Chances are you grew up with these delightful storybooks by master storyteller and Caldecott winner artist, Paul Galdone. Packaged in a boxed set, this collection of four hard covered books is a bargain and includes these favorites: The Three Bears, Three Kittens, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, and The Little Red Hen. Another boxed collection, the Heirloom Library includes. The Three Pigs, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Gingerbread Boy. The two sets combined give children the essential library of folktales every child should know. 3 & up.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

No girls are allowed at the Olympics! That was the rule in ancient times and in this time travel book the rules apply....or do they. Another one of those suspenseful adventures for Jack and Annie. If your new to chapter book reader has not discovered this series, this is a good summer read that will give them a bit of history, a meeting with heroes and heroines of the Greek myths and perhaps a lively taste for time travel and more Magic Tree House mysteries.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2012. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Set in a Paris Train station in the 1930's, this is an award-winning fantasy about a boy who is orphaned and then abandoned by an uncle who leaves the boy to repair the clocks in the railway station. The boy manages to find food enough to live and spends his time repairing a broken automaton, that his father had found and tried to repair with the help of a girl named Isabelle, who has been raised by Georges Méliès, a creator of early films and special effects, including the automaton that he is trying to repair. As Selznick describes the book, “.. this is not exactly a novel, and it's not quite a picture book, and it's not really a graphic novel, or a flip book, or a movie, but a combination of all these things." Also available as an audio ($19.95)10 & up.

Age: Later School Years, Tweens. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

All Jonas had ever known to aspire to was “Sameness.” But when Jonas became a Twelve and received his work assignment, he learned that the peace and uniformity of his community had been purchased at a terrible cost— and when his new mentor, the Giver, retired, it would become fully his job to continue paying it.

Uplifting despite its disturbing themes (Jonas is horror-stricken when he learns that rule-breakers, the Old, and occasionally even newchildren who have been “released” from the community have actually been euthanized), The Giver is set within a dysfunctional society that does not wish to recognize the extent of its dysfunction. It is easy to sympathize with Jonas as he begins to question his beliefs, and soon finds himself railing against his (previously contented) drone-like existence, desperately grasping for warmth.
This hardcover gift edition features magnificent new illustrations by Bagrim Ibatoulline, whose careful shifts in aesthetic-- and subtle emotionalism-- powerfully evoke the most crucial steps in Jonas' journey of awakening. Already a classic on many schools' required reading lists, The Giver continues to be a thoughtful, compelling page-turner for teens.

Age: Teens. Award Year: 2011.

What could be better that one great book? How about a set of five paperbacks packaged in a box that will take young readers on all the adventures shares by the Borrowers? If you didn't read them when you were growing up, make this set your ticket and read them aloud after dinner -- a chapter a night. From the original book featuring the little Borrowers to their journeys Aloft, Afloat, Afield and Avenged. This is a gift for the family to enjoy on the long winter nights ahead. Marked for 9-12, but younger kids of 7 and 8 will enjoy hearing these stories read aloud and then rereading them later when they can better handle longer chapter books.

Age: Later School Years, Tweens. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

One of three reissued classic folktales illustrated in ink and vibrant watercolors by Caldecott wining artist, Paul Galdone. This delightfully lively version is our favorite of the three. Because iof the repetative format it will also work well for beginning readers. Also in the series, The Three Little Pigs and The Three Bears. These truly are classics and a bargain, besides. 3 & up.

Age: Preschool. Award Year: 2011. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Stunning new art accompanies Kipling's classic tale of Mowgli and his upbringing among the wolves. It is from them that he learns the harsh laws of the jungle. This volume is one of a handsome collection of affordable classics for the family library. Also in the series, Tales of Hans Christian Anderson.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

A classic story about friendship, love, life, and death. Young Wilbur, the pig, is saved from certain death by Charlotte, a spider you'll never forget. Also, share Stuart Little, by the same author.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Publishers Weekly

Eye-popping artwork headlines this sensational picture book in praise of insects. Oppenheim's (Have You Seen Birds?) sprightly verse takes an up-close-and-personal view of bugs in all their splendid variety ("Bugs with stripes/ or speckles/ or spots,/ shiny like metal/ or covered in dots"). Meanwhile, Broda's exquisite painted paper sculptures, strategically placed against a series of watercolor backdrops, give the pages depth, texture and a brilliantly surreal flavor. Readers will be craning their necks for a "how did he do that?" look at the detail, from the intricate designs of a butterfly's wing to the gleaming metallic back of a beetle. Touching upon caterpillars and crickets, ladybugs and lacewing dragonflies, author and illustrator cover a lot of ground and, thanks to Oppenheim's hardworking verse as well as the careful art, they pack in a surprising amount of information. While this finely wrought book is particularly well suited to the learning style of younger readers, those at the upper end of the target group will no doubt be equally enthralled. Ages 5-8. 

Children's Literature

You will see bugs as you have never seen them before in this informational book on how bugs move, communicate, and even help people. Rhyming verse and full page color illustrations will catch the ear and eye while reading to oneself or others. Ron Broda's award winning three-dimensional paper sculptures of colorful bugs make this a unique and different addition for a library or a classroom collection of insect books. Additional bug information as well as identification of the bug illustrations by page number is provided at the end of the book.
School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-An alliterative, rhyming text is accompanied by dramatic, brilliantly colored, three-dimensional paper sculptures that were photographed to create the final images. This jubilant celebration of insects in a variety of habitats is reinforced informationally by a page-by-page listing of the insects depicted. While millipedes (diplopods) and spiders (arachnids) are not "bugs," most insects (class Insecta) are not "true bugs" either. All of the beasties shown are joint-legged arthropods. This is not a book for sophisticated report writers, but it's perfect for any youngster who has ever followed a flittering butterfly, pondered a spider spinning a web, or chased a twinkling firefly-and even more for those who dream of such joyous experiences. An eye-catching delight.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY

available in English and French Trade-Education@scholastic.ca

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 1998. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Welcome back! These zany Sheep in a Jeep have been among the missing for a few seasons. Originally released in 1986, some of today’s parents may have enjoyed this when they were little lap-sitters. It’s a great read aloud for toddlers with its bouncy rhythm and rhyme. Published on sturdy stock this is a board book that you will be reading aloud again and again. There are other books in the series, but this is the best of the lot. 2 & up.

Age: Toddlers, Preschool. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.