For the Great Outdoors

Nature enthusiasts will appreciate Field Trips: Bug Hunting, Animal Tracking, Bird-Watching and Shore Walking by Jim Arnosky. Designed as a scientific notebook, this sturdy volume prepares readers for extended outdoor excursions (e.g., the author recommends applying insect repellant and wearing a hat to ward off ticks), suggests various habitats for study and offers sample notebook pages for budding scientists to record observations and drawings. Detailed b&w illustrations help readers identify animals and their tracks. (HarperCollins, $15.95 96p ages 8-up ISBN 0-688-15172-8; Apr.)

Camp Confidential: A Light-Pen Diary by Robie Rogge and Dian G. Smith is a good choice for packing into camp trunks this summer. Humorously labeled pages encourage campers to document the experience, from the layout of the cabin, to favorite activities, to information and gossip about the counselors. Perforated "Letters-to-Go" with fill-in-the-blank communiqués make it easy to keep in touch. A flashlight pen helps kids write at night; a lock and key keeps the volume private. (Chronicle, $15.95 ages 8-13 ISBN 0-8118-3273-2; June)

What happens if your adventure takes a turn for the worse? The spiral-bound The Kid's Survival Guide by Claire Llewellyn, with classy mesh netting and a waterproof camouflage trim, teaches techniques for surviving a shark attack and escaping from a burning building. A section on Basic Survival Skills gives tips on everything from storing and preparing food while camping to how to treat a burn or broken arm. Pages for notes within each chapter, collages of photos and colorful sidebars, a compass attached to the cover and a list of helpful organizations such as The Red Cross and Outward Bound round out the spiffy package. (Scholastic/Tangerine, $9.95 96p ages TK ISBN 0-439-35325-4; Apr.)

Backyard Pets: Activities for Exploring Wildlife Close to Home by Carol Amato, illus. by Cheryl Kirk Noll, starts off with "Bringing Backyard Pets Home," focusing on critters like snails, worms and caterpillars, and offering basic information as well as investigations and activities for first-hand learning. Birds and butterflies share the spotlight in Part II, "Attracting Wildlife to Your Backyard." A glossary, index and suggested reading list are included. (Wiley, $12.95 paper 128p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-471-41693-2; Apr.)

"Build a sand castle," "organize a backyard carnival" or "make giant bubbles" with 101 Outdoor Adventures: Great Things to Do Under the Sun (and the Stars) by Samantha Berees. Small in size, the spiral-bound volume easily fits into a pocket or backpack. (Dutton, $7.99 112p ages 7-12 ISBN 0-525-46774-2; May)

Cool on Ice

Fresh from the rink, two Olympic skaters take the top prize in a trio of titles. Sarah Hughes: Golden Girl by Nancy Krulik, part of the All Aboard Reading series, opens with the figure skater's gold-medal performance at the Salt Lake Ice Center then chronicles the career of the Long Island teen from learning to lace her skates at age three to life after the Olympics. (Grosset & Dunlap, $3.99 paper 48p ages 4-8 ISBN 0-448-43102-5; May)

Geared toward slightly older readers, Going for the Gold: Sarah Hughes, America's Sweetheart by R.S. Ashby spotlights the 16-year-old champ in a chapter book format. Similarly, Going for the Gold: Apolo Anton Ohno, Skating on the Edge by Thomas Lang chronicles the 19-year-old speed skater's rise from troubled teen to Olympic icon. Both include full-color photograph insets. (HarperCollins/Avon, $4.99 each paper 128p ages 8-up ISBN 0-06-051842-1; -051843-X; May)

Curriculum Companions

Two Jr. Groovy Tube books combine a tale with teaching elementary math skills. In Who Will Fix the Royal Windows? by Joanne Mattern, illus. by Paula Pertile, children use pattern blocks (in the shape of squares, diamonds, triangles, trapezoids and more) to reconstruct stained glass. Packaged with beads and laces, What's for Dinner?, also by Mattern, illus. by Nancy Davis, teaches counting and patterning. (Innovative Kids, $16.99 ages 3-7 ISBN 1-58476-095-8; -096-6; Apr.)

