The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children
By Eden Ross Lipson
Three Rivers Press, $18
ISBN 0812930185

Buy or borrow this book! Support your local independent bookseller Find it in a WorldCat library Compare prices at major online bookstores

Send this review to a friend

As Eden Ross Lipson so aptly states in her introduction, "One of the pleasures of being a parent -- grand, god, surrogate or just Mom and Dad -- is helping to choose books. They are wonderful gifts." Indeed, books are the very best gifts for children, as I'm sure any reader of BookPage knows. Books stimulate a child's intellect, imagination and sense of self. Books introduce her or him to lifelong friends like Frog and Toad, Heidi, Black Beauty, Robin Hood, Sam-I-Am, Merlin, Stuart Little and Harry Potter.

The masterpieces of children's literature set the stage for children to understand and appreciate the complexity of life, its beauty and mystery, the disappointments and moments of saving grace. But with so many books on the market, how do you make the right selections for children? Once upon a time, you could rely on help at the local children's bookstore, but today most of those stores are gone.

This is why The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children, by Eden Ross Lipson, children's book editor of the New York Times, is so valuable. The book is both handsome and easy-to-read. In it, you'll find listings of all the classics, from Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne to The Yearling by Majorie Kinnan Rawlings. I also found personal favorites like Fables by Arnold Lobel and Zlateh, the Goat and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. (Books I first read as an adult and cherish for their wit and wisdom.) Also listed are many lesser-known books like The Beast of Monsieur Racine by Tomi Ungerer and A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer -- both sound intriguing. For category help, there are several useful indices in the back of the book, including subject, age-appropriateness and read-alouds.

Choosing books for young people seems twice as important, because children -- more so than adults -- tend to read books again and again. I could more easily remove my son's bed from his room than his collection of Tintin books. And today, when I look at all the children's books listed in this edition, I feel quite chagrined that my own children are growing up so fast.

In addition to writing a children's book and selling children's books, Rosemary Zibart worked for national Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. and has attended the Children's Book Festival in Bologna, Italy.