Books, like puppies, ought not to be only for Christmas. However, this is the time of year when most books are sold and the bookshops are piled high with enticing tomes, all wearing their best party dresses. Of these, boxed sets offer good value - and appeal to children: who can resist possessing a set of books in their own special box? Collins Modern Classics (Collins, £15.99 in UK) contains: The Phantom Jester by Norton Juster (a quirky fantasy reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, but with a boy protagonist); When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr (the story of two children escaping Nazi Germany, realistic, exciting and yet leavened by humour); and Homecoming from Cynthia Voigt's brilliant Tillerman series (in which a family of four children cross America to find their aunt). This is a strange mixture but would be well received, I should think, by a thoughtful 10 to 12-year-old. Animal Stories to curl up with (Collins, £12.99 in UK) is for a younger age group. Four stories by well-known authors are presented in an enchanting box at which animal-lovers will go "ahhh!". The novels, all in large clear print with marvellous illustrations, are: The Enchanted Horse by Magdalen Nabb (the gentle story of a lonely child and a ghost horse - or is it?); Dog's Journey by Gene Kemp (family adventures based on Kemp's own experience of farming in Devon); The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo (a boy adopts an orphan lioncub in Africa and finds it again, years later, in wartime Flanders); and The Dancing Bear, also by Morpurgo (Roxanne has to chose between the bear she has reared and the exciting life of a pop singer). These books may not be zany or dialogue-led but they are all beautifully written and full of humanity.
For the very young, Jingle Bells Book & Tape Gift Set, written by Nick Butterworth and read by Graham Crowden (HarperCollins, £14.99 in UK) tells how two mice used a bell, fallen from Santa's sleigh, to trap the farmyard cat who had tried to ruin their Christmas. One side of the tape has an atmospheric orchestral background with musical leitmotifs for the various characters and a sing-along Jingle Bells at the end, while the other contains the read-along version. This is not just a lovely story with Butterworth's usual child-friendly illustrations; it is also an introduction to the orchestra, reminiscent of Peter and the Wolf.
For me, the outstanding gift set this Christmas is the beautiful presentation box containing The Hutchinson Treasury of Children's Poetry and The Hutchinson Treasury of Children's Literature, edited by Alison Sage (£19.95 each in UK but only £30 as a set.) The Treasury of Children's Poetry features poets from `traditional' to Tennyson, Milligan to Thomas Moore, Stevie Smith to Shakespeare, Whitman to Wordsworth and Yeats. The illustrators are equally illustrious, ranging from Nicholas Allan to Cliff Wright via Quentin Blake, John Birmingham, Shirley Hughes, Arthur Rackham and many others. The poems are arranged by age in four sections, starting with "Nursery Rhymes and First Poems" and ending with "Older Poems and Classic Poetry". The type is clear, with plenty of white space and the book has a rich feel with its mix of black-and-white and full-colour illustrations. It is filled with old favourites and new discoveries and, appealing as it does to a range of readers from tots to teens, it's the ideal present for a family, a favourite godchild or even your own children.
The Hutchinson Treasury of Children's Literature must have been much more difficult to compile, but Sage has again done an excellent job. Again the organisation is by age, from "Youngest Picture Books and Rhymes" for babies to "Extracts from Older Fiction and Poems" for 10 to 12-year-olds. The extracts are well-chosen to stand on their own and yet be a "taster" for the complete work. And the practice of alternating stories and poems aids digestion. The authors featured include Margaret Mahy, Hugh Lofting, Beatrix Potter, Ogden Nash, Colin Dann, Philippa Pearce, and Robert Westall - and this is a mere random selection. Again the illustrations are superb. I was taken back to wet childhood holidays and the joy of finding new stories and poems - or even old favourites I should have long grown out of - while curled up with Arthur Mee's children's encyclopaedia (which also catered for a wide variety of ages). Any child who receives these two Hutchinson volumes will taste the same pleasure. They not only feed the imagination but delight the eye and hand; they are a feast of words and pictures which will last a child long after the Christmas turkey has gone.
Margrit Cruickshank is a writer and critic. She writes books for children from pre-school to teens.