Knopf/Random House.

Knopf/Random House

1745 Broadway, NY, NY 10019

www.randomhouse.com/kids

Good reading skills or parental assistance will lend a wider age range to the lovely tale Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About A Giant Women With A Great Big Heart (0375823379, $15.95) by Pat Mora. Raul Colon's gorgeous drawings lend to the captivating tale of a giant lady who lives in a tiny village in the American Southwest. A friend of kids, she plays and reads with them and even protects her beloved neighbors when a terrifying animal threatens the village. Spanish words and phrases pepper the story. Also recommended for kids with reading skills or reading parents is Josephine Poole's Anne Frank (0375-832424, $17.95) which provides an unusual picture book biography from Anne's diary to bring her story to a younger audience than usual, and Poole's Joan Of Arc (0679890416, $17.95), achieving the same in providing a dramatic story of the historical figure. Both are illustrated with fine, realistic drawings by Angela Barrett. Jack Prelutsky's Read A Rhyme, Write A Rhyme (0375822860, $16.95) receives Meilo So's excellent drawings to illustrate poems selected by Jack Prelutsky as inspirations for helping young readers write their own poetry. Poems by many different writers offer themes readily understandable by the young. Jim Jinkins' Back To School Is Cool! (037583236X, $12.95) returns the spunky Pinky Dinky Doo to kids moving into easy chapter books. It's the first day of school and Tyler is so nervous about first grade that he hides in the dirty laundry pile. It's up to Pinky Dinky Doo, his sister, to handle the results. Barbara Park's Junie B. First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May.) (0375828087, $11.95) is a step above the picture book reading level but holds excellent black and white illustrations by Denise Brunkus and a format which will appeal to kids in grades 1-3 with its latest Junie B. story of holiday time. Junie is doing lots of happy thins to celebrate--but may keeps ruining her happiness. Can she serve as a proper Secret Santa to her enemy? David Almond and Stephen Lambert's Kate, The Cat And The Moon (0385746911, $15.95) presents a winning picturebook fantasy as it tells of a child who changes into a cat at night and roams the countryside while everyone is asleep. Fun fantasy in a very accessible picture book format makes the tale available to a wide audience of young readers. Just in time for the holidays is the whimsical Lynn Rowe Reed Theolonius Turkey Lives! (On Felicia Ferguson's Farm) (9375831266, $15.95). Every Thanksgiving one turkey disappears from Felicia Ferguson's farm--and now Thelonius is the only turkey left--and he's not going without a fight. Thelonius begins a campaign to save himself in this zany tale of a determined turkey.