Gift Guideall
From toys that stand the test of time to board games that are anything but boring, we found the best products for each grade that will build your child's brain as well as being chock full of fun. Our list of loot is kid-tested, teacher approved, and full of options for any family, so get wrappin'!
Howl's Moving Castle
This novel was made into a movie. Which means that most kids will skip it. That's a shame, because the book packs a potent punch of wonderful characters, outrageous plot twists, and dry humor. Sophie Hatter is a bookworm, and she knows from her reading that as the eldest of 3 daughters, she's bound ...
Hisss
The goal of this game is to build the most reptiles from a stack of severed snake cards (some heads, some tails, and some middles). Here's how it works: the whole pile of tiles are fanned out on the floor and players take turns picking a card and trying to match it to a piece with the same color. ...
Monster Maker Card Game
Everybody loves a goofy monster. In this combination puzzle/card game kids race to see who can collect the right parts cards to make their monster whole. Players can pick from the deck, the garbage pile, or trade cards with other players. The act of trading is a great lesson in taking turns, ...
Mazeways: A to Z
In this picture book, the alphabet goes maze-y! But these aren't just any old mazes, they are colorfully illustrated worlds that delight the imagination. Let kids' fingers do the walking, as they trace their way through each challenge, from A to Z. There are also hidden objects to find in the ...
Nate the Great
Nate the Great, a pancake loving, Sam Spade spouting, grade school private eye has a bravado perfect for this age set, who don't want books for "little kids" anymore. Still, underneath the swagger, the short chapters and simple words are just right for blossoming readers. Case closed. (Yearling, ...
The Declaration
It's the year 2140 and old age is a thing of the past. All but a few citizens of this brave new world have signed a declaration, promising not to bring any children into the world, in exchange for longevity drugs that keep their bodies working indefinitely. Children born without permission, known ...
The Marvelous and Fabulous Me Quiz Book
Is your daughter a perfectionist? A peacemaker? An introvert? This kit will help her find out. A fun take on the ever-popular personality test, which kids of this age group tend to love, this box packs in more than fifty quizzes to give girls insight into what makes them tick. Some of the quizzes, ...
The Beach
This national bestseller, written by its author at the ripe old age of 26, was a pretty mediocre movie. But it's a riveting book. With the pacing of a thriller and themes teens can relate to (the dark side of peer pressure, the quest to be original, the search for meaning in life...), the book is ...
Life of Pi
Piscine Patel is a normal 16-year-old boy whose biggest problem is his odd name, until his zookeeper father decides to move the family to Canada. A harrowing shipwreck leaves Pi floating on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a wounded zebra, a potted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound ...
Toss Your Cookies
Essentially a fun-fueled kiddie version of the well-known card game "Gin," Toss Your Cookies has winning players crowing "Snickerdoodle!" An easy-to-play game that is long on silliness and smiles, children build matching, sorting, and memory skills while passing (or sometimes tossing) ...
The BFG
Considered one of Dahl's most imaginative works, The BFG tells the story of the Big Friendly Giant who blows good dreams into the bedrooms of children. One night he takes an orphan girl named Sophie from her bed and brings her to the world of Giants. The other Giants, with names like ...
Step to It!
This game mixes fun and learning in an irresistible package. Players lay out a set of cards with pictures on them (for younger learners) or letters (for those on the road to reading), and then lay out a set of footprint cards-- each with a number written on it. Players pick from the deck to ...
Caps for Sale
This book has had preschoolers rolling in the aisles since its release way back in the 1940's. The repetitive cries of the peddler who falls asleep after a particularly tough day and wakes up to find all his wares on the heads of monkeys, has an irresistible rhythm kids love. Ham it up with some ...
Half Magic
In this charming and classic story, four siblings are set to spend a hot, boring summer in the care of a babysitter, when they come upon a coin on the sidewalk. They soon realize that the coin has special powers, but in the classic tradition of wish fulfillment gone awry, it only does half the ...
Jazz on a Saturday Night
This book is a great introduction to the world of music and art. At every turn of the page is a beautiful painting of some of Jazz's greatest legends, including Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald and more. These graphic-styled illustrations are complemented by rhyming text that bounces ...
The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep
12-year-old Becker Drane works as a "Fixer" in The Seems, the world behind our world that is responsible for existence as we know it. A glitch in the Department of Sleep is keeping everyone up at night, and Becker is called in to remedy the problem. But, this is no routine mission and he will have ...
