texjagman, Great suggestion. I borrowed that book from the library. For now, it is one of my top two choices. I like how it talks of pine, spruce, and fir trees and how growing Christmas trees is a year round job. We have various species of pine and spruce the children can go outside and explore. In talking further with the nature center where this would be held, I was told we don't have to completely avoid the Christmas theme....I know some places would have issues with that. So this book may well be the one I use. Pineresin, I agree, people need real world experiences with nature. Not much good to only read about it. We'll try to spend most of the class time out exploring the forest of Red and Eastern White Pines, White and Norway and Colorado Blue Spruce, and Eastern Red-cedar (I don't think I'll be telling 4 year olds those are really junipers!). I'll make sure the craft part includes real needles and cones to touch and play with and some to take home. Maybe we'll even plant a tree or two. Our weather is unseasonably warm yet and the bird feeders at the center need some cover nearby. I appreciate being reminded that real plants need to be the main focus.

Gosh, thank you all so much for the great ideas. I have a Pete the Cat book but didn't realize it was a series. I'll look for more. I'm very interested in the Harry McLary books, but interestingly my library doesn't have them! But they are on Amazon, so I'll give them a try. I was going to try to thank everyone individually, but worry I'll leave someone out, so I hope you'll know that I'll look at each of these and try them out. For anyone else reading this looking for ideas, my grandson loves a book I found called Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. And I can second the G'night, G'night construction site. How do boys seem to emerge with an affinity for construction equipment? At 2 and younger? It's crazy! Also, no one answered about Where's Waldo? I know it's older, but does anyone recommend it? If so, which one? Please keep adding books if you think of more. It's great to have them all in a place to check back with. Thanks again!

I am surprised sometimes by books that receive awards. Not all of them read well or hold my daughters attention. My daughter really likes animanls so books about animals are often what we go for. Pictures with a lot of detail, so her eyes have plenty to look at while I finish reading all the words on the page. Nothing too scary, and to my daughter; being chased by a bear, having a dragon in the woods, etc ... all too scary for her. She also does not like to see people angry and sad if it is a repeating theme in a story. She likes fantasy or realistic stories. But since the parents are buying, therefor choosing for their little kids the other posts are probably more acurate. Most parents I know try to purchase books that will help teach, things like alphabet, colors, similarities and differences, how to share, etc. Good luck!

I have a 10 year old girl and 13 year old boy. My son is not a big fiction reader, he reads for information, but he loves Artemis Fowl or anything by Eoin Colfer. He also loves Calvin & Hobbes, Foxtrot and Tintin comics. I think that consulting with a good children's librarian may be better than the awards (though the Newberry is always pretty reliable), because some of the YA award books can have some material you might consider objectionable. For example the book Tender Morsels that had a thread on here not long ago. Here's a list of books my kids have really enjoyed: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH The Tale of Desperaux Any of the Magic Treehouse books The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents Andrew Clements' books (Frindle, Janitor's Boy etc...) Dragon Rider Here's what's on the eighth grade summer reader list at my son's school: They all have to read Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patilla Beals, then they can choose any of the following: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou It's Not About the Bike - Lance Armstrong Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood - Ibtisam Barakat A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson Facing the Lion Growing up Maasai on the African Savanna - Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton In the Heart of the Sea: the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex - Nathaniel Philbrick (we live near Boston, so local history) Chew on This - Eric Schlosser The Man Who Ate the 747 - Ben Sherwood Big Mouth and Ugly Girl - Joyce Carol Oates Travel Team - Mike Lupica A Step From Heaven - Na, An A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams Summerland - Michael Chabon Dune - Frank Herbert The Green Mile- Steven King There are a few others on the list. For the younger ones, there are some really great picture books: The Olivia books by Ian Falconer The Three Pigs by David Wiesner The Miss Spider books Jan Brett books are a feast for the eyes Hope that helps.