No one is born knowing how to...

No one is born knowing how to read a map. Sara Fanelli helps introduce the idea with My Map Book, an idiosyncratic, innovative concept book meant to orient kids confused by their rapidly expanding world. Artfully, she uses a small child’s most immediate surroundings--”Map of My Bedroom,” “Map of My Tummy,” “Map of My Heart,” “Map of My Face” and so on--to explain maps as nifty tools for navigating the universe. By taking advantage of kids’ natural visual expertise, she is able to “teach” in a most unpedantic way. With mixed-media collages that are as playful as they are quirky, this is a witty example of creative nonfiction, a particularly difficult combination to pull off for a young age group.

More straightforwardly, My First Book of How Things Are Made by George Jones is an unexpectedly engrossing examination of how raw materials are turned into the things we use every day. With clear, concise photo essays, Jones takes apart and puts together bluejeans, orange juice, guitars, peanut butter, grape jelly, crayons, footballs and books. I have been lucky enough to see books being produced, and flashes of this experience come to mind nearly every time I hold a volume. “How Things Are Made” hints at complicated processes that will add depth to a young reader’s view of the practical world.

Adding another kind of depth might be the point of Lives and Legends of the Saints by art museum educator Carole Armstrong. It also makes an attractive treasury that will pique the curiosity of a wide range of people. This stately congregation of 20 martyrs and miracle-workers--including the patron saints of hairstylists, librarians, toothache-sufferers, ecologists and Boy Scouts--combines their biographies with magnificent paintings from the world’s great art museums.

A courageous book in an area where most publishers are doing little is Being Different: Lambda Youths Speak Out. This collection of interviews with gay and lesbian teens reveals a multitude of voices and experiences. It’s designed for adolescents seeking support and self-understanding or for those interested in expanding their tolerance and knowledge. It includes a list of more than 200 relevant organizations, support groups, bookstores and Internet resources. As many of the interviews make clear, author Larry Dane Brimner has written a book that could actually save lives when kids find themselves in crisis.

On a more frivolous note, everyone needs a copy of Contemplating Your Bellybutton by Jun Nanao, illustrated by Tomoko Hasegawa. Whimsical yet informative, this is a meditation on something that--admit it--has puzzled and absorbed all of us at one time or another. This Japanese import was first published in 1985--yes, it took 10 years before the United States was ready--and it’s part of the anatomically correct series that includes Taro Gomi’s ever-popular “Everyone Poops.”

MY MAP BOOK, By Sara Fanelli (HarperCollins: $14.95; ages 5-8)

MY FIRST BOOK OF HOW THINGS ARE MADE, By George Jones (Scholastic: $12.95; ages 5-9)

LIVES AND LEGENDS OF THE SAINTS, By Carole Armstrong (Simon & Schuster: $17; ages 6-12)

BEING DIFFERENT: Lambda Youths Speak Out, By Larry Dane Brimner (Watts: $15; ages 12 and up)

CONTEMPLATING YOUR BELLYBUTTON, By Jun Nanao . Illustrated by Tomoko Hasegawa (Kane/Miller: $11.95, ages 1-5)