Every fall, independent booksellers and publishers work together to promote a range of new titles published in Canada and internationally. Books for Everybody is a hand-picked selection of books for all interests, including young readers. Here are some highlights from the catalogues that provide great last-minute ideas for gifts and stocking stuffers.

 

It’s easy to feel left out when a new friend comes into the picture, but maybe with a little effort, there is room for someone else in Fox and Squirrel’s friendship?
Friendship, ages 3–7, $14.99 cl, colour illus., 32 pp. 978-1-4431-3320-3

 

A showcase of the fantastical and fun results of a kid-designed world, from trampoline sidewalks to recess school to a tree house in every tree.
Imagination & Play, ages 3–7, $18.95 cl, colour illus., 32 pp. 978-1-55453-591-0

 

Young friends Julia and Simca don’t want to turn into big, busy people who worry too much and dawdle too little, so they decide to create a feast for staying—and growing—young. This playful, fictional tale is loosely inspired by the life and spirit of the real Julia Child.
Cooking, all ages, $19.99 cl, colour illus., 32 pp. 978-1-77049-449-7

 

Springing from a peach on the doorstep of a very surprised farmer and her husband, Momoko is here to make the world a better place. Warned of a fierce local ogre, the feisty girl sets out with a pocketful of peach dumplings to make new friends and learn the truth for herself.
Friendship, ages 5 and up, $19.95 cl, colour illus. 32 pp. 978-1-927485-58-3

 

With perfect pacing, the multi-award-winning, New York Times best-selling team of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen dig down for deadpan tale full of visual humour. Sam and Dave are on a mission. A mission to find something spectacular. So they dig a hole. And they keep digging. And they find . . . nothing. Yet the day turns out to be pretty spectacular after all. Attentive readers will be rewarded with a rare treasure in this witty story of looking for the extraordinary and finding it in a manner you’d never expect. Jon Klassen is the first Canadian winner of the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal.
Imagination & Play, ages 4–8, $19.00 cl, colour illus., 40 pp. 978-0-7636-6229-5

Also available:
I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen, $18.00 cl, 40 pp. 978-0-7636-5598-3
This Is Not My Hat, Jon Klassen, $18.00 cl, 40 pp. 978-0-7636-5599-0

 

Wallace Edwards invites us into the world of Professor I.B. Doodling, a travelling artist who takes suggestions from schoolchildren in order to create fantastical hybrid animals. Sure to inspire the imagination, Edwards’s intricate illustrations invite you to pore over them again and again.
Imagination & Play, ages 4 and up, $19.95 cl, colour illus., 32 pp. 978-1-45980-555-2

Find participating bookstores in your community here or at http://www.findabookstore.ca/.