Here are some favourite children's books published this year, as chosen by the children's librarians at North Vancouver District Public Library. We pick books we like, then think up a category for them to win!

Any of these would make an excellent gift choice (hint, hint).

BOARD BOOKS:

- Best picture book into a board book format (with puffy pages): Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury, 32 pages, $10.99

Fox's lyrical text with the repetition of "each little baby, as everyone knows, has ten little fingers and ten little toes" is the perfect book for a brand new baby.

- Best art books designed for babies! Learn to Count: with Northwest Coast Native Art (four titles in series ), NativeNorwest/Native Elements, $6.95

The colour and counting board books in this series are particularly beautiful and are a grand addition to any Northwest coast home!

PICTURE BOOKS:

- Best book to put you to sleep (in a good way): Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy by Denise Fleming, Henry Holt, 32 pages, $19.99

You won't want to miss any of the cute and cuddly baby animals settling down for the night, but it's hard to keep your eyes open to the end. For babies to pre-schoolers.

- Best picture book for a parent-to-be: The Boss Baby by Marla Frazee, Beach Lane Books, 32 pages, $19.99

Deadpan text and hilarious illustration compare a new baby to a bad boss: high maintenance, difficult to figure out, with impossible expectations and demands. However, babies have some redeeming qualities.

- Best picture book for cat lovers: Nini Lost and Found by Anita Lobel, Alfred A Knopf, 32 pages, $20.99.

Scrumptious paintings and a story every person owned by a cat knows by heart.

- Best politically incorrect picture book: Shark Vs. Train by Chris Barton, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 32 pages, $19.99

Competition and one-upmanship run amok! Violence! Name-calling! Everything boys shouldn't like, but do, in a colourful and energetic package.

- Best moral support for beleaguered big sisters: Big Red Lollipop, by Rkhsana Khan, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, Viking, 40 pages, $21.00

Rubina is mortified when her mom makes her bring her little sister along to a birthday party. Totally charming, with an unexpected twist at the end.

- Best meta-fiction for six-year-olds: We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggy Book) by Mo Willems, Hyperion, 64 pages, $9.99

In this new addition to the beloved and addictive early-reader series, Gerald and Piggie discover that someone (you!) is reading the book that they are in. Quick, turn the page so they can see what happens next!

- Best picture book for anyone of any age who prefers a book to new technology: It's A Book by Lane Smith, Roaring Brook, unpaged, $15.99

This is book vs. computer in the simplest of formats, bound to elicit a chuckle from anyone who still prefers to read paper!

Illustrated chapter books for Grades 1-4

- Best 'opposites attract' characters: Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, Candlewick Press, 80 pages, $19.00.

Gollie is calm, tall and precocious. Bink is short, frenetic, effusive and spontaneous -- but the two remain friends despite their differences.

- Best antidote for an overdose of "Rainbow Magic": The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz and Angela Barrett, Candlewick Press, 117 pages, $20.00

Flory is not cute, and she's not sweet: she's a bad-tempered, stubborn, selfish little fairy, and she's utterly entrancing anyway.

- Best continuing series: It's a three-way tie! We were happy to see several of our book friends back for more adventures (and laughs!)

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-Made Catastrophes, by Lenore Look and LeUyen Pham, Schwartz & Wade Books, 186 pages, $18.99

Alvin barely survived a camping trip and now he faces something even scarier: a birthday party. A girl's birthday party.

Clementine, Friend of the Week, by Sara Pennypacker and Marla Frazee, Disney-Hyperion Books, 161 pages, $17.99

The irrepressible Clementine has a hard time enjoying her turn as Friend of the Week in school when she discovers that her beloved kitten Moisturizer is missing.

Ivy + Bean: What's by Big Idea?, by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall, Chronicle Books, 131 pages, $16.99

That dynamic duo are back, and this time they're determined to have the best project in the school Science Fair -- and solve global warming while they're at it.

Information books

- Best "That's so gross!!!" book: Extreme Bugs: Creepy and Crawly, Mad and Bad, by Stever Parker and Stuart Martin, Carlton Books, 32 pages, $27.50

Similar in format to the popular -Ology books, this scrapbook-style collection offers plenty of fun facts that will leave you itching and twitching.

- Best incredibly cool details: Bones: Skeletons and How They Work by Steve Jenkins, Scholastic Press, 48 pages, $21.99

Marvel at Steve Jenkins' intricate paper-cut illustrations of human and other skeletons -- on a two page spread he lays out all 206 human bones, and then it unfolds to show a complete skeleton.

- Best book to make you do things: This Book Made Me Do It by John Woodward, DK, 192 pages, $22.99

Make crystals, learn origami, knit, figure out a magic trick, survive in a desert, identify poisonous snakes, avoid a shark attack. This book is for the child who wants to know a little bit about everything!

- Most likely to inspire a future Giller Prize winner: Spilling Ink, a Young Writer's Handbook, by Ellen Potter and Anne Mazer, Flash Point, 275 pages, $11.99

A friendly, encouraging, accessible writing guide with truly helpful tips and "I Dare You!" prompts. Invaluable for young aspiring authors -- and some older ones, too!

- Best book for the builder in your family: Built to Last by David Macaulay, Houghton, 272 pages, $24.99

Macaulay updates and collects his classics: Cathedral, Castle and Mosque in one handy-dandy and heavy volume! For anyone with a penchant for architecture as art.

Novels for Grades 4-7

- Best start to a long overdue series: Prisoner of Dieppe by Hugh Brewster, Scholastic Canada, 223 pages, $14.99

Finally, the companion series to the excellent "Dear Canada" fictional diaries about girls in different times in Canadian history: "I Am Canada" features fictional journal/memoirs about boys and teens, and the series is launched with a vivid and realistic account of the lead-up to and fallout from the Dieppe raid in the Second World War. Who says Canadian history is boring?! Also look for Blood and Iron: Building the Railway by Paul Yee.

- Best fictional research study, with pictures: The Popularity Papers, by Amy Ignatow, Harry N. Abrams, 204 pages, $18.95

Best friends Lydia and Julie set out to study the popular girls in their Grade 5 class so they can become popular too. The results are disastrous, hilarious and, ultimately, enlightening.

- Best cross-over fantasy for older kids, teens and adults since Harry Potter: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathon Stroud, Hyperion, 398 pages, $17.99.

This is the prequel to the Bartimaeus trilogy featuring a snarky, witty, irreverent and satirical "djinni." The Queen of Sheba's assassin is after King Solomon's ring, and Bartimaeus has become bound to serve her will against a legion of powerful magicians. (Bartimaeus is four times as snarky as any other fantasy character I've met!) Also this year, The Amulet of Samarkand, the first title in the trilogy, has been released as a graphic novel, illustrated by Lee Sullivan.

- Best graphic novel for older fans of Rick Riordan: The Odyssey, adapted and illustrated by Gareth Hinds, Candlewick, 252 pages, $24.99.

Yes, we know that The Lightning Thief is also newly released as a graphic novel, but if you've already read the novels, you'll want something more substantial. Here's a full dose of Greek mythology and legend! Gareth Hinds is the outstanding creator of other graphic novels including The Merchant of Venice and Beowulf.

If you don't find these books in your Christmas stocking, you can always check them out at the library. Visit www.nvdpl.ca for holiday hours and details of Christmas open house celebrations.