Librarians' picks for books to give kids for the holidays
BY GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer
Sunday, December 09, 2012
12/09/12 at 3:10 AM
Books have never gone out of style.
Even with hand-held games, computers,
tablets and other electronic
gadgets, old-school literature still finds its
way under trees, in stockings and into the
hands of children.
To give an idea of what is hot in youth
literature, the Tulsa World surveyed two
school librarians and the head of children’s
selections for the Tulsa City-County
Library.
Here are their picks:
Kristi Merchant, Oklahoma’s School Librarian of the Year, Patrick Henry Elementary
Kindergarten and first grade:
“The Christmas Quiet Book” by Deborah Underwood
“Mac and Cheese” series by Sarah Weeks, latest is
“The Perfect Plan”
“Not All Princesses Dress in Pink” by Jane Yolen
Any “Elephant & Piggies” book by Mo Willems, latest
is “Let’s Go For a Drive!”
“Pete the Cat” books by Eric Litwin, latest is “Pete
the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons”
Second and third grades:
“Babymouse” series by Jennifer Holm,
latest “Babymouse for President”
“Here Come the Girl Scouts!: The Amazing
All-True Story of Juliette ‘Daisy’ Gordon
Low and Her Great Adventure” by Shana Corey
“The Lemonade Ripple: A Sweet Story of
Kindness and Charity” by Paul Reichert
“Ivy + Bean” series by Annie Barrows, latest
“Ivy + Bean Make the Rules”
Fourth and fifth grades:
“Escaping Titanic: A Young Girl’s True
Story of Survival” by Marybeth Lorbiecki
“Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place”
series by Maryrose Wood, latest “The Unseen
Guest”
“Smile” or “Drama” by Raina Telgemeier
“Heroes of Olympus” series by Rick Riordan,
latest “Mark of Athena”
“Kane Chronicles” series by Rick Riordan,
latest “The Serpent’s Shadow”
“Dork Diaries” series by Rachel Russell, latest
“Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess”
“Origami Yoda” series by Tom Angleberger, latest is
“The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee”
Vicki Ruzicka, school librarian at Lanier Elementary
Prekindergarten to second grade:
Princess-themed books for girls
“Pigeon” series by Mo Willems, a
favorite is “Pigeon Finds a Hotdog!”
Monster-themed books for boys, anything
vampires, ghosts or goblins
“Fly Guy” series by Tedd Arnold, a favorite
is “There’s a Fly Guy in My Soup”
Older boys
Any LEGO, from NinjaGo to Star Wars,
favorites come with a mini character
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, latest
is “The Third Wheel” by Jeff Kinney
Guinness Book of World Record
books
Military-themed or monster-themed
books
Girls
“Dear Dumb Diary” series by Jim
Benton, latest “The Super-Nice are
Super-Annoying”
“Dork Diaries” series
by Rachel Russell
“Junie B.” series,
by Barbara Park, latest
“Turkeys We Have Loved
and Eaten (And Other
Thankful Stuff )”
“Judy Moody” series by Megan
McDonald
Boys and girls
“Warriors” series by Erin Hunter
“American Chillers” series by Johnathan
Rand
Sally Kotarsky, selector of children’s nonfiction and media for the Tulsa City-County Library:
Elementary and middle school, fiction
“Tales from A Not-so-fabulous Life” by Rachel Russell,
first of the “Dork Diaries” series
“The Mysterious Benedict Society,” by Trenton Lee
Stewart, first in the “Mysterious Benedict Society” series
“Who Could That Be at This Hour?” by Lemony Snicket
“Wonder” by R.J. Palacio
Picture books and read-aloud
“Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site” by Sherri
Duskey Rinker, Tom Lichtenheld
“Llama Llama Time to Share” by Anna Dewdney
“Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons,” by Eric
Litwin
“Press Here” by Hervé Tullet
Nonfiction
“LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World” by
Elizabeth Dowett
“LEGO Harry Potter
Characters from the
Magical World” by
Jon Richards
“LEGO DC Universe
Super Heroes”
by Daniel Lipkowitz
“Weird But True 4:
300 Outrageous Facts”
by National Geographic
“Kid Made Modern”
by Todd Oldham
“Creative Ways to
Upcycle Your Trash
into Treasures” series
by Pam Scheunemann
Original Print Headline: What the younger set wants to read
Associated Images:
Young readers may like the Mo Willems books featuring “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
Young readers may like the Mo Willems books featuring Pigeon
Harry Potter continues his adventures in the LEGO series, above right.
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