Gift Books For Children

They don't require assembly or batteries, and they don't break. We're talking about books, of course, the perfect gifts for children and families.

To help sort out all the choices available, The Early Show welcomes Valerie Lewis, who owns Hicklebee's bookstore in San Jose, Calif. She is also the co-author of "Valerie & Walter's Best Books for Children" and chairperson of the Children's Issues Committee for the American Booksellers' Association.

Here are some of Valerie's recommendations:

"Harpercollins Treasury Of Picture Book Classics: A Child's First Collection," various authors.

"This is a perfect gift book for any family with young and older children. It has stories for children from birth to seven years old! It weighs about five pounds. I wrote the introduction, but all profits go to charity. This book puts 12 very popular kids books into one book."

After reading all the stories, you might go and buy your child's favorite title.

Toddlers to age 3

"It's Snowing!" by Olivier Dunrea, published by Farrar Strauss Giroux.

This is an easy, safe, sweet story of a mother sharing the first snow with her baby. Says Valerie, "This book is almost the perfect picture book. It is so quiet and loving. Everything on the outside is cold and everything inside warm and toasty. This is a great book for mom and her young child to get cozy and read before bed."

Preschool to kindergarten

"Bob" by Tracey Campbell Pearson, published by Farrar Strauss Giroux

"This is one of my favorite books of the season. It is a real kick to read, and I've closed all of my lectures this fall with this book."

Bob doesn't know how to crow and tries to learn from different barnyard animals.

"Knick -Knack Paddywhack: A Moving Parts Book" by Paul O. Zelinsky, published by Dutton

"This book is wonderful for that young child who loves detail. Some parents stay away from pop-up books fearing that they are fragile and easily torn by little hands. Parents need to know that it's really okay to tell kids that some books go on a higher shelf and you can only read it with mom and dad."

Kindergarten to third grade:

"The Sea Chest" by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by Mary GrandPre, published by Dial

"The writing here is amazing. The illustrations are done by Mary GrandPre, who does the illustrations for the Harry Potter books. It's a beautifully written, rich story that really is worth considering. It begins with a little girl listening to her aunt's story of how she lived on a lighthouse."

Preschool to second grade:

Epossumondas by Coleen Salley, published by Harcourt

Valerie likes this book because it is fun to read aloud. Children like the book because they get the joke before the character does. Valerie says, "First of all, this book is needs to be read slowly. Don't try to rush through it."

"The Pot That Juan Built" by Nancy Andrews-Goebel, published by Lee & Low

This is a picture book biography of the Mexican potter Juan Quezada and the story of the village that became famous because of his pots. The book's format is unusual. The pages on the left offer a "This-is-the-House-that-Jack-Built'" type refrain, and the right side is the non-fiction description of his life and work.

"This book is good for younger children and stretches to older one," says Valerie. "It's a great glimpse into Mexican culture. This book is going to get a lot of attention. It's one of the latest non-fiction books about minorities. The dual story format works well. The book is a celebration of how someone's artistic talent had worth to the entire village."

Hicklebee's has an awards program for books, and this book was a runner-up for Hicklebee's book of the year. (The winner was "Bloody Jack," which is described below.)

Third grade to fifth (no chapter books):

"Talkin' About Bessie" by Nikki Grimes, published by Orchard

Valerie predicts that this book will get some awards this year. She says, "This is a beautifully written and illustrated picture book biography of Elizabeth Coleman, the first African-American pilot. Every page has someone's memory of her. It's her life as told by those who knew her - her brother, sister, a laundry customer, a reporter. On the final page, she describes herself."

"Ug: Boy Genius Of The Stone Age And His Search For Soft Trousers" by Raymond Briggs, published by Knopf

Valerie says, "This is done in comic-book style. It's funny, accessible and has much more going for it than meets the eye. Besides, it just cracks me up! 'Ug' is good for all kinds of kids - good for both the challenged reader and the advanced reader. It tells the story of parents who keep saying we are older and wiser and the boy keeps challenging the way things are. He keeps asking questions. For example: 'I wish these trousers weren't made of stone... Why can't they be made of something softer?'"

Young Adult:

"Bloody Jack" by L.A. Meyer, published by Harcourt

Valerie says, "This is this fall's 'Hicklebee's Book of the Year.' In the first scene, a young girl sees the parents of her dead parents being carried away. She realizes it's going to be very hard to live on the streets, and she has to get on a ship to survive. She has to masquerade as a boy. She does and makes her way aboard a ship, setting out to the high seas to rid them of pirates. This is classified as a 'young adult' book because there is a scene of men leering at her. And, there's violence in the book. I strongly recommend it for 6th, 7th and 8th graders."

"The House Of The Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer, published by Atheneum

This just won the National Book Award. Valerie says, "As I look at books, I ignore the flashy ones. This book is flashy, and it's an incredible one. It's about cloning, but it's also about prejudice. There's a commune in an area in the desert. The leader, El Patron, clones himself so he will live forever. The book is written from the perspective of the clone who will be the next El Patron. Clones are treated like the lowest of the low. They get to a certain age and die. The real story is about the way we treat people, how we divide ourselves into social classes. The book asks the question: When we clone people, will they be different members of our society?"