Happy Holidays! My name is Miranda Clark. I'm the director of the Center for Children's and Young Adult Literature at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The Center has an examination collection here on campus that showcases the newest children and young adult literature that has been
published in that last 18 months. This holiday season books are a great gift, especially for the young people on your list.
Need some ideas? Here are five wonderful, new books. If you like surprises, you'll love,
"What's Coming For Christmas" by Kate Banks and pictures by George Hallensleben.
While a little boy and girl are getting ready for the holidays, something special is happening in the barn that turns out to be the best
surprise of all. A fun conversation with the toddler on your list would be "Hello Baby!" by Mem Fox,
who asks, "Are you a monkey with clever toes? Perhaps you're a porcupine twitching your nose."
The life-like collage illustrations by Steve Jenkins are bound to captivate.
For the aspiring marine biologist on your list, try another book written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins
called, "Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea," where you'll learn about creatures from the Coral Reef down to the Marianas Trench.
"Leviathan" by Scott Westerfeld is an alternate of history set at the cusp of the first World War.
Two unlikely allies from opposites sides of the battlefield unite aboard the Leviathan,
a whale airship and the most masterful beast in the British fleet. Finally, in a season full of wishes for peace
and joy, we have the story of "14 Cows For America," written by Carmen Deedy and illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez,
which tells the story of an unusual gift from the Masai people of Kenya to the people of the United States
as a condolence for the attacks of September 11.
Deedy writes, "Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort."