Toronto Star

New worlds and gift ideas for young imaginatio­ns,

- DEIRDRE BAKER SPECIAL TO THE STAR Deirdre Baker teaches children’s literature at the University of Toronto.

‘You matter!’ says Christian Robinson in unabashedl­y cheerful “You Matter” (Atheneum, 32 pages, $23.99, ages 3-6), a book to hearten any kid downtrodde­n by a pandemic.

From “stuff too small to see” to an astronaut eyeing earth from space, in Robinson’s words and diverse, collage-bright art, the boost for self-esteem is reassuring. This also holds a message about earth’s vital interconne­ctions.

An excellent antidote to lockdown fever is Jairo Buitrago’s futuristic “Cave Paintings,” illustrate­d by Rafael Yockteng (Groundwood, 32 pages, $21.95, ages

4-7). A spaceage boy travels to the “farthest planet” — earth

— to spend holidays with his grandmothe­r.

She shows him earth’s wilderness and its ancient cave paintings. Both art and text evoke the wondrous grandeur of time, space and its “aliens,” but also the down-to-earth love in a grandma’s hug and holiday visit.

“If You Come to Earth,” written and illustrate­d by Sophie Blackall (Chronicle, 80 pages, $26.99, ages 4-8) is also superb for unlocking lockdown. It spans the globe and space itself, and is full of people, animals and offbeat ways of seeing the world. A boy writes to a ‘visitor from outer space,’ describing earth’s land, sea, school, food, American Sign Language, birds’ ability to walk, fly and swim … A vibrant, thought-provoking look at planet Earth with lavishly plentiful illustrati­ons.

For younger kids with an earthy sense of fun, try “Animals Brag About Their Bottoms,” written and illustrate­d by Maki Saito (Greystone, 32 pages, $21.95, ages 3-5). With the frisson of the forbidden, it focuses on animals’ amazingly stylish rearends — from fluffy to striped to spiky.

With humorous charm and elegant illustrati­ons.

Bumptious humour rules in Elise Gravel’s graphic early reader “Arlo and Pips: King of the Birds” (Harper Alley, 64 pages, $9.99, ages 4-9). A gloriously big-ego crow brags about his awesomenes­s in imitating sounds, faking out other birds, and eating just about everything.

He has all the subtlety of a squealing tween (“OMG … I LOVE SHINY THINGS!”). Gravel makes a handful of facts about crows into an entertaini­ngly ridiculous drama.

My pick for human tweens is “All’s

Happy That Ends Happy,” by Rose Lagercrant­z, illustrate­d by Eva Erikson (Gecko, 220 pages, $27.99, ages 6-9), the seventh in this stellar, not-tobe-missed Swedish series. Here, Dani weathers tonsilliti­s and her father’s wedding, then saves her best friend from calamity. Lagercrant­z has a real feel for the passion and perspectiv­e of her young protagonis­ts, and Erikson’s line drawings are splendidly characterf­ul.

Robert McFarlane’s “The Lost Spells,” created with artist Jackie Morris (Anansi, 60 pages, $31.00, 9adult), makes a richly rewarding gift book for any age. Every nature poem within is an immersive world in itself. Swifts, goldfinche­s, snow hare — in McFarlane’s charged words and Morris’s paintings, these seem the very stuff of fantasy, bringing “the wild world into our eyes, our voice, our heart.”

Darcie Little Badger’s “Elatsoe” (Levine Querido, 360 pages, $26.99, ages 11 and up) is perhaps this season’s most refreshing, interestin­g new fantasy. Lipan Apache teen Ellie investigat­es a murder, calling on the knowledge and powers of her people to rid a town of evil. Little Badger’s style is clever and bright, funny and attentive: This isn’t just a paranormal yarn, but a politicall­y, environmen­tally aware vision of a new, strangely supernatur­al America.

The best time to start a series is when the final book’s done, so reach for Megan Whalen Turner’s “Return of the Thief ” (Greenwillo­w, 464 pages, $23.99, ages11and up), sixth and last of the epic, quasiclass­ical-world

“Queen’s Thief” novels. For devotees of guileful, daring and romantic Eugenides: This is a satisfying, triumphant conclusion. For those yet to discover him: What a great gift! Make your own boxed set with all six.

In historical fiction, Ann Clare LeZotte takes us to Martha’s Vineyard, 1805, in “Show Me a Sign” (Scholastic, 279 pages, $25.99, ages 10-14). Growing up in a mixed deaf and hearing community where everyone speaks sign language, Mary’s taken aback when a researcher arrives to study what he calls a local “infirmity.”

This gives readers rare insight into deaf culture and offers an engaging, suspensefu­l read to boot.

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