This holiday season boasts a bounty of outstanding books for young readers

Read any good children's books lately?

If the answer is no, you haven't been trying, because publishers have rolled out some outstanding titles this fall.

From David Wiesner's surreal visual fantasy, "Flotsam," to M.T. Anderson's hair-raising National Book Award winner, "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation," this holiday season brings a bounty of choices for young readers.

To narrow your search, we've chosen about two dozen of our favorites, from lovable tales for the very young to more challenging novels for older teens.

Our roundup includes chapter books for middle-grade readers, non-fiction (including some handsome gift volumes) and a pop-up by an iconic illustrator.

Librarians and booksellers can further guide your search. Also check publishers' Web sites; they're easy to Google and they often post excerpts from new releases.

Happy hunting. Or, as we like to say around here, "Season's Readings."

PICTURE BOOKS

"Flotsam" By David Wiesner (Clarion, $17, ages 5-8)

A day at the beach turns surreal when a boy finds an old underwater camera that yields photos of undersea aliens and octopuses lounging on sofas. One photo even shows, in a series of images within images, every child who has ever found the camera -- up to now, that is. Told entirely through Wiesner's lively, detailed watercolors, this wordless voyage of imagination yields fresh delights with each viewing.

"Fletcher and the Falling Leaves"

By Julia Rawlinson, pictures by Tiphanie Beeke

(HarperCollins, $16.99, ages 3-7)

Fletcher, a young fox, frets as the leaves of a beloved tree turn brown and wither away. "Don't worry, it's only autumn," his mother says. He embarks nonetheless on a futile quest to save the leaves from wind and squirrels -- only to find nature has a more beautiful surprise in store. Lovely, smudgy pastels enhance the childlike charm of an endearing tale about compassion and the seasons of life.

"Black? White! Day? Night!"

By Laura Vaccaro Seeger

(Roaring Brook Press, $16.95, ages 2-8)

Clever die-cuts turn this graphically sophisticated "concept" book into a cunning take on opposites. Lift the page, and a black bat becomes the smile of a white ghost. Likewise, an "ordinary" sheep becomes "extraordinary" when viewed in its larger context -- floating in space.

"The Adventures of the Dish

and the Spoon"

By Mini Grey

(Random House, $16.95, ages 6-9)

The moon is shining, with cows jumping over, and the turntable is playing their tune. How can the dish and the spoon resist? The lovers run away, sail to America and form a hit vaudeville act -- until loan sharks and a rash crime shatter their dreams. Can these lovers find a second chance? This nursery-rhyme riff by the author of "Traction Man Is Here!" has goofy charm and whimsical retro-style art.

"The Red Lemon"

By Bob Staake

(Golden Books, $14.95, ages 4-8)

The sight of a rogue red lemon in his orchard irks Farmer McPhee and he tosses it out, but it sprouts on a nearby island and yields Coney Island-style wonders years later. The bold, graphic artwork is riveting, with jolly, fruit-label hues and roly-poly shapes that grab the eye.

"Just Like Heaven"

By Patrick McDonnell

(Little, Brown, $14.99, all ages)

While Mooch the cat naps under a tree, a fog creeps in, and Mooch wakes to think he's in heaven -- a place that looks strangely like home. Based on the comic strip "Mutts," this follow-up to "The Gift of Nothing" is a sweet, philosophical gem.

"The Night Before Christmas"

By Clement Moore, illustrated by Gennady Spirin

(Marshall Cavendish, $16.99, all ages)

Amid the countless versions of this 1823 classic, this stands out for the Old World feel of its lush, minutely detailed artwork by a lauded Russian-born illustrator who, incidentally, was born on Christmas Day. (For a blend of old and new, see the HarperCollins version by Port Townsend's Richard Jesse Watson -- same price.)

CHAPTER BOOKS

"The Green Glass Sea"

By Ellen Klages (Viking, 324 pages, $16.99, ages 9-12)

After months of separation, Dewey Kerrigan, 11, joins her father in Los Alamos, N.M., where adults are frantically working on a "gadget" to end World War II. Left largely on her own and derided as "Screwy Dewey," she spends her free time poring over "The Boy Mechanic" and building gizmos from salvaged bolts and springs -- until fate unites her with another misfit who needs a friend. Dewey's quiet dignity and sense of self are compelling, and Klages makes us feel we are inside the dusty, top-secret birthplace of the atomic bomb.

