Return of the Time Travelers

Characters travel through space and time, encounter mysterious creatures and more in an assortment of new installments. Of the first book, Stravaganza: City of Masks, PW said, "The Renaissance backdrop [and Venetian-style city] set an elegant mood for the time-travel toggling." This time a miniature model of a winged horse (another talisman of the Stravaganti, a brotherhood of scientists who use talismans to travel between time periods) sends 15-year-old equestrian Georgia to a 16th-century version of Tuscany in Stravaganza: City of Stars by Mary Hoffman. There Georgia gets caught up in the intrigue surrounding the birth of a real winged horse. (Bloomsbury, $17.95 464p ages 10-up ISBN 1-58234-839-1; Oct.)

In the fifth installment of Bruce Coville's Magic Shop series, Juliet Dove, Queen of Love, a mysterious woman gives shy, plain Juliet a magic amulet. Suddenly, all the boys in her class start noticing her—and falling in love with her. Juliet doesn't want all the attention, but she can't get the amulet to come off. (Harcourt, $17 208p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-15-204561-9; Oct.)

In the seventh book in the Young Wizards series, Wizard's Holiday by Diane Duane, Nita and her friend Kit go on vacation to a planet halfway across the galaxy, as part of a wizard cultural exchange program. Meanwhile, three very strange alien wizards visit Nita's father and her sister Dairine on Earth. (Harcourt, $17 432p ages 12-up ISBN 0-15-204771-9; Oct.)

Wolf Wing by Tanith Lee is the final installment in the four-book series. Claidi and Argul are finally married, but their lazy life in Peshamba is not all they expected. Argul misses his former life as leader of the Hulta and they both miss a life of adventure. Then they receive a mysterious summons from Argul's powerful grandmother and a perilous new episode begins. (Dutton, $16.99 240p ages 12-up ISBN 0-525-47162-6; Oct.)

First published individually in 1989 and 1990, The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, Wings by Terry Pratchett tells the story of a small band of four-inch-tall nomes, led by young Masklin, who join a larger society of nomes living in a human department store. When they learn that the Store is to be destroyed, various rival factions come together to find safety, and learn the surprising truth about their origins. (HarperCollins, $17.99 512p ages 10-up ISBN 0-06-009493-1; Oct.)

Isabel, her friend Ethan, and her brother Matt are members of The Named, introduced in the launch title of the Guardians of Time series by Marianne Curley. Having sworn to defend the past against evil forces that would distort history itself, now the trio must join together against the vengeful Goddess of Chaos to rescue their mentor Arkarian from the horrific underworld in The Dark. (Bloomsbury, $16.95 336p ages 10-up ISBN 1-58234-853-7; Oct.)

Warriors: Forest of Secrets by Erin Hunter is the third title in the series about warring clans of feral cats. Food is scarce, so tensions escalate between the four clans of the forest, and young Fireheart suspects the loyalty of his own ThunderClan deputy, Tigerclaw. (HarperCollins, $15.99 336p ages 10-up ISBN 0-06-000004-X; Oct.)

In Pure Dead Brilliant, Debi Gliori's follow-up to Pure Dead Magic and Pure Dead Wicked, things are as chaotic as ever at the family castle StregaSchloss. Twelve-year-old Titus is about to inherit his grandfather's entire fortune—if his Uncle Lucifer doesn't get his hands on it instead, and strange things start happening when Titus's mother invites her witch classmates to visit. (Knopf, $17.99 272p ages 10-up ISBN 0-375-81412-4; Oct.)

In its U.S. debut, Wild Robert, a humorous fantasy from Diana Wynne Jones, illus. by Mark Zug, Heather's parents serve as curators at Castlemaine, the stately home where she lives. Trying to escape the tourist crowds, Heather climbs a secluded, peculiar mound reputed to be the grave of a man with magical powers who died 350 years ago. But when she accidentally summons the mischievous Wild Robert from the distant past, things really get out of control. (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, $15.99 112p ages 7-up ISBN 0-06-055530-0; Sept.)

Light the Lights

Joining the roster of Hanukkah books (" 'Tis the Season," Sept. 22), The Hanukkah Candle Kit: Everything You Need to Make Eight Nights of Lights by Jordan Abramson comes with sheets of colored beeswax, wicks, glitter and instructions—even a box for storing or presenting the candles as a gift. A 64-page paperback outlines the history of the holiday, prayers, song lyrics, craft activities, etc. (Running Press Kids, $19.95 ages 6-up ISBN 0-7624-1561-4; Nov.)

Enduring Favorites

Collections of children's classics pay homage to the best of children's literature, folk and fairy tales. Timeless tales continue to thrill each new generation in The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen: A New Translation from the Danish, selected and translated by Diana Crone Frank and Jeffrey Frank, including original illus. by Vilhelm Pedersen and Lorenz Frolich. A brief biography of Andersen introduces 22 stories, including "Thumbelisa" (aka Thumbelina) about a tiny girl no bigger than one's thumb; "The Little Mermaid," probably Andersen's best-known story, but with its original dark ending; and of course "The Ugly Duckling" who grows into a beautiful swan. (Houghton, $27 352p all ages ISBN 0-618-22456-4; Nov.)

