One innovative way in which booksellers can dispel the winter blahs is to have a life-sized costumed character "visit" the store. Many costumes relating to children's titles are available to booksellers for promotional events such as story hours, anniversary sales, school visits, meet-and-greets and photo opportunities.

While some publishers handle the booking and maintenance of the costumes, many have outsourced the job to companies specializing in costume design and management.

As costumes are added frequently, be sure to ask for an updated list when contacting publishers and/or costume managers. Keep in mind when reserving costumes, that there is generally a backlog of requests. Map out your year early. You may even have to book a character and then figure out what kind of event you'll use it for later.

Here is a list, by publisher, of the costumes available.

A

BBEVILLE PRESS


Felix the Bunny (from Letters to Felix). (See Costume Specialists within this listing.)

BANTAM DOUBLEDAY DELL

Nate the Great. (See Costume Specialists.)

CANDLEWICK PRESS


The elusive Waldo (as in Where's...?) can be booked directly through the publisher via e-mail (waldocostume@candle wick.com) or by calling (617) 661-3330 (ask for the marketing assistant). The costume consists of a striped shirt and cap and an oversized pair of round glasses. Booksellers pay postage to return these items to the publisher.

Costume Specialists offers another Candlewick character, Maisy.

CHOUETTE
The costume available is Caillou, from the pre-school books and PBS series. Stores pay a $75 fee plus round-trip postage. Available from Jamey Cohan Productions, (212) 794-9220.

COSTUME SPECIALISTS
Costume Specialists suggests that booksellers call four to six months in advance for the best possible selection. Costumes are provided free of charge, for promotional use only. Reservations typically last from Thursday to the following Monday. The publisher pays the cleaning costs, so the only cost to the bookseller is shipping to cover sending the costume to its next event, which, for most costumes, is a flat rate of $120 for second-day air. Individual costume characters handled by Costume Specialists are listed under the each publisher. Contact Michael Howard, (614) 464-2145 or (800) 596-9357, ext. 303.

HARCOURT
Stellaluna and Auntie Claus. (See Costume Specialists.)

HARPERCOLLINS
Wild Thing, Pig (from If You Give a Pig a Pancake), Lilly (from Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse), Biscuit the puppy, Mouse (from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie) and Amelia Bedelia. (See Costume Specialists.)

HarperCollins also offers dresses, hats and wigs (in both adult and children's sizes) for a Little House on the Prairie dress-up.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Houghton allows bookstores to handle their own shipping arrangements. UPS Ground rate is usually $50 to $70. Costumes available are: Curious George, the Man in the Yellow Hat, the hippos George & Martha, Tacky the Penguin, Lyle Lyle Crocodile and Rotten Ralph. (See Costume Specialists.)

LITTLE, BROWN & CO.
Costumes available are: Toot and Puddle (pig characters from the Holly Hobbie series) and Daisy the Duck (from Jane Simmons's series).

Little, Brown recommends stores book at least three months in advance. Costumes are loaned to stores for a one-week period. The publisher pays to ship costumes to the bookstore, but stores are responsible for sending them back (UPS Ground). Stores can defray this cost by using their publisher co-op. Contact Tricia Fagan at (617) 263-2814.

The Marc Brown character of Arthur the Aardvark is available from Jamey Cohan Productions at (212) 794-9220. Stores pay a $75 fee, plus round-trip postage.

NORTH-SOUTH BOOKS
Lars the Polar Bear. (See Costume Specialists.)

PENGUIN PUTNAM
Corduroy Bear, Max, Madeline, Peter Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, Froggy, Hedgie the Hedgehog, Spot the Dog, Pippi Longstocking, The Stinky Cheese Man, Pinkerton, Hank the Cow Dog, Timothy the Racoon and Strega Nona. The costumes for Little Miss Sunshine and Mr. Happy (from the Miss and Mr. Man series) are notable because they inflate. Each comes with an attached fan that fills the zipped costume with air and keeps the wearer cool while inside. Due to the special size of The Very Hungry Caterpillar costume, it requires $450 shipping. (See Costume Specialists.)

PLEASANT COMPANY
Angelina Ballerina. (See Costume Specialists)

RANDOM HOUSE
Costumes are: Cat in the Hat (must be returned via any second-day air service), Mama and Papa Berenstain Bears and Sister and Brother Berenstain Bears (both are sent as a set; must be returned via any second-day air), Annabella, Little Critter, Pat the Bunny, Peter Cottontail, Pokey Little Puppy, Road Hog, Saggy Baggy Elephant and Scruffy the Tugboat.

Customers are responsible for round-trip shipping of costumes to store and back to publisher. Available through Random House Children's Books' publicity department, (212) 547-3597.

SCHOLASTIC


Deluxe Clifford the Big Red Dog, Regular Clifford the Big Red Dog, Franklin the Turtle, Ms. Frizzle, Liz the lizard (Ms. Frizzle's pet), Berenstain Bears Scouts (brother and sister), Poppa Dumb Bunny, Miss Spider.

Both shipping and return of costume are prepaid by the publisher. Activity kits are sent with each costume. Available from the Scholastic Character Agency. Contact Jacklin Prescott Wilson, costume coordinator, at (800) 560 -3291.

SIMON & SCHUSTER

Jesse Bear, Mudge the Dog, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Lottie the Chicken, Bunnicula, Toby the Mouse. (See Costume Specialists.)

WORKMAN

Amanda Panda, BQ Dog, Shakira, Ryan Lion. (See Costume Specialists.)