It’s that time again for traditional foods and family rituals that grow richer with each passing year. And this is the second year I’m offering suggestions for the best children’s books for holiday gifts.(Check out last year’s list here.)
To curate that list, I’ve returned to Hicklebee’s Book Store in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood where co-owner Valerie Lewis takes kid’s books very seriously.
Lewis and her staff have built a marvelous children’s book museum at the bookstore. The walls are covered with original art by book illustrators, and touchstone objects from kids’ books, like the spiderweb from Charlotte’s Web, and the blue jeans (or their facsimile) from the Traveling Pants series signed by author Ann Brashares.
Lewis found a theme in this holiday list ranging from picture books to young adult fiction. They’re stories about people who solved problems.
Outfoxed by Mike Twohy
This is the first children’s book from Mike Twohy, a New Yorker cartoonist. A hungry fox in search of his dinner invades a hen house one night and grabs a duck instead of a chicken. But the duck is sly enough to convince the fox that he’s really a dog. Tactics include peeing on the rug. The fun here is in the young reader (listener) getting the joke before Fox. Ages 4-8.