This holiday season, we're making it easy for you Give Canadian. For the next few weeks, we'll be helping our readers match their most special someones with the perfect Canadian Book. If you would like some expert advice, email your holiday book shopping quandary to hello@canadianbookshelf.com, and we'll do our best to get you sorted.

Dear Canadian Bookshelf,

I am looking to buy my little nephew a book this Christmas. He's 18 months old, and loves books, but the problem is his love of books is so well-known that everybody else is going to be getting him a book this Christmas too. The last book I bought for him was Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton for his birthday, and I should have known that he'd have a copy already. This time, I want to give him a Canadian book, and I'd also like to stand a reasonable chance of it being a book he hasn't seen before. Can you recommend something he'd like, but a little off the beaten track? I'm hoping you can help me!

Sincerely,

Marlene P., Barrie ON

***

Dear Marlene,

You can find great picture book suggestions on our expert-curated lists, including Picture Books We've Known and Loved by Sara O'Leary, CanCon Picture Books by Julie Booker, Eight Great Picture Books by Woozles Book Store, and Andrew Larsen's What I Read on My Summer Vacation.

If all that choice seems too overwhelming, then may we recommend in particular the books in the Windy series by Robin Mitchell and Judith Steedman (which appear on Sara O'Leary's list). Windy, along with pals Sunny, Foggy, and Snowy and Chinook (who each have their own books), partake in simple adventures which are imaginatively illustrated with vibrant photographs whose DIY sensibility lends a sense of whimsy. These will be books for your nephew to grow into, and he'll appreciate their special details as he does, including the map contained in every one, and the extra activity found underneath each book's dust-jacket-- with Windy, he'll learn to make a kite of his own.

Another fun book for little ones is Ninja Cowboy Bear Presents the Call of the Cowboy by David Bruins and Hilary Leung. The illustrations are slick and stylish, and the story is an especially fun one to read aloud, the reader making all the onomatopoeic sounds that pesky cowboy does (before he learns to change his ways).

If you're still looking for board books, we recommend the books in the Hello Baby series by photographer Jorge Uzon, whose simple text and images of every day life allow young children to see their own lives reflected in the pages. And then there's the Bud the Spud board book, as Canadian as it gets, matching Stompin' Tom Conners' immortal lyrics with illustrations by Brenda Jones.

Happy Shopping!