Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. A Letter to Santa Claus was one of her picks.

Charlotte was a young girl who was always keeping busy. The town she lived in was so small . . . it wasn't even a town. The child she had to play with was her baby brother. So, she was always learning by copying what the adults did.

If her Mother or Father wrote a note, she would beautifully copy the note and add some illustrations. The only problem was . . . she couldn't read what she wrote.

Since Christmas was coming, Charlotte wanted to send a letter to Santa Claus. She wanted him to know what she would like for Christmas and to warn him that she would be in her brother's room rather than hers. Her grandparents would be visiting, and they would be in her room.

Her Mother wrote out a letter for Charlotte to copy. And she did so. Then she copied out the list of what she wanted. But she got busy and knocked several papers on the floor. She picked one up and put it in with her letter to Santa. But it was the wrong one!

The rest of the story nicely develops around the theme of giving as the way to receive.

The illustrations in this book are very noteworthy for their lively pastel watercolors. They create a wonderful mood of loving and caring that you and your child will enjoy very much.

I especially like this story because the plot has the most original twist I have seen on the "letter to Santa" theme. The book also moves away from "how can I get more?" -- which permeates most letters to Santa stories.

Although the book appears to be out of print at the moment, I suggest you track it down anyway. You'll be glad you did, if you are like me in your enjoyment of this beautiful holiday story.

After you finish enjoying this book with your child, I suggest a project of writing a letter to Santa on behalf of someone who may not be remembered by Santa. Then, you can take the gift that arrives to be shared with others on Christmas Day.

May the true spirit of Christmas always be with you!

You have to love it when you go to a baseball game at the Metrodome and they give you kid a book (Carolrhoda Books is a Minneapolis outfit). "Jumble Joan" tells of a young boy and his little sister who are visiting his grandma's house, where there is a dark and dusty attic. His friend Mick thinks it would be great fun to go upstairs and scare the little sister. In the attic, which is full of old things, the little girl is told to watch out for the Ten O'Clock Horses and the Deadly Vampire Bat. But the worst thing of all would be letting Jumble Joan get a hold of you. This little story by Rose Impey, with illustrations by Moire Kemp, was originally published in England a decade ago and now has made its way over to this side of the pond. The text should challenge young readers, who should be captivated by the stories being spun about the creepy things up there in grandma's attic. This book would be especially appealing to young girls with older brothers who tend to tease them (mine has an older daughter in that role, but she made the connection). Bonus points for making several thousand copies available to kidlets at yesterday's game; this is a nice little book. "Jumble Joan" is one of 4 Creepie books, the others being "The Ankle Grabber," "The Flat Man," and "Scare Yourself to Sleep."

Jumble Joan is a wonderful book, one of my five-year-old's favorites. If your child enjoys a good fright this book will provide it without turning his/her hair white. The narrator, a boy of about eight, and his friend Mick take little sister up to Grandma's attic, intending to give her a scare. Only it is the little girl, who, as the three explore the dusty treasures, ends up enjoying the boy's fright, as their imaginations take over, causing their plans to backfire. The illustrations add to the story, giving some needed information not stated in the text, to help kids work out the delightful paradox.

Sam is dying to start a band so he gets his friends, Luke and Jamie to help him. The trouble is the girls have the talent to dance and Kat can play the drums. In the end Sam sends off the wrong tape and they get a call from a record company. But what is it about. Read the book to find out...........

This book scared the bejeebers out of my son for YEARS. He hadnightmares over this one - and it was supposed to do the exact opposite.

Totally don't recommend it!

I read this book when I was younger. I remember, my mum told me not to read scary stories before I went to bed, but I just had to. And, unsurprisingly, found myself too scared to sleep in my own bed.

I barely even remember the story now - but I had to sleep bang-smack in the centre of the bed for months, and take running jumps up to my bed for YEARS after reading that, no kidding. It drove my parents mad. (But then, I always was a wimp!)

Don't get me wrong, I remember liking the book! If you like stories to leave an impression, then yes, this certainly does...just, don't let your kid read it before bedtime, if they're anything like me!

This book is one of four by Rose Impey known collectively as The Creepies, and that is exactly what they are. They are not intended to comfort children; where did that idea come from? Great for overnight camp-outs when your kids want to scare the bejeezus out of each other.

My 2 1/2 year old son's pre-school started reading this book, the kids love it when it is being read, but my son is going around closing doors and sleeping under his covers at night and has also had screeming episodes during the night. He has been pretending to put the flatman under our basement stairs storage area. I would not recommend this book for children under 5. Why put these thoughts into such young minds (the dark is scarry enough for them :)