Story compilations make smart gifts. If a reader enjoys one book from an author, chances are he or she will enjoy another. These collections contain several books, or book excerpts and accessories, in one volume.
Wonderful, Wicked and Whizzpopping
From Roald Dahl; illustrated by Quentin Blake; Penguin/Random House; 60 pages; $24.99
Roald Dahl, my personal favorite children’s book author, was also a spy, ace fighter-pilot, chocolate historian and medical inventor. His stories are available in 58 languages, and he has sold more than 200 million books.
Wonderful, Wicked and Whizzpopping — a fantastic scrapbook-like book — is packed with favorite characters from his books, newspaper clippings, tickets (well, at least a golden one), a Loompaland field guide, a “How to be a Twit … Handy Guide to Twittish Twickery” plus foldouts, sketches, ideas, “revolting recipes,” a business card for the BFG, a poster promoting the extraordinary enormous peach, and more.
Subtitled “The Stories, Characters, and Inventions of Roald Dahl,” this truly cool compilation of Dahl surprises is a must for any fan, or a smart way to introduce his books to kids.
And once again, Quentin Blake is perfectly oddball enough to illustrate much of it!
Tomi Ungerer: A Treasury of 8 Books
Phaidon Publishing; $49.95
Maurice Sendak called Tomi Ungerer a spectacular graphic genius. This grand compliment is easily proven in Tomi Ungerer: A Treasury of 8 Books, a set of eight of his picture books. With four best-selling books inside this boxed set, plus four exclusively reissued picture books only available in this treasury, this is a gift set extraordinaire.
A behind-the-scenes interview is included with Ungerer talking about the creation of some of his beloved tales, and more than 50 previously unpublished sketches, storyboards and photographs, plus a personal letter, making this a truly special gift.
The Three Robbers, Zeralda’s Ogre, Moon Man, Fog Island, The Hat, Emile, Flix and Otto are the iconic books included, all with the dry wit and unique edgy appeal Ungerer is famous for.
My Very First Mother Goose
Edited by Iona Opie; illustrated by Rosemary Wells; Candlewick Press; 107 pages; $24.99
The 20th anniversary of the gift book collection, My Very First Mother Goose, is still as fresh and timeless as it was in 1996, with more than 60 of Mother Goose’s most innocent rhymes that have been recited by countless generations.
Made whimsical and young child-friendly, these poems are highlighted by Rosemary Wells’ iconic, fun, personality-filled drawings of bunnies and cats and piglets interacting with a crooked man who walked a crooked mile, a black hen who lays eggs for gentleman, the brave old duke of York with his soldiers, puffer-billies all in a row and “the best little donkey that was ever born.
With a note from Wells about Mother Goose, “the greatest writer of short verse in the world,” and her poems “among the most precious jewels of the English language,” this big, yellow book should be on every child’s bookshelf.
Gus Grimly’s Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Illustrated by Gris Grimly; Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins; 278 pages; $17.99
The opposite of sweet Mother Goose, the Brothers Grimm tales, traditional German folktales, are darker and scarier, though children have always loved them.
Gus Grimly’s Tales from the Brothers Grimm, a group of many tales peppered with illustrations by the wonderful Gris Grimly, are slightly more sinister, darkly vivid and completely unforgettable.
Aimed at readers ages 9 to 14, and older, the folktales range from “The Girl Without Hands,” to “Little Red-Cap” to “The Little Men in the Forest” to “The Robber Bridegroom.”
The 42 absorbing folktales harken back to an era when storytelling was king. Let’s bring back that era!
— Lee Littlewood writes the Kids’ Home Library column for Creators. The San Diego wife and mom’s pure love of children’s literature helps her stay interested in words and pictures meant for tots to teens. Click here to contact her, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.