The Illustrated Treasury of Fairy Tales pairs 10 classics with illustrations by award-winning artists. A chorus of fashionable flappers, rendered by Roberto Innocenti, brings to life Charles Perrault's "Cinderella"; a group of contemporary boys with differing skin tones star as the sibling suitors for the hand of a princess in Grimm's "The Queen Bee"; "Bushy Bride," a Norwegian fairy tale about a beautiful girl and her wicked stepsister, comes alive with humorous and startling pastel images on brown textured backgrounds by Seymour Chwast; and John Collier's corpse-like rendering of the old fairy who gives "The Sleeping Beauty" her curse may well give youngsters nightmares. (Creative Editions, $29.95 352p ages 11-up ISBN 1-56846-144-5; Oct.)

Stories of royalty, magic and conflict passed down by generations of Italian peasants have been gathered in Beautiful Angiola: The Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales, ed. by Laura Gonzenbach, trans. by Jack Zipes, illus. by Joellyn Rock. In "Sorfarina," a prince marries a beautiful woman, but can't forget an old insult. In a tale much like Puss in Boots, a clever fox helps a poor man fool the king and marry the princess in "Count Piro." The title story, a variation of Rapunzel, features a witch who locks up Angiola in a tower, and climbs up on her long braids. (Routledge [212-216-7835], $30 390p all ages ISBN 0-415-96808-9; Oct.)

The Kingfisher Book of Nursery Tales, retold by Vivan French, illus. by Stephen Lambert, playfully retells eight of the best-known fairy tales, including "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," "Little Red Riding Hood," with charming spot illustrations and full-bleed paintings; each story uses a patterned border at the opening and as a running head next to the title, to differentiate it from the others. (Kingfisher, $15 96p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-7534-5482-3; Nov.)

An Illustrated Treasury of Read-Aloud Classics for Young People: Ten-Minute Selections from the World's Best-Loved Books for Parent and Child to Share includes selections brief enough to cover before bedtime and whet the appetite for more. Vintage illustrations bring to life excerpts from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl; The Call of the Wild by Jack London; a handful of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories; and the scene in which the fox meets The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupéry, to name a few. In the same series, An Illustrated Treasury of Read-Aloud Poems for Young People gathers more than 100 poems, nursery rhymes and songs, including "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by Robert Browning, "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat," and "Caged Bird" by Maya Angelou. (Black Dog & Leventhal, $14.95 216p ages 9-12 ISBN 1-57912-288-4; 192p -289-2; Oct.)

In another collection of poems, Up the Hill and Down: Poems for the Very Young, compiled by William Jay Smith, illus. by Allan Eitzen, some 29 carefully chosen poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many lesser known poets feature bouncy rhymes and imaginative themes. Smith includes several of his own original poems, and the groupings by subject plus the diverse, child-friendly illustrations make for much amusement. (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, $16.95 32p ages 3-8 ISBN 1-56387-028-7; Oct.)

More than 75 selections from the works of a master storyteller are collected in The Roald Dahl Treasury, first published in 1997, and now available in paperback. With excerpts from his most popular books—Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; James and the Giant Peach; Matilda and more—as well as stories, poems, letters and essays, this hefty volume overflows with fascinating characters, clever wordplay and much merriment. Nothing was off-limits to Dahl's irreverent humor, including a version of Cinderella (from Revolting Rhymes) that begins: "I guess you think you know this story./ You don't. The real one's much more gory." Quentin Blake, Lane Smith, Ralph Steadman and others lend their visual interpretations to the fun. (Viking, $19.99 448p ages 8-up ISBN 0-670-03665-X; Oct.)

Geraldine McCaughrean retells the oldest recorded story, adapted for children, in Gilgamesh the Hero, illus. by David Parkins. The great king Gilgamesh fights Huwawa, Guardian of the Cedar Forests, slays the Bull of Heaven, seeks the secret of immortality and travels the world in this dramatic story of a powerful ruler who is both loved and hated by his people. (Eerdmans, $18 96p ages 9-up ISBN 0-8028-5262-9; Sept.)

Inga Moore's illustrations lend a luminous air to the tale of Mole, Mr. Toad, Badger and Rat in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, abridged by Moore. She uses delicate pen-and-ink drawings and watercolor wash to convey framed images of cobblestone streets, spot illustrations of Badger's welcoming hearth and wide framed expanses of the countryside. (Candlewick, $19.99 184p all ages ISBN 0-7636-2242-7; Oct.)

Originally published in 2001 as a reference book, The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, ed. by Bernice E. Cullinan and Diane G. Person, is now available in a lower-priced trade edition for a wider audience. This comprehensive resource features brief biographies of 1200 authors and illustrators from Verna Aardema to Lisbeth Zwerger. In addition, nearly 100 essays on subjects ranging from African-American literature to censorship, Mother Goose to young adult literature are included. Photographs of authors and artists break up the text, and a table of contents and index direct readers to subjects of interest. (Continuum, $59.95 884p ISBN 0-8264-1516-4; Oct.)