THE best children's fiction is invariably that which most exercises the imagination. Take Oscar And Hoo, the tale of a little boy who has lost his parents and is alone in the desert. Then a cloud called Hoo appears...

Follow their adventures in this thin hardback book written by Theo and illustrated by Michael Dudok De Wit (Collins, £9.99).

Why does thunder rumble and roar? The answer lies in The Dance Of The Dinosaurs, by Colin and Jaqui Hawkins Collins (Picture Lions, £4.99). This is ideal bedtime story material (not too long, a tiny bit scary and with great pictures) and should grab the young listener from the first page.

Creative giants Allan Ahlberg and Raymond Briggs delighted children with their collaboration, The Adventures Of Bert. For those who loved the hapless boy hero of the first book, here he is again in A Bit More Bert (Puffin, £9.99 hardback, £4.99 paperback) which is great fun to read aloud and rope in all the family.

For older primary age children, look no further than A Puffin Year Of Stories And Poems (£7.99) for quality reading. It is a wonderful journey through the seasons and includes some big name writers, both past and present. Guaranteed to enrich and entertain.

Dr Seuss wrote a whole lot of nonsense - but what nonsense!

Publishers Collins have put together three of the good doctor's wackiest rhyming tales, each of them containing a moral or two in Dr Seuss's Fabulous Fables (£14.99).

The Lorax tells the tale of a long-suffering creature and his vain attempts to save all the Truffula Trees from the wicked Once-ler's axe.

In I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew our hero struggles to reach a legendary city where they never ever have troubles, while in Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? Dr Seuss introduces us to a whole host of bizarre characters, including Professor de Breeze who has spent the last 32 years, if you please, trying to teach Irish ducks how to read Jivvanese.

Wild, wacky and weird - these are stories you're unlikely to forget in a hurry.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Puffin, £5.99) has been re-released for Christmas. It's the classic tale of a caterpillar who munches his way through apples, plums, pears and strawberries, before turning into a beautiful butterfly. With brightly-coloured pictures, flaps to lift and finger-sized holes, this book is perfect for young readers to explore.

Little Rabbit's birthday treat is a trip to the Rabbit World theme park, where bunnies ride in carrot-shaped rollercoaster cars and speedboats in Little Rabbit Lost by Harry Horse (Puffin, £9.99).

Little Rabbit is having a great time until he wanders off to look at a spaceship ride and then cannot find his family.

But all's well that ends well and Little Rabbit and his family are reunited in time for the birthday boy to enjoy his cake. Lovely colourful illustrations, especially the spread on the theme park rides.

In What On Earth Can It Be? by Roger McGough and illustrated by Lydia Monk (Puffin, £9.99) youngsters can look through the holes to guess what is hiding on the other side. Is it peg-legged pirates walking the plank? Or a piece of mouldy cheese? What on Earth can it be? Great fun.

Finally, any young fan of the Percy the park keeper stories will love Nick Butterworth's latest tale, Albert Le Blanc (Collins, £9.99). The toys in the shop put on a show to cheer up their latest pal, a morose-looking polar bear. Beautifully illustrated, with some cameo appearances from some favourite characters of children's fiction and TV.

Updated: 09:45 Wednesday, December 11, 2002