For when the book itself is the gift, and the object matters as much as the story inside it. These are the deluxe versions of stories a child already loves or is ready to love: Harry Potter painted spread by spread by Jim Kay, Oz rebuilt with pull-tabs and fold-outs, all seven Narnia books in one full-color volume, the whole first run of Wings of Fire boxed as graphic novels. You pick by the child in front of you — how old they are, and which world is already theirs. A dragon-obsessed ten-year-old and a little one at a christening want very different books, and both are on this shelf.
Pick by the child and the occasion. What ties it together is that the physical book is elaborate on purpose — a lavish illustrated edition, an interactive paper-craft, a full-color omnibus, a boxed set. The illustrated Harry Potter is the one most people picture when they think 'special edition,' and the widest match, which is why it sits first. The collected Winnie-the-Pooh with Shepard's original drawings is the gentlest and the one for the very young. The MinaLima Oz is the toy-like one, with paper that moves in your hands. The full-color Narnia hands over a whole world in a single volume, and the illustrated Hobbit and Peter Pan are the grand novels for a reader ready to sink in. The Wings of Fire graphic-novel box is the pick for the child who lives in comics and wants dragons with real stakes. Each one is chosen so the edition, not just the tale, is worth keeping.