AGE 0-4 Fancy gifts from Oriental kings are fine and dandy, but for Christmas peace Lullabies for Contented Little Babies by Gina Ford (Doubleday £8.99), a book and CD set, is the perfect present.

The soothing rhymes and music will have baby nodding off into dreamland in no time. And for waking moments, the gentle pastel illustrations in the book will delight.

Why I Love Christmas by Daniel Howarth (Harper Collins £5.99) is an affectionately childish look at the festive season . . . games, cosiness, hiding presents, visits from family and friends are just a few of the responses from small children who were asked the question. All the answers are superbly illustrated.

Melrose and Croc, Together at Christmas by Emma Chichester Clark (Harper Collins £5.99) is a charmingly satisfying story. Little Croc trudges from afar to the city to see Father Christmas at Harridges, but to his enormous disappointment, the great man has left. Meanwhile Melrose can't get into the Christmas spirit because he's so lonely. Wouldn't it be good if the two could meet? Aha . . . read on. By the same author/ artist and at the same price, Merry Christmas Blue Kangaroo tells of the popular toy marsupial's wish that he could give a present to Lily. But what can a toy do? The enigma nicely keeps the small reader guessing until the arrival of Father Christmas. Two perfect stocking fillers.

Jingle Bells is by the master of read-aloud books, Nick Butterworth (Harper Collins £7.99). It's Christmas Eve and two small mice, Jack and Lottie, are not happy. It's That Cat, spoiler of all their fun. Matters come to a head when That Cat carries out a particularly evil trick. The mice take their grievance to Ton-Chee, rat supremo who wears dolls' clothes and glassless spectacles for added esteem. His solution to their problem is eminently appropriate. There's a CD attached, read by Graham Crowden. From the same author, Tiger in the Snow (Harper Collins £10.99), another friendshipthemed tale, tells of a kitten who delights in the first snowfall. If only he had someone to play with. His wishes come true when he makes a sleigh from an old ironing board and manages to 'pick up' some friends on his bouncy journey which extends across a lively pullout.

Friendship features again in Dimity Duck by Jane Yolen and Sebastien Braun (Harper Collins £5.99), a rhyming tale with toddler-pleasing words like 'driftydrafty goes her head and droop!

Goes her tail.' Perfect bedtime book after the Christmas fever.

At only £5.99 each, Cinderella and Snow White (Harper Collins) are two board books which tell the well-known fairytales with simple words and fun illustrations. Each comes with a CD Rom that has games, puzzles and, if you're too knackered, tells the story.

Children: A First Art Book by Lucy Micklethwait (Frances Lincoln £9.99) is a visual feast of paintings of children in action by artists throughout history . . . Chardin, Murillo, Millais, Mary Cassatt to name just a few. A worthy and fun introduction to the world of art for the very young.

Richard Scarry's enduring cast of well-loved characters will delight a new generation with The Night Before the Night Before Christmas (Harper Collins £9.99).

Mr Frumble's attempts to help his neighbours at Christmas result in 17chaos and lots of frowns. Well, he reasons, if nobody wants my help, I know someone who does. So, on his custom-built gherkin sleigh . . .the skipickledoo . . . he sets off to help Santa. But here he creates further chaos . . . very serious chaos.

So serious that Christmas might never happen. A busy, exciting and nail-biting read for three- and four-year olds.

AGE 5+ Rob Scotton's Russell the Sheep proved himself a big hit when he first appeared in 2005. Now he's back with Russell and the Lost Treasure (Harper Collins £5.99). A beginning such as "Russell the sheep was perfecting his triple somersaultf" really presses the go-read button. As he hits the ground, Russell finds a map of the Lost Treasure of Frogsbottom Field and sets off to find the riches.

What a rip-off! All that he finds in the chest is an old flash camera.

The fun starts when he begins snapping. The vibrant illustrations, with tongue-in-cheek asides, provide laugh-aloud fun for any age.

Tim, Ted and The Pirates by Ian Whybrow and Russell Ayoto (Harper Collins £5.99) tells of a small boy whose mind wanders off into his own swashbuckling world as Miss Wait reads the class a boring story. As she drones on, Tim takes a ride into adventure on the back of a dolphin. Pirates are up to no good at Loot Island. Tim, along with his toy bear, takes on the might of the nasty lot with bravado and cunning before being brought back to reality with a real splash. A good read for the child with an active imagination.

Fun and facts go together to create an excellent book for youngsters who'd like to know what's under the skin: Bones by Kate Lennard and Eivind Gulliksken (Random House £7.99) strips away the human upholstery with the aid of fun illustrations and flaps. The narrator, Little Genius, explains how all the bits and pieces work, all dealt with in simple language for the aspiring medic or Frankenstein.

The Postman's Dog by Lisa Shanahan and Wayne Harris (Allen & Unwin £10.99) is the gentle tale of a postman whose friendliness bonds a whole community. Charlie figured he had the best job in the world. Every day as he delivered the mail on his bike, he got to meet and chat with people of many nationalities and their dogs. And, in the evening, he'd sit with his wife and tell her all the news. But when Charlie's life took a sad turn he became so lonely he didn't stop to chat any more. Everyone agreed he should get a dog. Thus Charlie acquires Lucy who proves to have her own agenda! A delightful, warmhearted story.

Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar (Doubleday £10.99) is a fairytale that sensitively and imaginatively deals with deafness. A bubble blown by a fairy Moonchild lands on a royal baby and envelops him in silence. The king and queen are sad that baby does not respond to their songs and chat. Queues of medics, quacks and sages try their remedies, but the prince remains in his silent world. In the garden the child meets a moonbird who takes him on a magical journey to a land of animals and birds where he learns to communicate with his eyes and hands. At first the royal parents can't understand the child's sign language, but the moonbird teaches them to 'hear' with their other senses. Jane Ray's alluring illustrations make this a book to treasure.

Castles by Colin Thompson (Red Fox £5.99) is one to produce when batteries die and gizmos crash.

Each highly detailed spread of extraordinary castles harbours a list of minutiae to seek.

Maddeningly taunting, this will give hours of quiet searching.

And while the older kids are getting their heads around that lot, Tractor Tom's Christmas Party Activity Book (Harper Collins £3.99) will occupy the smaller ones with puzzles, mazes, colour-ins and activities. There's also Make Your Own Garage by Clare Beaton (bsmall £4.99). With a pop-up garage and all the necessary cutouts to furnish it, facts about cars and road signs, a board game and much more, you can't go wrong with this for your small car buff.

In conjunction with Oxfam's Around the World series, Rothair by Kate Petty (An Gum npa) is a colourful, photographic celebration of the bike in many lands. The accompanying Irish text is simple, with large print and short speech bubbles from the various child-cyclists from Brazil to Vietnam. A nice touch is on the last page where old Tomasa in Guatemala uses a bicycle wheel for spinning colourful fabrics. In the same series and with the same format, Home, by the same author (Frances Lincoln £9.99) shows children from all over the world outside their houses . . . from mud huts to rock caves to palm leaves on stilts. Both books would make a nice companion set in English and as gaeilge for newly independent readers.

Deep in the woods it was lunchtime, munchtime in Delicious!

By Helen Cooper (Doubleday £10.99). Cat, Duck and Squirrel are looking for a pumpkin to make soup, but there's nary one to be had. They try lots of other veggies, but picky Duck fussily objects to all; it's pumpkin soup or nothing.

Things look bleak until Cat devises a cunning plan. But will Duck fall for it? The splendid illustrations are further enhanced by the marginal antics of a bunch of bugs who follow the shenanigans with interest.

Little One, We Knew You'd Come by Sally Lloyd-Jones (Frances Lincoln £11.99) is a unique Christmas story told in lyrical words that come to life with rich, stunning illustrations by Jackie Morris. We follow Mary and Joseph as they make their way to the stable where the new mother nurses her child in the company of birds and animals. A book to treasure, this would also be a classy christening gift.

AGE 8+ For confident readers, Robots Don't Cry! , written and illustrated by Bob Byrne (O'Brien npa) is a salutary tale of bullying and comeuppance. Bimbot is a young robot whose lack of skill at games earns him jeering remarks from three so-called pals. All ends in tears, which provoke further insults. Bimbot sadly wends his way home, but ends up in Dark Woods. Here he meets a troubled skunk, a stripeless bee and a hungry bear. Bimbot helps each one, so when he needs help, they all rally round.

Enna Hittims by Diana Wynne Jones (Barrington Stoke £4.99) leads the unsuspecting reader into total anarchy and general disorder. Bored with her incarceration with mumps, Anne Smith creates a trio of characters with her colouring pencils. But, boy does she regret it when these characters leap from the page and wage war on their creator with lethal weapons. Malevolent and vicious . . . just the read for bloodthirsty eight-year-olds.

On Angel Wings by Michael Morpurgo (Egmont £4.99) is a gem of a Christmas story. When the angel Gabriel appears to a family of shepherds to tell them of the birth of a baby king, they set off to follow the star. The youngest boy is left in charge, scared, lonely and a bit peeved. But Gabriel comes back and, after arranging for a group of angels to mind the sheep, takes the boy to see this new king. Although stories of the Nativity are perennially familiar, this one is devoid of thees, thous and holy-speak. The language is modern, jaunty and fun. The sketchy illustrations by Quentin Blake greatly add to the appeal of this perfect little book.

An Nollaig sa Naigin by Re O'Laighleis (Moinin 12.95) tells of Christmas in Sallynoggin as seen through the eyes of a child over five successive years. A tender family portrait, it points to the importance of grandparents in the nuclear family. There's much excitement about the coming of Santa, which gives way later to a palpable sense of loss when the grandparents 'pass on'. The child wonders will there be the usual Christmas brandy for Grandpa Up There. Set in the '60s, there is a comforting sense of continuity as the child knows that Christmas will keep coming. The Irish narrative is both lyrically descriptive and moving. The naifstyle illustrations, however, sit rather uncomfortably with the engaging narrative at times.