Looking for a good kids' book series?
A great kids' book series can be a wonderful thing for the holidays -- or even just to keep the kids amused on their way to the festivities. Assuming everyone knows Harry Potter, Charlie Bone, Eragon, The Lightning Thief and The Spiderwick Chronicles (all lots of fun), how about Children of the Lamp? The first book showed twins John and Philippa discovering they're descended from the djinn (genies) on their mother's side. And yes, finally we have fantasy heroes WITH siblings (who spar but love each other) AND parents! It's called The Akhenaten Adventure (Orchard Books, $16.95). The second one, The Blue Djinn of Babylon (Orchard Books, $16.99), came out this year and I'm really enjoying learning about a new game called Djinnverso with bizarre dice called astaragali (can a real life game be far behind?). The third one is due out in January so it could be fun to get the first two and reserve the third for a present to come in January.