Arithme-Tickle: An Even Number of Odd Riddle-Rhymes by J. Patrick Lewis, illus. by Frank Remkiewicz, offers a host of clever math riddles with titles like "Finger Play" (which teaches a nifty trick for multiplying by nine) and "Your Average Cow," which asks kids to compare bovine and human life expectancies. Answers appear (upside-down) below each entry. Humorous cartoons multiply the fun. (Harcourt/Silver Whistle, $16 32p ages 6-9 ISBN 0-15-216418-9; Apr.)

Peggy Kaye, author of Games for Learning, suggests using The Carrot Seed to teach early measurement concepts and Charlotte's Web to introduce multisyllabic words in Games with Books: Twenty-eight of the Best Children's Books and How to Use Them to Help Your Child Learn—from Preschool to Third Grade. Each activity comes with suggested grade levels, necessary materials and a listing of the skills addressed, illustrated with Kaye's line drawings. (FSG, $35 364p ISBN 0-374-23455-8; paper $13 -52815-2; Mar.)

A grinning reptile greets readers on the first spread of My Beastie Book of ABC by David Frampton, which pairs delightfully ridiculous rhymes with playful woodcuts in a psychedelic palette: "A is for alligator./ Her teeth are quite/ awesome./ Yours will be too, if you just/ brush and floss 'em." (HarperCollins, $15.95 32p ages 3-6 ISBN 0-06-028823-X; Apr.)

Sparked by a school assignment, a boy and his mother keep track of the people and places in the neighborhood in On the Town: A Community Adventure by Judith Caseley. The child's notebook entries appear throughout in lively watercolor, colored pencil and ink illustrations. (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, $15.95 32p ages 5-up ISBN 0-06-029584-8; Apr.)

Poetic Expressions

Beginning with a work inspired by the events of September 11, Naomi Shihab Nye brings together 60 of her poems in 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East including "Different Ways to Pray," "The Palestinians Have Given Up Parties" and "Football." Many of the poems, which focus on the Middle East and the Arab-American experience, have appeared in previous collections; others are published here for the first time. An excellent way to invite exploration and discussion of events far away and their impact here at home. (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, $16.95 160p all ages ISBN 0-06-009765-5; Apr.)

The Body Eclectic: An Anthology of Poems, edited by Patrice Vecchione, explores the human body from the inside out with more than 70 poems, beginning with an excerpt from Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric" and including such poets as Pablo Neruda, Diane Ackerman, May Swenson and Sherman Alexie, and covering everything from the body as a whole to the penis, the hands, or vagina in particular. Brief biographies of the contributors conclude the volume. (Holt, $16.95 224p ages 14-up ISBN 0-8050-6935-6; May)

Ezra Pound's surreally simple "In a Station of the Metro," Poe's "The Raven," Lucille Clifton's "Blessing the Boats" and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Sonnet 43" ("How do I love thee? Let me count the ways") are among the verses included in The Best Poems Ever: A Collection of the World's Greatest Voices, edited by Edric Mesmer. The paperback original contains more than 40 works. (Scholastic Classics, $3.99 paper 80p ages 10-up ISBN 0-439-29674-9; Apr.)

Kids Who Made History

A pair of books chronicle young people's impact on history. The first, Take Command, Captain Farragut! by Peter Roop and Connie Roop, illus. by Michael McCurdy, presents the true story of 10-year-old David Glasgow Farragut, who ascended the ranks from midshipman to captain (at age 12) aboard a U.S. naval ship during the War of 1812. His rise unfolds through a series of fictional letters to his father; framed scratchboard illustrations depict the child's days at sea and eventual imprisonment by the British. (S&S/Atheneum, $17 48p ages 7-10 ISBN 0-689-83022-X; Apr.)

