From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 15:43:34 -0600

I, too, appreciate "The Troll with No Heart in His Body" so much. In addition to being so enjoyable with its sly humor and just enough scariness, it's exemplary bookmaking in every respect - one of the outstanding books of the year! I highly recommend this fine book as a family gift!

Let's share some book ideas for people looking for gift books. I've had the opportunity to speak several times recently about gift books. Here are some of the other books I've recommended recently for gifts:

2) "Elements of Pop-up: A Pop-up Book for Aspioring Paper Engineers by David A. Carter & James Diaz (Little Simon / Simon & Schuster) Age twelve and older; make no mistake, this is not for the faint-hearted but, oh, this book full of actual examples is terrific in that every single fold one might ever want to create for a pop-up card or book is explained in print and demonstrated in a miniature pop-up example.

3) "Curious Cats: in Art and Poetry" (Metropolitan Museum of Art and Atheneum) Age five and older; a great family choice, handsome, engaging, international

4) "Building the Book Cathedral" by David Macaulay (Houghton Mifflin) Age nine and older; wouldn't we all like to be able to go back and explain ourselves as well as make our own improvements and correct our few mistakes in an earlier work? Truly the "biggest" book of the year, physically

5) "What Am I? Christmas!" by Alain Crozon (translated from the French, U.S. edition: Chronicle Books) Preschoolers will love this guessing game with 21 visual riddles with flaps to turn for the answers. The price is right, too: $7.95.

6) & 7) New editions: "The Circuit" by Francisco Jimenez (Hougton Mifflin) award winning autobiographical short fiction for teens; and
"The Sea-Thing Child" by Russell Hoban (U.S. edition: Candlewick) a strange, appealing little fantasy for seven/eight year olds

7) "Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion" by Russell Freedman (Clarion) We'll see if this incredible athlete makes the
"century" lists people are compiling during these weeks. Freedman revisits a subject with which he began his writing career, and he writes briefly about doing that at the end of this splendid book.

8) "Gutsy Girls: Young Women Who Dare" by Tina Schwager and Michele Schuerger (Free Spirit) Twenty-five American young adults & adults in their 20's tell about their fields of accomplishments; many websites, other information, more than sports for ages eleven and older

9) "What Are You? Voices of Mixed-Race Young People" compiled by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins (Henry Holt) OK, maybe this isn't a gift book, but then again maybe it is. Everyone who sees it wants to read it, so that's one measure. Just a terrific assemblage of first person "takes" on what it's like to be asked the title question. Ages eleven and older

This is only the beginning. I can go on almost forever on this subject. A book is a gift you can open again and again... and I was saying that LONG before it became a quote on a greeting card! Which books have you been giving as gifts during 1999? Which ones do you recommend as gifts?

Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) A Library of the School of Education University of Wisconsin - Madison


One of the '99 books I've enjoyed very much is The Troll with No Heart in His Body (Harcourt Brace), a collection of troll stories retold by Lise Lunge-Larsen and illustrated by Betsy Bowen. Lunge-Larsen is a gifted storyteller and it shows in this collection. Her introduction shows her understanding of children's concerns and how they still relate to these age-old tales. Betsy Bowen's old?shioned woodcut illustrations are evocative and just plain fun to look at. Lunge-Larsen has told the stories to a wide age range. I highly recommend it for school librarians!

Maureen Maloney Youth Services Librarian Duluth Public Library Duluth, MN

~~~~~~~~~~ To remove your address from the mailing list, send a message with the header...

     To: listserv at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
     Subject: signoff ccbc-net
Received on Tue 21 Dec 1999 03:43:34 PM CST