Children's Literature Holiday Book and Activity Packs Provide Hours Of "Edutainment" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 1, 1996    Looking for a great holiday gift, then call Children's Literature to order the "Li'l Booklover" Back Pack (ages 3-5) filled with titles such as My First Christmas Carols, A Treasury of Christmas Stories, Little Christmas Pop-Ups, Christmas Ornament Books, Max's Christmas; Junior Reader Back Pack (ages 5-7) brimming with titles such as Merry Christmas Strega Nona, Nutcracker Ballet, Night Tree, Christmas Surprise for Chabelita, Christmas Fun, or the Middle Reader Pack (ages 7-9) stuffed with titles such as Horrible Harry and the Christmas Surprise, Mr. Putter and Tabby Bake the Cake, Confessions of a Reluctant Elf, Christmas Crafts, Scrooge. All back packs come with five books/activity packs, and the above titles are representative of the contents. The contents vary with supplies available, and you can call and customize the contents.    For the really young ones, Children's Literature has created Baby's First Christmas Book Bag. Each vinyl tote bag is imprinted with a bright bold Christmas scene and is filled with five delightful books for babies 6 month and up. Our selections include sturdy board, pop-up, and delightful holiday picture books.    These holiday items are a spin off of the successful products, Baby's First Book Bag and the Travel Backpacks, developed by Children's Literature. The Travel Backpacks are designed to educate and entertain children while traveling or commuting to school and daycare. "Our travel backpack is filled with an assortment of books, games and activities that will keep children happily occupied in the car while you travel to your destination," said Marilyn Courtot, owner of "Children's Literature". "Just tell us the age, gender, and/or reading level of your child, and we will custom-assemble a backpack specifically for him or her."    Each backpack includes a half-dozen or more books and activities, such as hardbacks, coloring books, sticker books, dot-to-dot drawing books, and card games. For children ages 4 to 9, the durable, vinyl, school-bus yellow backpack can be kept in the car as a special treat.    All holiday and regular book bags and travel packs are available for $24.99 plus shipping. To order, or for more information, contact "Children's Literature," 1-800-469-2070. Orders may be charged to Visa, MasterCard or American Express.    Children's Literature is a Bethesda, Maryland-based newsletter publisher and mail-order service whose mission is to promote literacy by bringing the best quality books and related products to young readers. Children's Literature's team of 60 reviewers, including librarians, teachers, and parents, separate the good books from the bad among the thousands of children's titles that are published each year. Children's Literature then publishes reviews of "the best of the best children's books" and selected multimedia in its monthly newsletter, Children's Literature: A Newsletter For Adults is available for $24 per year.    Founded in 1993, Children's Literature serves an international clientele with customers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Bahamas, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Children's Literature's World Wide Web site (http://www.childrenslit.com or http://www.parentsplace.com) receives thousands of visits each month, and has been called a "treasured resource" and "a great service for parents of voracious readers."