of the five little monkeys jump on the bed, fall off, and bump their heads.  Mama calls the doctor and the doctor says, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”  I love that at the end, the mama jumps on her bed!  Fun, sing-songy words to the story that 15 month-olds and up will catch hold of and sing themselves!

Richard Scarry’s 4 Books on the Go by Richard Scarry:  I love this b/c you get 4 board books by Richard Scarry (whom my kids love, especially my little boy Ezra) about cars and trucks and things that go, but it’s got the board pages so the little ones can’t rip the pages, if they are so inclined (as mine have been…our Cars and Trucks and Things That Go is alas in tatters!).  It’s Richard Scarry–what else can I say?  Obviously, these board books are for 5 months and up.

If you want to hear an animal talk…let me suggest the following three, all for 5 months and up:

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear by Eric Carle and Bill Martin, Jr.:  This book has the best verbs!  I know that sounds geeky but hey, I was a linguistics major in college so cut me some slack.  Verbs like boa constrictor hissing and flamingos fluting and zebras braying and so forth make this classic board book a delight for baby and adult.  I find it a great way to introduce verbs into the little ones’ language development.

Animal Sounds by Golden Books:  The illustrations by Aurelius Battaglia are 1950s whimsical and enchanting.  Frogs croak and chicks say “cheep cheep!”  It’s just another book to add to the solid collection of books that tell about the things of the world.

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What Do You Say? by Mandy Stanley:  Just discovered her.  I have What Do You Do? which tells things like the fact that cows give milk and caterpillars turn into butterflies. simple, straightforward, factual information and illustrations make it a favorite for me.  What Do You Say? is like that with what animal makes what sound.  Again, we’re not talking about rocket science here but to find books that catch a child’s attention while increasing their knowledge of the world and making it fun and pleasurable to boot, well, maybe that is rocket science.

Okay, so I’m done for now.  Up Next…The Conclusion to the Gregor the Overlander series (which means Books 4 and 5, ages 10 and up) by Suzanne Collins.

POP by Gordon Korman, September 1, 2009

This one is for the guys—girls might like it too.  Marcus is a high school football player who has moved to a new town and must attend the football team tryouts. While practicing for tryouts in a park, Marcus forms a friendship with an older guy, Charlie, who knows a lot about football. Marcus soon learns that Charlie Popovich was once an NFL Linebacker. When practice begins, Marcus meets Troy Popovich, you guessed it, son of Charlie. Troy and Marcus disagree on practically everything. Marcus soon realized that there is a secret about Charlie that the family is desperate to keep. Marcus is very fond of his new friend and is willing to go to great lengths to do what he thinks is best for Charlie in spite of what the family wishes. This is a good read for you guys. Young adult: ages 12 and up

The Doll Shop Downstairs by Yona Zeldis McDonough, September 1, 2009
This is a story about three sisters who live with their parents in a dwelling above the doll repair shop. The war threatens to put the doll shop out of business, but nine year old Anna dreams of saving the shop and finding a way to keep her favorite doll. Every age will find this story warm and very endearing. Young Adult Middle: ages 7 and up

Gyo Fujikawa’s A Child’s Book of Poems

This collection of poems for children is fantastic! (in my humble opinion) Lengths of poems vary, from one line to three or four stanzas, so that the former is perfect for the attention spans of wee little ones (ages 18 months and up) while the latter length encourages the instilling of a longer and longer span of attentive listening as the child gets older.  Authors range from Edward Lear, Emily Dickinson, William Blake, Christina Rossetti, and Proverbs.  Some selections can even be put to a melody, if the reader so desires.  And, of course, I love Fujikawa’s illustrations, which range from black and white small pictures to full page color depictions of a poem’s essence, all of which are sweet and whimsical.  In short, the main strength of this collection is its depth of variety:  short to long, small to big, black-and-white to color, funny ditties to philosophical musings, ordinary topics to fantastical wonders, an ocean’s depth of imagination awaits the reader of this–A Child’s Book of Poems by Gyo Fujikawa.

The Underland Chronicles (5-book) series by Suzanne Collins