Give a child a book for Christmas ... then read it aloud!

Reading aloud changes lives.

I'm a bear about reading aloud to children and you should be too. 

Many parents and grandparents are frankly puzzled at how to share time with a child. Get down on the floor and play plastic soldiers or Barbies? My wife does and is beloved as 'the playing grandma.'

But for the rest of us, reading aloud preps a child for school and for life and for a real relationship with you! Time spent together. There's no substitute. 

With Christmas and gift-giving in mind, I want to list a few books that delighted me, my children and my grandchildren, and will delight you and yours as well. But for maximum effect, you can't just give them, you have to sit down with a child to read. And this works all the way through grade 8. 

Doubts about what book to buy? Start here.

The short answer is 'anything by Maurice Sendak.' For most people, the Sendak pinnacle is "Where the Wild Things Are." Never read it? You're in for a treat. It starts the night Max wears his wolf suit. 

Less widely known, but also wonderful—rich, rich artwork—is anything by Chris Van Allsburg. Thanks to movies and video, his "Polar Express," is better known. But feast your eyes on the rich images and compelling tale ... with a twist ... in this book, "The Garden of Abdul Gasazi." Just wait until you see what happens when Fritz, the dog, ventures where he is not supposed to. 

Not just for children!

If you imagine you'll be bored reading children's books, get set for a pleasant surprise, especially when you get to the middle grades. "Hatchet," by Gary Paulsen, will have you sneaking to read ahead.

Find out what happens to Brian when he's stranded, forced to spend the summer, alone in the north, with just a hatchet. A youth book? Yes, but one you'll love at any age. I still buy this one at the Goodwill for a buck or two and hand them out. 

It's that good!

A similar, northern adventure book, suitable for about age 10 to forever, is my own Alaska dogsled tale, "Cheechako." The book is enthusiastically recommended by reading specialists, who tell me that kids who don't like to read, read ahead to find out what happens. You will, too. 

Like "Hatchet," "Cheechako" is the first book in a series. It's great to know that when you and your kids or grandkids get hooked on a book, there are more to come!

Escape to Narnia

There are more good starter books than anyone can blog about. But my list would be incomplete without mentioning the classic C.S.Lewis "Narnia" series. They are wonderful adventure, and with seven books in the series, an adventure that goes on and on. These were the "Harry Potters" of their day, and are still filled with magic and adventure.

The "Narnia" series is the sole reason my brothers and sister survived into adulthood, because our mother used to read them to us while we did our group chores, the supper dishes. Otherwise, we would certainly have beaten each other to death with soapy kitchen implements. 

These books are all available in paperback, digitally in any format, or ... with the exception of "Cheechako," even available in hardback.

And be sure to sign the book at the front, before you Christmas wrap it. Someday, your signature, message, and this gift will be what's left when you've left the planet. In addition to all the other benefits, this is your chance to give a child a lifelong, warm memory. 

How often is something like that this easy?!

Appreciating "Wilderness" and Gary Paulsen

Several of the chapters of my new book "Cheechako" were originally published in CRICKET, the children's magazine. In fact, it was one of their editors who sent me a very nice letter saying "this should be a book." While that's a wonderful letter to receive, it still took me about twenty years to put the whole thing together.

It was shortly after that I first met up with "Hatchet," Gary Paulsen's totally absorbing youth novel, enjoyed by youthful readers of all ages. I loved that it was set in the wilderness, loved that the situation puts the boy, Brian, totally off on his own and lets him work it out.

The "off by himself" is critical, even in a story that has nothing to do with the outdoors.

In a summer session with Jane Yolen at Western Washington University, I had written a segment that included a boy magician who went up to his attic to work on spells, and locked the attic door behind him. One of my session-mates questioned locking the door.

Yolen reinforced that locking the door gives that youthful character the independence that having an adventure requires. Much of the chemistry in a youth novel involves settings and situations that put the protagonist on his own. Away from parents and even friends. Most of us can remember how freeing that was in our own lives.

Not all stories can happen in the wilderness, like Paulsen's or mine, sometimes an entire adventure of wilderness, or wildness ... independence ... can be created in a garden, a school for wizards, or at the back of an old wardrobe.

"Hatchet" is a fabulous book. I re-read it almost yearly and collect used copies to hand out. And when people ask me what my book is about, I can tell them enthusiastically that if they liked Paulsen's book they will like "Cheechako."