"Victory"

By Susan Cooper

(Simon & Schuster, 199 pages, $16.95, ages 9-12)

Two children, 200 years apart, are uprooted from home and must find a way to wrest victory from loss. Modern-day Molly pines for London after her American stepdad's job takes the family to Connecticut. Sam, a country boy pressed into service on HMS Victory, must summon the courage to do Lord Nelson proud at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The stories twine when an unseen hand guides Molly to a clue to the past. Cooper lends a "Master and Commander" realism to the nautical scenes and deftly shows why Lord Nelson was so venerated by crew and country.

"Miracle on 49th Street"

By Mike Lupica

(Philomel, 246 pages, $17.99,

ages 9-12)

Having lost her mother to cancer, 12-year-old Molly is determined to claim her father -- Josh Cameron, squeaky-clean basketball superstar with the Boston Celtics. Only problem is, Josh, who's single, never knew he had a child, so when Molly shows up, he smells a scam. Molly starts to believe her mother was right -- that the only things Josh Cameron cares about are basketball and himself. Lupica, a New York Daily News sports columnist with two previous children's best-sellers, spins a feel-good, holiday tale that transcends the sports genre.

"Ruby Lu, Empress of

Everything"

By Lenore Look, illustrated by Anne Wildsdorf

(Atheneum, 164 pages, $15.95, ages 6-10)

In this breezy tale, second-grader Ruby tries to adjust to life with her Chinese-immigrant relatives, including deaf cousin Flying Duck, who speaks Chinese sign language (cool) but leaves the toilet seat up (not cool). Throw in an on-and-off best friend, a stint as a Smile Buddy and a stray named Dogzilla and you have a spirited romp by a heroine aptly called an "Asian American Judy Moody."

"Toys Go Out"

By Emily Jenkins, pictures by Paul O. Zelinsky

(Random House, 117 pages, $16.95, ages 7-11)

Stories about the secret lives of toys have timeless appeal, and this collection is especially charming thanks to the childlike foibles of the personable toys. Lumphy the stuffed buffalo, StingRay (who sometimes says she knows things when she doesn't) and Plastic (who panics when she can't find herself in the animal encyclopedia) jostle for the Little Girl's affections, dread the washing machine and ponder the choice of a birthday present. Zelinsky's smudgy, black-and-white drawings add warmth without overwhelming the subtle text. Sure to be a classic.

POP-UPS / GIFT / POETRY

"Mommy?"

By Maurice Sendak, Arthur Yorinks and Matthew Reinhart

(Scholastic, $24.95, all ages)

Not just for kids, today's pop-ups are feats of jaw-dropping engineering. The genre's big "get" this fall is Maurice Sendak, who did original art for this nearly wordless adventure, which takes a Max-like toddler through a pleasantly scary house of horrors as he searches for Mom.

"Mouse Cookies & More: A Treasury"

By Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond

(HarperCollins, 224 pages, $24.99, ages 3-8)

Contains the modern classic, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," and three popular sequels, plus song CD, recipes and sheet music, in a handsome gift volume.

"Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant"

By Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Carin Berger

(HarperCollins, $16.99, all ages)

Seattle's Prelutsky, the nation's first children's poet laureate, uses clever wordplay to catalog such unlikely species as the Clocktopus and the Lynx of Chain. Great nonsense rhymes with eye-catching collage art.

TEEN

"An Abundance of Katherines"

By John Green

(Dutton, 229 pages, $16.99, ages 14-up)

Colin Singleton, former child prodigy, has just been dumped, by the 19th Katherine in his life. He also suspects he'll never be a real genius -- will never "matter." To cheer him up, his friend Hassan talks him into a post-graduation road trip that leads to an extended layover in Gutshot, Tenn., where the owner of a tampon-string factory hires them to do the town's oral histories -- and where the owner's daughter, Lindsey, sorely tests Colin's mathematical theorem of relationship predictability. Witty and fast-paced with spot-on dialogue, this is part buddy tale, part journey of self-discovery. The show-stealer is Hassan, a cheerful slacker of rotund proportions and a comfortable religiosity he sometimes honors more in the breach.

"The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party"

By M.T. Anderson

(Candlewick, 359 pages, $17.99, ages 14-up)

As the Revolution nears, Octavian enjoys a classical education and privileged upbringing at the College of Lucidity near Boston. True, not every boy is reared by men of science who daily weigh his excrement as well as his food intake, but, as Octavian learns, he is not merely a favored boarder, he is a science experiment -- one designed to prove the inferiority of the African race. Gripping, thought-provoking and occasionally horrifying, this powerful book explores the hypocrisy and cruelty where the ages of science and liberty intersect. The formal language will daunt some, and graphic passages will repel others, but this is first-class literature, a deserved winner of this year's National Book Award for young readers.

