Going by the Book to Keep Little Passengers Entertained on the Road

Name the holiday gift that’s easy to pack, won’t break the first time it’s used and is guaranteed to keep the kids happy for more than five minutes. Even better, this present won’t cost big bucks and is something the kids will gladly share, even with grown-ups.

How about a book or a book on tape? Thanks to author-narrator J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series, even the most reluctant readers won’t groan when you pull one out at the airport, in the car or at Grandma’s house. That’s why this year, I’m suggesting traveling stocking stuffers to read or listen to rather than play with.

“Books on tape are a great way to encourage kids to read more and connect them with stories they might not have read otherwise,” says Julie Cummins, coordinator of children’s services for the New York Public Library.

Parents benefit too. If a lengthy car trip is on your holiday agenda, here’s your chance to hear what all the Harry Potter fuss is about. Listen to “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” or “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” along the way--more than seven hours’ worth: $34 on tape, $49.95 on CD from Listening Library; telephone (800) 323-9872, Internet https://www.randomhouse.com/backyard/order.html.

Little girls who love the historical American Girl dolls--and their moms who were Nancy Drew fans--will love the new American Girl historical mysteries, the “Music of Christmas Past” CD and the hip new palm-sized books. The History Mysteries are $5.95, the CD is $14.95 and the Backpack Books are $1.95; tel. (800) 845-0005, Internet https://www.americangirl.com.

The budding geographers in your house, meanwhile, will have fun along the way with John Cassidy’s “Earthsearch: A Kids’ Geography Museum in a Book,” with lots of weird facts and activities, such as connecting coins to their countries on the adjacent map (Klutz, $19.95). This and other travel books and games are available from Rand McNally, tel. (800) 234-0679, Internet https://www.randmcnally.com.

Old books can be just as entertaining. Ask Grandma to have some of your childhood favorite books on hand when you arrive to read to the kids, spurring family stories of holidays long past. A children’s cookbook might also be a good bet for a grandmother or an aunt who wants to share the joys of the kitchen with a visiting youngster, librarians suggest.

“Share a new book and you’re starting a new holiday tradition,” suggests Barbara Kiefer, a Columbia University education professor and children’s literature expert.

Grandparents often tell prizewinning children’s book author Susan Wojciechowski that each year they add holiday books to their collection bought especially for visiting grandchildren. “Once a grandmother who couldn’t be with her grandchildren told me she made a tape of herself reading favorite holiday stories and sent one to each grandchild,” said Wojciechowski, author of “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.” It’s a sweet story of how a young boy brings new hope to an embittered New England woodcarver who has lost his family (Candlewick Press, $17.99).

If you’re visiting relatives, try a book about families, Cummins suggests. She likes “Relatively Speaking: Poems About Family,” by Ralph Fletcher (Orchard, $14.95). The New York Public Library has a list of recommended titles sorted by age group, available by calling Children’s Services, (212) 340-0906, Internet https://www.nypl.org/branch/kids/lists.html.

Of course, there are plenty of holiday titles to choose from too. Caroline Ward, president of the executive committee of the American Library Assn. (ALA), based in Chicago, especially likes the new edition of “The Nutcracker,” retold by Janet Schulman, which comes with a CD (HarperCollins, $20). The American Library Assn. has a list of 1999 Notable Children’s Books on its Web site: https://www.ala.org.

Another favorite of librarians: Barbara Robinson’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (HarperCollins, $4.95), a laugh-out-loud story about what happens when a family of “absolutely the worst kids in the world” ends up with the leading roles in a town’s holiday pageant. It is also available on tape from Recorded Books for $19; tel. (800) 638-1304, Internet https://www.recordedbooks.com. You can rent this book on tape for $8.50 for 30 days, as well as hundreds of other titles, including Isaac Bashevis Singer’s “The Power of Light” Hanukkah stories and Donna L. Washington’s “The Story of Kwanzaa.”

For younger children, the ALA recommends Stephen Krensky’s “How Santa Got His Job” (Simon & Schuster, $15) and Uri Shulevitz’s “Snow” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16).

When you’re traveling, librarians say, books on tape provide a way for kids to sharpen their listening skills. Try “Under the Mango Tree: Stories From Spanish Speaking Countries,” which won Parents magazine’s Choice Honors. The author-narrator is Elida Bonet. You can order it ($12) by phone at (817) 421-5646.

Stories can entice reluctant readers into the pages of a book, says Joel Shoemaker, an Iowa City, Iowa, middle school librarian and past president of the Young Adults Library Services Assn. Go to https://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists for lists of recommended paperbacks for young adults as well as audio books.

For family listening in the car, Shoemaker suggests “Brian’s Winter,” a survival tale and sequel to Gary Paulsen’s “Hatchet,” read by Richard Thomas (Listening Library, $18).

Be careful, says Shoemaker jokingly: The kids might not want the trip to end.

Taking the Kids appears the first and third week of every month.