The Boss Baby
Marla Frazee
Beach Lane Books, $16.99
For any family expecting a baby, this hilarious picture-book riffs on how a new baby takes over and runs the household with a pudgy iron fist.
Book gift guide: Good reads for the younger set
Recommended: 'The Boss Baby' by Marla Frazee, 'Market Day!' by Victoria Roberts and Tomislav Zlatic, 'Shark vs. Train' by Chris Barton, 'Bink and Gollie' by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, 'Bats at the Ballgame' by Brian Lies, 'The Cardturner' by Louis Sachar
La Noche Buena
A Christmas Story
Antonio Sacre, illustrated by Angela Dominguez
Abrams, $16.95, ages 4-8
A girl goes to Miami to celebrate Christmas with her father's Cuban family in a story full of beautifully-observed cultural details.
Market Day!
Victoria Roberts and Tomislav Zlatic
Kane Miller, $19.99
For all those families crowding farmers markets with strollers: Here is a beautiful collection of board books introducing colors, shapes, opposites and numbers to the youngest readers (ages 2-6) — and packaged in a box that cleverly unfolds into a market street with puppet characters to array in the stalls.
Shark vs. Train
Chris Barton, illus. by Tom Lichtenheld
Little, Brown, $16.99
This rowdy picture-book contest of one-upmanship brings up the question: Are you a shark guy or a train guy? Perfect for rambunctious boys ages 3-6.
Dash and Lilly's Book of Dares
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Alfred A. Knopf, $16.99, ages 12 and up
Set in New York during the Christmas school break, this he-said, she-said novel is a story of romance and a celebration of the love of reading. The newly-minted pair spends New Year's Eve locked in a storeroom at Strand Books with a complete Oxford English Dictionary. What bliss!
Bink and Gollie
Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illus. by Tony Fucile
Candlewick, $15.99
An irresistible set of stories about two very different friends with a passion for roller skates, a gift for expressing themselves in exactly the right words, and the coolest houses on the planet. For early readers ages 7-10, especially girls.
The Cardturner
Louis Sachar
Delacorte, $17.99
A novel about a teenager who falls in love with bridge (yes, the card game!) and, by way of learning about life and love, discovers what a cool dude his great-uncle is. Giving this book might be considered a mawkish move (by grandparents) or a dorky one (by the grandkids), but the writer is the pretty cool author of the widely loved "Holes." Ages 11 and up.
Bolle writes Word Play, a column about children's and young adult books, which appears monthly at http://www.latimes.com/books.
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