As the countdown to Christmas begins we look at some of the books that would make the best presents for children. We take personal tips from our Twitter followers, and get the expert view from Guardian children's books editor Julia Eccleshare.
We find out how humour makes the words go down in an interview with Andy Stanton, author of the best-selling Mr Gum books, and we talk politics with the poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen, who explains why some books that we, as adults, remember with affection might not be right for the children of today.
Reading List:
Mr Gum and the Secret Hideout by Andy Stanton (Egmont, 8+)
Mother Goose Treasury by Raymond Briggs, (Puffin, 0+)
We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury (Walker, 2+)
Cave Baby by Julia Donaldson and Emily Gravett (Macmillan, 3+)
Aesop's Fables retold by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Fulvio Testa (Andersen Press, 5+)
Amazing Pop Up Machines by Robert Crowther (Walker, 6+)
Wild Alphabet (Kingfisher, 6+)
Alienology (Templar, 8+)
Withering Tights by Louise Rennison (HarperCollins (9+)
Letters from an Alien Schoolboy by Ros Asquith (Piccadilly, 9+)
Our tweeters recommend:
Persephone: A Journey from Winter to Spring by Sally Pomme Clayton and Virginia Lee (Frances Lincoln)
Green Knowe series by Lucy M Boston (Faber)
Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne (David Fickling)
Ottoline at Sea by Chris Riddell (Macmillan)
Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper (Bodley Head)
Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (OUP)
