AGE 2-6

AT CHRISTMAS a book often becomes a jack-in-the-box. Ruth Brown's The Tale of Two Mice (Walker, £9.99/offer £9.49) has gorgeously brooding style, and pop-ups make the tale of Billy and Bo foraging through a spooky house and nearly getting caught by a cat a perfect winter tale. Clara Vuillamy's Lucky Wish Mouse (Orchard, £7.99/£7.59) is the sweetest foil to it, with a winged mouse toiling to keep her brood of ten happy on Christmas Eve. Both will delight 3+.

Robert Sabuda's pop-up Peter Pan (Simon & Schuster, £19.99/£17.99) is a stupendous work of imagination and paper engineering for 7+, though it's rather hard to lock all this exuberance back in the box once out. Cinderella, The Fairytale Files (Walker, £7.99/£7.59) has plenty to amuse media-savvy 7+ - exhibits such as Prince Charming's diary entry revealing his true feelings, etc. My absolute favourite is Jan Pienkowski's balletic silhouetted Nut Cracker (Puffin, £17.99/£16.19), which is sprinkled with true fairy dust and enchanting for 6+.

Sam Childs' We Love Christmas (Scholastic, £8.99/£8.54) for 3-5 shows excited children having an idyllic time in the snow, making cards, and waiting for joy on the day. The sublime Jeanne Willis has a girl writing to Dear Father Christmas (Puffin, £7.99/ £7.59) asking for a “special spray/That keeps the big bad wolf away”, a visit from Grandma and a little baby brother. Mark Burgess and Russell Ayto's riotous little wolf helps Santa with his huff and puff, and finds out Where Teddy Bears Come From (Puffin, £5.99/£5.69, 5+).

If you only buy one book this Christmas make sure it's...

Michael Parkinson, Sheila Hancock, Roger Moore, Elaine Paige and Andrew Castle pick out some perfect reading for the festive period

BACKGROUND

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Gifts

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Fiction

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Crime

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Biography and memoir

• Christmas bestsellers

BACKGROUND

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Art

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Food

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Music

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Travel

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Children's audiobooks

BACKGROUND

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Film & theatre

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Graphic Novels

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Back to basics

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Poetry

• The Times Christmas Books 2008: Children's 2-10

Joelle Jolivet's Zoo-ology (Egmont, £12.99/£11.69) is a treasure, with eye-catching groups of animals themed and linked by rhyme for 4+. Allan Ahlberg's The Pencil (Walker, £10.99/ £9.89) is a classic, wittily describing the limits and freedoms of creativity for 5+. Brian Wildsmith's Favourite Fables is sublimely beautiful (OUP, £14.99/£13.49) and will be handed down for generations after (5+). For boys, Robert Crowther's Ships (Walker, £12.99/£11.69) has first-rate detail about everything from an ocean liner to a Greek bireme.

AGE 7-10

Anna Dale strikes gold with Spellbound (Bloomsbury, £10.99/£9.89), as angry Athene goes underground to win back her hated little brother with some magical help; Lauren St John's The Last Leopard (Orion, £9.99/ £9.49) is another magical African thriller, and Philip Pullman's Once Upon a Time in the North (David Fickling, £9.99/£9.49) is a little jewel about Lee Scoresby and how he befriends the great bear Iorek, with a fantastic shootout. Like The Gift of the Magi (Walker, £10.99/£9.89), O. Henry's touching tale of love, poverty and what selling your hair brings a couple in New York, exquisitely illustrated by P.J. Lynch, all blend realism and romance for readers of 8+ who relish a good yarn.

My children's book of the year for 10+ is Frank Cottrell Boyce's Cosmic (Macmillan, £9.99/£9.49). How a boy of 11 ends up lost in space and gets his dad to rescue him by means of a mobile phone is funny, dramatic and a real Christmas star of a read.

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