"Hattie Big Sky" By Kirby Larson

(Delacorte, 291 pages, $15.95, ages 12-up)

The death of a distant uncle hands 16-year-old Hattie her first chance at a home of her own -- a rugged homestead claim near Vida, Mont. "Bring warm clothes and a cat," warns Uncle Chester's will. The orphaned teen, tired of being Hattie-Here-and-There, travels from Iowa in 1918 in hopes of proving up the claim, only to face heartless weather, killer flu and an ugly strain of anti-German sentiment. Although the pioneer setting and prayerful references lend an old-fashioned flavor, readers will connect with this strong, resourceful character, inspired by the Kenmore author's own great-grandmother.

"The Boy Book" By E. Lockhart

(Delacorte, 208 pages, $15.95, ages 12-up)

Ruby Oliver, social leper, bravely heads off to junior year at Seattle's Tate Prep, hoping to recover from the debacle of the previous year, when she lost her three best friends (and boyfriend) by violating dating rules codified in their journal, The Boy Book. As heart-tugging and funny as 2005's "The Boyfriend List," this sequel quickly catches newbies up on the action as Ruby tries to figure out who she is, what she wants and how to balance the demands of friendship and romance. Mild sexual scenes.

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"

By John Boyne (Random House, 218 pages, $15.95, ages 12-up)

Bruno, age 9, is in the dark about why his family must leave Berlin for a lonely outpost called "Out-With," about why the "Fury" is so central to his father's career, and why he sees a town of pajama-clad people from his bedroom window. One day he forms a secret friendship with Shmuel, a gray-faced boy from the far side of the fence, only to discover the high cost of innocence. Told from Bruno's naive viewpoint, the story hints at menace but relies on readers' knowledge of the Holocaust to fill in the terrible blanks.

NON-FICTION

"Small Steps: The Year I Got

Polio"Tenth Anniversary Edition

By Peg Kehret (Albert Whitman & Co., 205 pages, $15.95, ages 9-14)

Kehret was 12 and eager for a night of homecoming fun when strange muscle twitches, fatigue and a classroom fainting spell sent her home to bed one day in 1949. When she awoke, she was paralyzed from the neck down. In a simple, direct style that is disarmingly affecting, Kehret chronicles her long road home. Not to be missed, this inspiring account by a popular local children's writer has family photos, polio facts and an update on Kehret's brave roommates from the Sheltering Arms.

"The American Story"

By Jennifer Armstrong, illustrated by Roger Roth

(Knopf, 358 pages, $34.95, ages 8-12)

Armstrong, a top-notch chronicler of history, reveals the nation's past through 100 illustrated tales spanning 1565 to 2000. Columbus is out, the Founding Fathers are in -- and so are Lizzie Borden, "ping pong diplomacy," Kennewick Man and other less-traveled topics. This lively volume includes a thematic index.

"Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book"

By Steven Caney

(Running Press, 608 pages, $36, ages 8-up

After explaining the history and mechanics of buildings and bridges, Caney offers project ideas involving toothpicks, pasta, coat hangers and other everyday objects. This thick workbook also gives pros and cons of various glues, tapes and tools so kids can transfer new skills to their own designs. There's not much eye candy here, but crafty kids will enjoy the wealth of practical information.

"Go! The Whole World of Transportation"

By Samone Bos, Phil Hunt and Andrea Mills

(DK, 240 pages, $26.99, ages 8-teen)

With its usual visual flair, DK sweeps us through every form of "getting there" -- from Vietnamese basket boats to monster trucks. With timelines, cutaways (see inside a Boeing 747) and breakouts such as the "Mechanics of Sailing." Fascinating stuff.

"Be Water, My Friend: The Early Years of Bruce Lee"

By Ken Mochizuki, illustrated by Dom Lee

(Lee & Low, $16.95, ages 6-9)

Bruce Lee was an acrobatic child with thick glasses, a love of reading and a habit of fighting on the Hong Kong streets, forgetting that martial arts requires the gentle strength of water. This picture biography follows his life, and life lessons, up to age 18, then briefly notes his years at the University of Washington, his difficult path to stardom and his early death. (His grave is in Seattle.) An engaging account by a local author, with striking sepia artwork made with a scratched-wax technique.

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