Left for Dead by Pete Nelson explains how the research of 11-year-old Hunter Scott—who was inspired by a passing reference in the movie Jaws —uncovered the truth behind a historic WWII naval disaster aboard the USS Indianapolis and led to the reversal of the wrongful court martial of the ship's captain. A full-color photographic inset and a preface by the now 17-year-old Scott round out the volume. (Delacorte, $15.95 160p ages 12-up ISBN 0-385-72959-6; May)

Fairy Friends Bedtime turns magical in Good Night, Fairies by Kathleen Hague, illus. by Michael Hague, as a mother answers her child's questions about what fairies do at nighttime. The parent characterizes them as benevolent, magical creatures that watch over children and care for their lost toys. Michael Hague's signature intricate pen-and-ink, watercolor and colored pencil illustrations reveal an enchanting miniature world. (North-South/SeaStar, $15.95 40p ages 4-8 ISBN 1-58717-134-1; Apr.)

With accents of shimmering colored foil, Melissa Tyrrell and illustrator Sonja Lamut update the classics in a quartet of 7" x 7" paper-over-board books in soft shades, including Aladdin; Cinderella; The Little Mermaid; and Snow White. (PSS!, $4.99 each 10p ages 3-5 ISBN 0-8431-4868-3; -4866-7; -4869-1; -4867-5; Apr.)

Sending Out the Welcome Wagon Lena Tabori, publisher of Welcome Enterprises, follows up on her earlier success with The Little Big Book for Moms as she reaches out to the older generation in The Little Big Book for Grandmothers, ed. by Tabori with Alice Wong. The weighty volume contains an impressive array of poetry (from Vachel Lindsay to Shel Silverstein), fairy tales, activities and recipes alongside period illustrations by a variety of artists. The Little Big Book of Animals, edited by Tabori with Katrina Fried, gives praise, proverbs and songs as an homage to pets. Each volume features a silk cord as a bookmark.

For the younger set, A Little Box of Books, each roughly 5" x 5", edited by Tabori with Natasha Tabori Fried, contains a trio of titles in a handsome slipcase. Fairy Tales includes favorites like "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Jack and the Beanstalk;" more than 20 tales turn up in Nursery Rhymes; and Songs includes "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "The Hokey Pokey." Vintage illustrations enliven the set. (Welcome Books [Andrews McMeel, dist.], $24.95 each 352p all ages ISBN 0-941807-57-6; -56-8; Box of Books $14.95 all ages -64-9; May)

From the Mouths of Babes

"My brother is three years old. His name is Oscar. He was born in Saint Mary Hospital. But believe me he is no saint. —Johanna." As he did in Children's Letters to God, Stuart Hample compiles a funny, sometimes poignant collection of handwritten, unedited observances and illustrates them as if with a child's pencil strokes in You Stink! I Love You: From Brothers and Sisters, Of Course. (Workman, $7.95 96p all ages ISBN 0-7611-2637-6; Apr.)

Another compilation touts such advice as "Never eat a magnet when you have braces," "Tell people that you love them" and "Get Messy." With the participation of schools and students across the country, Robert Bender (Lima Beans Would Be Illegal) collected more than 1000 kid tips for Never Eat Anything That Moves: Good, Bad, and Very Silly Advice from Kids. Humorous pictures in an unusual media (cell-vinyl paint on acetate) illustrate the scenarios. (Dial, $12 48p all ages ISBN 0-8037-2640-6; May)

Back in the Knowe

In The Children of Green Knowe (1955) by L.M. Boston, the first title in The Green Knowe Chronicles, Toby visits his great-grandmother's manor house, Green Knowe, for the first time and discovers her witchy ways—and ghostly guests. The repackaging of the classic series contains Peter Boston's original b&w interior illustrations; Brett Helquist, known for his work in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events books, provides haunting cover art. All five titles in the series are now available in hardcover and paperback: Treasure of Green Knowe (1958); The River at Green Knowe (1959); A Stranger at Green Knowe (1961); An Enemy at Green Knowe (1964). (Harcourt/Odyssey Classics, $17 each 192p ages 8-up ISBN 0-15-202462-X; -202595-2; -202613-4; -202583-9; -202475-1; paper $6 each -202468-9; -202601-0; -202607-X; -202589-8; -202481-6; May)