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KIDS' Q&A: ROBERT SABUDA
It happens every time: customers walk by the display of Robert Sabuda's Winter's Tale, casually flip it open to the first page, and their jaws drop. "Wow," they say, over and over again. Wow, indeed. Since the 1990s, Sabuda has been at the center of a children's pop-up revolution, designing astonishing books including The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and, with Matthew Reinhart (creator of the fabulous new Cinderella: A Pop-Up Fairy Tale), Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up! And he even can do a headstand! Read our Q&A with Robert Sabuda and you'll be impressed, too. For a limited time, save 30% on both Winter's Tale and Sabuda's gorgeously illustrated Christmas cards.

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KIDS' Q&A: DAVID CARTER
Robert Sabuda says you should read David Carter, so he must be good! With more than a dozen pop-up books already published, Carter outdoes himself with his latest paper sculptures in One Red Dot, an interactive visual adventure. In our Q&A, learn about his arachnidan officemate, as well as why it's a good thing he's not a rock star — and save 30% on One Red Dot.

KIDS' Q&A: LOUISE MARLEY
Louise Marley has been a professional musician and music teacher for years, so it's no surprise that her novels are similarly musical. In Singer in the Snow, her first for young adults, music literally keeps the people of frosty Nevya alive. Find out what else inspires this multi-talented author in our exclusive Q&A, and take 30% off the list price of Singer in the Snow.

VOCABULARY INTERMISSION
twaddle n. idle chitchat; foolish chatter. See slipslop.

2005 GIFT PICKS FOR KIDS
With so many fantastic books to choose from, we thought you might need a little help finding the perfect gift. From classics to brand spankin' new titles, from art to poetry to cooking to folktales, from board books to young adult novels, there is something on this list for every kid in your life. You'll probably find a few you want for yourself while you're at it.

NEW ARRIVALS
Everyone's talking about them. All over the store you can hear the murmurs. Cicely Mary Barker's Fairyopolis. Gloria Estefan's The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog. Cecily von Ziegesar's new series, The It Girl. The Nancy Drew Cookbook: Clues to Good Cooking. They're all here. It's just too much to keep to yourself!

VOCABULARY INTERMISSION
slipslop n. trivial conversation or writing. See twaddle.

MARY'S FANTASY FAVORITES
If you like Harry Potter, there are a slew of options that you might also enjoy (after you've read The Half-Blood Prince again, of course). All three of the Gregor the Overlander books by Suzanne Collins, in which Gregor falls into another world under New York, are nearly impossible to put down. The other night I stayed up way too late finishing the The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, a spinoff of a Grimm's fairy tale. And the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, which involves clans of cats in the wild, is another recent favorite. But what still stands at the top of my fantasy list is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Sure, you can wait for the new movie version, but why, when the book is such a treasure? Check out my recommendations and even more in our children's sci-fi and fantasy aisles.

KIDS' BESTSELLERS

1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (Classics) 2. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Newbery Award Winners) 3. The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket (Middle Readers) 4. HarperCollins Student Notebook: Webster's Dictionary by Webster's (Reference) 5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (Science Fiction and Fantasy) 6. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (Young Adult) 7. Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne (Chapter Books) 8. The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle (Board Books) 9. Lewis and Clark by Steven Kroll (Pacific Northwest) 10. Let's Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans (Science)