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Books to Give

Share stories, share life!

Wondering which titles to give to the children in your life? Here are some great choices for toddlers to teens.

Give 2 Gifts in 1!

Supporting the Finger Lakes Library system strengthens public library service in Cayuga, Cortland, Seneca, Tompkins, and Tioga Counties. Thank you!

For Babies & Toddlers

• Tumble Me Tumbily.
  By Karen Baickler. (Handprint. $15.95) Rhyme your way through a toddler's day.
• Moo, Baa, La La La!
  By Sandra Boynton. (Little Simon. $5.99) Sing along with the animals.
• Time for Bed.
  By Mem Fox. (Red Wagon. $6.95) As darkness falls parents get their children ready for sleep.
• Where is Baby's Belly Button?
  By Karen Katz (Little Simon, $5.99) "Where are baby's hands? Under the bubbles... Where are baby's eyes? Under her hat!"
• What's on My Head?
  By Margaret Miller. (Little Simon, $5.99) Fun close up photos of babies with fun and silly things on their heads.
• My Very First Mother Goose.
  Edited by Iona Opie. (Candlewick. $12.99) A collection of more than 60 traditional rhymes beautifully illustrated by Rosemary Wells.
• Boo Hoo Boo-Boo.
  By Marilyn Singer. (HarperFestival, $15.99) Everyone gets boo-boos sometimes. Meet Lulu, Andrew, and Zuzu and find out how they deal with scrapes and bruises.
• Owl Babies.
  By Martin Wadell.(Candlewick, $6.99) Three little owls wonder, in the dark forest, if their mother is safe and what she will bring them.
• Max's Breakfast.
  By Rosemary Wells. (Dial. $5.99) Max and Ruby are all set for breakfast...but how will Ruby convince Max to eat his egg?

For Preschoolers

• Mister Seahorse.
  By Eric Carle. (Philomel Books, $16.99) After Mrs. Seahorse lays her eggs on Mr. Seahorse's belly, he drifts through the water, greeting other fish fathers who are taking care of their eggs.
• Jazzy in the Jungle.
  By Loucy Cousins. (Candlewick, $14.99) The jungle animals help Mama JoJo find her baby lemur, Jazzy.
• The Neighborhood Mother Goose.
  By Nina Crews. (Greenwillow Books, $15.99) A collection of nursery rhymes, both familiar and lesser known, illustrated with photographs in a city setting.
• The Snowy Day.
  By Ezra Jack Keats. (Viking, $15.99) The adventures of a little boy in the city on a very snowy day.
• Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?
  By Bill Martin, Jr. (Henry Holt, $15.95) "Panda bear, panda bear, what do you see? I see a bald eagle soaring by me."
• I Stink!
  By Kate McMullen. (Joanna Colter. $15.95) A big city garbage truck makes its rounds.
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.
  By Zita Newcombe. (Candlewick, $15.99) A collection of nursery and counting rhymes, fingerplays and other activities.
• Cars and Trucks and Things That Go.
  By Richard Scarry. (Golden Books, $14.99) On their way to the beach the Pig family encounters all kinds of transportation vehicle imaginable.

For Ages 5 - 7

• Biscuit Wins a Prize.
  By Alyssa Satin Capucilli. (HarperCollins, $14.99) Exuberant puppy, Biscuit, is excited when he is entered in a pet show
• Yesterday, I Had the Blues.
  By Jeron Ashford Frame. (Tricycle Press, $14.95) A boy ponders emotions, from his own blues to his grandmother's yellows.
• (You Read To Me, I'll Read to You:) Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together.
  By Mary Ann Hoberman. Little Brown, $16.95 Designed with budding readers in mind, eight fairy tales are given a new twist.
• How I Became a Pirate.
  By Melinda Long. (Harcourt, $16.00) Jeremy Jacob joins Braid Beard and his crew and learns about pirate language, manners, and life.
• Actual Size.
  By Steve Jenkins. (Houghton Mifflin, $16.00) From the biggest to the smallest, in this book, these animals are actual size!
• The Littles.
  By John Peterson. (Little Apple, $3.99) A family of mouse-sized people living in an old house, begin to worry when the new residents bring a cat.
• I am America.
  By Charles Smith, Jr. (Scholastic, $14.95) Vibrant photos and rhymes about American children.

For Ages 7 - 10

• Monsters of Morley Manner.
  By Bruce Coville. (Harcourt, $5.95) Anthony discovers that the monster figures he bought at an estate sale are alive.
• Dr. Ernest Drake's Dragonology: the Complete Book of Dragons.
  (Candlewick, $19.99) Pages from the secret and ancient society of dragonologists, complete with fold-out pages, lift-the-flaps, and sealed letters. [This book doesn't appear in the print version of Books to Give.]
• Amelia Rules: The Whole World's Crazy.
  By Jimmy Gownley. (I Books, $14.95) When her parents divorce and she moves to a new town, Amelia's world turns upside down.
• Silverwing.
  By Kenneth Oppel. (Aladdin, $4.99) A young bat finds himself on an adventure beyond his wildest dreams. (1st in a trilogy, followed by Sunwing and Firewing.)
• Olivia Kidney.
  By Ellen Potter. (Philomel, $15.99) Olivia discovers her apartment building houses talking lizards, ghosts, and other weird characters.
• Little Lit: It Was a Dark and Silly Night.
  Edited by Art Speigelman. (Joanna Colter, $19.99) It was a dark and silly night...Lemony Snicket, Barbara McClintock, William Joyce and others tell us what happened next.
• Where the Sidewalk Ends.
  By Shel Silverstein. (Harper & Row, $17.99) A boy who turns into a TV set? A girl who eats a whale? Meet these two and others in this classic poetry collection.
• Shredderman (Vol. #1).
  By Wendelin Van Draanen. (Knopf, $12.95) Nolan Byrd, has suffered at the hands of school bully Bubba Bixby for too long.
• 2005 World Almanac for Kids.
  (World Almanac, $11.95) ...filled with facts, games, flags and more.

For Ages 11 - 14

• The Ultimate Spider-Man: Hollywood Tdp (#10).
  By Brian Bendis. (Marvel Comics. $12.99) The battle of good vs. evil, web-style.
• Dragon Rider.
  By Cornelia Funke. (Chicken House. $12.95) The dragon Firedrake sets of on a quest to find the legendary valley of the Rim of Heaven.
• Pictures of Hollis Woods.
  By Patricia Reilly Giff. (Yearling. $6.50) What Hollis wants most is a real family. What she has are pictures of one.
• The Smugglers.
  By Iain Lawrence. (Yearling. $5.99) 16 year old John sets out to sail the trade route from Kent to London.
• The New the Way Things Work.
  By David MaCaulay. (Houghton Mifflin. $35.00) A great choice for those tempted to take apart their computers to see what makes them beep...
• Trickster's Choice (Daughter of the Lionness).
  By Tamora Pierce. (Random House. $17.95) Meet up with Alanna's daughter, Alianne, in first in a new series for fans of Pierce's popular Lioness Quartet.
• The Tao of Maggie.
  By Bill Stanton. (Andrews McNeel Publishing. $9.95) Photos and wisdom from a hound in NYC.
• Locomotion.
  By Jacqueline Woodson. (Puffin. $5.99) Through poetry, Lonnie toughs it out at home and at school.