Great reads that last beyond holidays

The plot is as full of holes as a piece of Swiss cheese: A letter thrown down the garbage chute happens to be found by a girl passing by, and Virginia’s Christmas book, which was never lost, is “found” and restored by an elderly man looking like — who else? — Father Christmas. New characters are introduced — a snooty rich girl who torments Virginia; a hard-boiled newspaper editor (who’d never have written that famous letter); a street Santa intervening on Virginia’s behalf.

But this remains: A little girl writes to the newspaper and receives a beautiful, ringing affirmation. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.”

Bernardin’s pictures find a poignant middle ground between cartoon and vintage art. His palette is dark when it needs to be, Christmas-bright when called for, and there are subtleties throughout: a brass street clock reads “Believe.” Pictures can make a picture book. This is a book whose nostalgic qualities may appeal to adults as well as children.

While holiday books are particularly fun around the holidays, great books for young readers reward all year round. No batteries required.

“Pecan Pie Baby,’’ written by prize-winning author Jacqueline Woodson, and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, deals with the coming of a new baby and her irate big sister. Gia is the heroine who’s sick and tired of “talk about the ding-dang baby.” Even at school, “my teacher read a book about a girl who was going to become a big sister, and when she finished reading it, everybody looked at me.”

As late summer turns to early fall, and fall turns toward winter Gia waits with increasing dread for her new sibling. The only things they will probably share in common are Mama and a love of pecan pie. But Gia thinks mostly of what she’s about to lose:

“Some days I sat on my stoop thinking about all the years it had been just me and Mama.

“About us drinking hot chocolate and telling silly stories.