December 2001


Gift Books for the Year Round

by Susan Heyboer O’Keefe

A case can be made that a good book in December is still a good book in July, but I like things in their proper order.  Maybe it’s just the stuffy German in me, but I read the newspaper from front to back, I will NOT watch a movie if I miss even a few minutes of the beginning, and I think seasonal books are like fruit, best in their natural season.

If you share any of these twitches, you might prefer to give as gifts books that will be read and enjoyed year round rather than for just a few weeks.  Even if you’re not twitchy, you’ll appreciate this selection for any gift list:

When the Moon Is Full: A Lunar Year by Penny Pollack, illustrations by Mary Azarian.  The Caldecott-winning artist is given a text equal to her talents in this collection of haunting poems that trace the moon through an entire year.  Whether rhyming or free verse, the poems are beautifully elegant, without a word out of place.  The illustrations are hand-painted woodcuts.  Within all this beauty are tucked even more nuggets: Native American names for the moon, facts, and common myths.  A treasure!  For ages four to eight.

To Be a Princess by Hugh Brewster and Laurel Coulter, paintings by Laurie McGaw.  Being a princess is a cherished dream of most young girls--the clothes, the carriages, the jewels, and a brother who’s a prince, not a booger-eating pain in the neck.  This book skips the fairy tales and instead summarizes the lives of real-life princesses, including their childhood, their “reign,” and period details.  A wide variety of young women are profiled, from England’s Mary and Elizabeth to Hawaii’s Princess Ka‘íulani, from the last Tsar’s daughters to India’s Gayatri “Ayesha” Devi.  Portrait-style paintings are supplemented by photos where available. From six through middle-grade readers.

Little Lit: Folklore & Fairytale Funnies edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly.  While not limited to boys, this book will certainly appeal more to the males on your list than the princess title above.  Folktales and fairytales are here re-envisioned and illustrated by well-known cartoonists, comic book artists, and children’s books illustrators.  Some of the tellings are straightforward, some are definitely askew, all are interesting.  A board game is included on the endpapers, and puzzles are sandwiched between the stories.  For all ages.

Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins: An Illuminating History of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, Artist and Lecturer by Barbara Kerley, with illustrations by Brian Selznick.  This is a must-have book for every dinosaur fan, no matter what age, a true story full of mystery and wonder, with enough drama to fuel a movie.  Imagine a time when dinosaurs were so newly discovered that people had only bones and not the slightest idea of what these creatures looked like.  In Victorian England, Waterhouse Hawkins uses all the science available at the time to create startling, full-size models of the mighty beasts, first for Queen Victoria, then the world.  His was a career of triumphs and catastrophes, wonderfully captured in this book.

It’s Great to Be Catholic! by Susan Heyboer O’Keefe, illustrations by Patrick Kelley.  Here’s a shameless plug for my new book -- Gorgeously illustrated, this is a joyous celebration of the things that make being Catholic great for kids, from playing with the Christmas crib to more important issues of a love so immense it embraces the world.  It’s perfect for Christmas or baptisms now, First Communions in a few months.  Technically, the book’s publication date is next year so it won’t be in bookstores for a while.  In the meantime, please order from the publisher at 1-800-218-1903 or www.paulistpress.com .  Thanks!

Children's Book-of-the-Month Club author Susan Heyboer O'Keefe has written It’s Great to Be Catholic! ...One Hungry Monster...Good Night, God Bless...Love Me, Love You...and many other titles..  For fun, book info, and great parrot photos, visit www.susanheyboerokeefe.homestead.com