Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Ogres, dragons and bears never go out of style in children’s books. This year they’re joined by Muggles, pencils and an easily distracted French boy. If you’re looking for gifts for your kids, here’s a list of notable picture books, arranged alphabetically by title.

“Adele and Simon in America” by Barbara McClintock (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.95). After losing his stuff at all the great landmarks of Paris in “Adele and Simon,” an absent- minded boy and his long-suffering sister visit their aunt in the U.S., taking in everything from Boston Public Garden (check out the ducklings!) to a farm in North Dakota and San Francisco’s Chinatown. As always, McClintock’s fabulously detailed Victorian- style pen-and-watercolor drawings repay close study.

“Astronaut Handbook” (Knopf, $16.99) and “Seabiscuit the Wonder Horse” (Simon & Schuster, $15.99) by Meghan McCarthy. McCarthy has made a specialty of offbeat nonfiction. She certainly knows her audience: Her astronaut book features a full- page picture of a space toilet, while Seabiscuit sports a nervous, toothy smile. Perfect for the “Why, why?” set.

“Awful Ogre Running Wild” by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (Greenwillow, $17.99). My favorite book of the year stars a giant one-eyed ogre who eats manticore sandwiches with his spry 2,073-year-old grandma, spends a day dragon watching, takes his ogress on a picnic and even does ogre yoga. Prelutsky’s intricate poems find humor in big words a la Lemony Snicket, while Zelinsky’s lighthearted illustrations depict His Awfulness as a genial presence.

Happy Bats

“Bats at the Library” by Brian Lies (Houghton Mifflin, $16). Too many books about books insist, didactically, that Reading Is Fun. Not this one. On bat night at the library, our flying friends photocopy themselves and swim in the water fountain before finally becoming engrossed in the books themselves. The author ends with several witty pages of bats taking the roles of familiar characters from Little Red Riding Hood to Winnie-the-Pooh.

“Marveltown” by Bruce McCall (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.95). McCall is known for his New Yorker covers of fantastical scenes done in a vaguely retro style. His first picture book doesn’t have much of a plot -- there are a bunch of kids living in a town filled with incredible inventions -- but it gives him free rein to draw floating highways and an incredible Invent-o- Drome.

“Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, $17.99). Best known for his precocious mouse preschoolers, such as Lilly with the purple plastic purse, Henkes also writes gorgeous books for the youngest children. As Old Bear sleeps through the winter, he dreams his way through four vividly colored seasons, finding giant flowers, rain made of blueberries and a sparkling, icy sky. A classic.

Shrek and Friends

“The One and Only Shrek! Plus Five Other Stories” by William Steig (Square Fish, $29.95). The stories in this volume aren’t new, but seize the opportunity of “Shrek: The Musical” opening on Broadway to introduce your children to one of the most literate, inventive writers around. Besides the famous ogre, there’s Pearl, who finds a talking bone, and Spinky, who sulks in his hammock for days, and Dr. DeSoto, the amazing mouse dentist who outsmarts his patient, the fox.

“The Pencil” by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman (Candlewick, $16.99). In the tradition of “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” a lonely pencil draws himself some friends and a paintbrush to give them color. Everything is going swimmingly until he creates a rogue eraser, and has to do some quick thinking.

Rowling Returns

“Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie” by Norton Juster and Chris Raschka (Scholastic, $16.95). In this sequel to the Caldecott- winning “The Hello, Goodbye Window,” a little girl visiting her grandparents can be either adorable or a real grump. Juster’s words and Raschka’s jazzy pictures perfectly capture a preschooler’s swift mood changes.

“The Tales of Beedle the Bard” by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $12.99). Rowling originally handwrote seven copies of this book of wizardly folk tales for her friends and for charity. Now your Harry Potter completist can have his or her own copy, but don’t set your expectations too high -- Harry doesn’t appear in the book, and it doesn’t approach the charm and wit of Rowling’s full-length novels.

“Too Many Toys” by David Shannon (Scholastic, $16.99). The author of “No, David!” is known for bold, in-your-face illustrations drawn from unusual angles -- his books often feature a good look inside a screaming mouth. This time the visible molars belong to Spencer’s mom, who trips over train tracks while carrying the laundry. Spencer’s lavishly imagined collection crowds the pages, and Shannon goes to town creating toys that look familiar but aren’t knockoffs of real items.

(Laurie Muchnick is an editor for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Laurie Muchnick in New York at lmuchnick@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 12, 2008 00:01 EST