Compiled by Katie Anderson
This page is sponsored by Learning Rx.

We have collected a list of the best movies to take your kids to and the best videos and books to give this holiday season. Movies and Videos follow. To see the best books, click here.

Best Movies & Videos
Whether you’re going to the theater or looking for videos for gift giving, we’ll give you the family-friendliest of them all!

Heading out to the movies this holiday season?

The Dove Foundation, a non-profit organization that rates movies, has awarded their family-approved seal to the following movies:

 
Santa Clause 3, The: The Escape Clause 

 
Flushed Away

Flicka (2006)

Open Season

Other favorites:

• One Night with the King
• Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker
• Goal, The
• Loves Abiding Joy
• Facing The Giants
• Jet Li's Fearless

And here are their choices for great family movies on video:

Over the Hedge

Monster House

Cars

Ice Age: The Meltdown   

Superman Returns (2006)

The Ant Bully

How to Eat Fried Worms

Barnyard

Their Mission ...

To encourage and promote the creation, production, distribution and consumption of wholesome family entertainment.

They are a non-profit organization, founded by concerned fathers.

For more information about their work and reviews, or to help support their programs, visit their website at www.dove.org/default.asp

Best Gift Books
Local children share their favorite gift books. Plus, nearly 100 of the best books for gift-giving this season.

Click on one of the links below to jump to the section you are interested in:

Board books for Babies and Preschoolers

Books for Children Ages 4-8

Books for Children Ages 9-12

Board books for Babies and Preschoolers

Baby Hailey from Jupiter loves:	Welcome Baby Jesus by Roberta Beasley $3.99	Baby Jesus is Born by Allia Zobel-Nolan, Sarah Dillard $9.99
Baby Emma from Boynton Beach loves:	Wheels on the Bus (Raffi Songs to Read) by Raffi 6.99	The Three Bears Board Book by Byron Barton $7.99
Baby Riley from Wellington loves:	Baby's First Library by Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illustrator) $16.30	Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt $9.99

Other Great Books for Babies and Preschoolers

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle 
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown 
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr. 
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister 
• Corduroy by Don Freeman 
• The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats 
• The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise 
• Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney 
• Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman

Books for Children Ages 4-8

Brianna from Boca wants these two classics:	The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg $12.89	How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss $11.20
Best Buds Gregory and Alexander from Delray recommend:	Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst $6.99	Stellaluna by Janell Cannon  $10.88
Best Friends Gillian and Ali from Royal Palm Beach can't get enough of:	Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes $11.55	If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff  $10.87

Other Great Books for Four- to Eight- Year-Olds

• The Mitten by Jan Brett  
• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss 
• The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss 
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 
• Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch 
• The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper 

And...

• Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss 
• Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola 
• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams 
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka 
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault 
• The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne 

Plus...

• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss 
• Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman 
• Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg 
• Math Curse by Jon Scieszka 
• The Napping House by Audrey Wood 

And let's not forget these classic favorites:

• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig 
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter 
• Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss 
• Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus
• Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey 
• Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox 
• Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown 
• The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton 
• Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
• The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola 
• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina 
• Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell 
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch 

Books for Children Ages 9-12

Arianna from Palm Beach has read these books again and again:	The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett  $5.99	The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis  $5.49
Justin from Loxahatchee enjoyed:	My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett $7.95	The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks  $5.99

Other Great Books for Children Ages 9-12

• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White 
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen 
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis 
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson 
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 
• Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 
• Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
• The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner 
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan 

And these classics:

• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell 
• Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli 
• The BFG by Roald Dahl 
• The Giver by Lois Lowry 
• James and the Giant Peach: A Children's Story by Roald Dahl 
• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor 
• Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner 
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry 
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien 
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
• Matilda by Roald Dahl 
• Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume 
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary 
• The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White 

Don't forget these favorites:

• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster 
• Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt 
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 
• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson 
• Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
• Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar 
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh 
• A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein 
• Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater 
• Stuart Little by E. B. White 
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare 
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis 

Books for Young Adults

• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls 
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 
• Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls 
• The Cay by Theodore Taylor 
• The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare 

Books for All Ages

• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 
• Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein 
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum 
• Heidi by Johanna Spyri 

Many of the books in this article have been selected by the National Education Association as great books for children and young people.

Most are available at www.amazon.com