Comfort reads will take you far away from the troubles of the world, wrap you in family warmth, and instantly create the close family times we're all craving. Reread a family favorite that has brought you pleasure in the past; books high in humor, adventure, historical fiction and fantasy are good bets. There are several of these qualities in Jennifer Holms' new Boston Jane (HarperCollins, $16.95; ages 9-12). Holms won a Newbery Honor award with her first book about another Washington pioneer, Our Only May Amelia (HarperCollins, $5.95; ages 9-11) . Her second, Boston Jane has another feisty, fascinating, upbeat heroine. The book is a mix of adventures, history, a little bit of romance, and lots of humor.

Sixteen-year-old Jane, is the beloved daughter of a widowed doctor. He admires her untamed spirit and his benign neglect turns mid-19th century Philadelphia into her playground. Jane is a tomboy who's skilled at throwing rotten apples, wears a smock stained with cherry pies made by her cook, and is happy to sit on a patient to help her father.

Jane adores her father and her simple life, until she's humiliated by snotty Sally Biddle who interrupts her fun "like a mosquito scenting a plump, bare leg." Jane decides to become proper and convinces her father to let her attend Miss Hepplewhite's Academy. Despite his fears that she'll become one of those "useless women who cares for nothing but dresses", her father gives his permission. Miss Hepplewhite follows The Young Lady's Confidante and Jane is amazed to discover she has "been standing, walking and sitting the wrong way all these years." She succumbs to rigorous polishing and also to William, a young man apprenticed to her father. When William goes West to make his fortune in timber, he writes Jane and asks her to marry him.

Jane agrees and begins a second transformation en route to the territory of Washington. At sea she cares for fellow passengers, adapting her embroidery talents to sew up wounds. Upon landing she learns William has left Shoalwater Bay and she must fend for herself. Her training doesn't do much good in this rough wilderness. In short order, her expensive dresses are eaten by a hungry cow, she must share a cabin with flea-bitten crude men, trade her corset for Chinook dress, and as the only woman around receives "more proposals of marriage by more men in need of a good bath than I care to remember." Finally, Jane's grit, courage and good sense emerge. She sees truly, discarding William's affection when it becomes apparent his proposal is based on land acquisition. She chooses instead Jehu, an honest scar-faced sailor who loves her.

Part of the read aloud success of this book comes from its style and voice which are as strong and buoyant as the heroine. Holmes' cast of characters are well-developed and their perceptions show they have a better sense of Jane than she has of herself . But Jane's path to self-knowledge provides lots of reading joy en route.

Two days after the attacks, I worked in Charlotte where I was pleased to see teachers who made time for children to ask questions and write about their feelings. One of the most powerful pieces I read was by a Muslim child, who was angry and afraid that he would be judged by his religion. There are very few picture books with Middle Eastern characters, accenting again how little Americans know about this culture. This year there are two new picture book biographies I recommend; one of Ibn Battuata and the other of Gandhi. Both men inspire wonder, wisdom, and fight stereotypes Americans are combating.

James Rumford writes, illustrates and illuminates Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuata 1325-1354 (Houghton Mifflin, $16.00; ages 7-adult). Battuata, a medieval pilgrim to Mecca travels for almost thirty years from Morocco to China, through Russia and Tanzania, some 75,000 miles. Rumford has chosen perfect visual techniques to tell this unusual story. A ribbon of text travels through the book like the path of this pilgrim, through full-page watercolors, illuminated Persian miniatures, bits of ancient Arabian maps, and Chinese, Arabic and Persian sayings. The text does the same with a refrain that repeats as Battuata meets bandits, illness, sultans, holy men, and crocodiles. At the book's start, Battuata notes, "Traveling - it offers you a hundred roads to adventure, and gives your heart wings." He later comments, "Traveling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." And finally, arriving home to find his parents dead, his reflective refrain remarks sadly, "Traveling - it gives you a home in a thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land." These visual and written representations tell magnificently the story of a man whose travels became his life and his writings a metaphor for living.

There couldn't have been a better time for the release of Demi's Gandhi (McEldery Books, $19.95; ages 7-adult). The author begins with his childhood, describing his wealthy and devout Jain home and the family's belief in karma, "the idea that to keep a soul clean, one should pray, be disciplined, have few possessions and harm no one." Relating events of Gandhi's life, Demi shows the development of his philosophy; his hatred of prejudice, commitment to service, and conviction that "the force of love by peace always wins over violence." Demi's illustrations work well on a symbolic level. She shows finely detailed tapestries and richly colored ceremonial saris. These are contrasted with illustrations that speak to the plainness of Gandhi's life with simple monochromatic drawings. Many pictures are touched with Demi's trademark gold, sometimes accenting material wealth, other times stressing spirituality. Together text and illustrations introduce children to the story of a man who embodied truth, peace and love above all else. A man who lived his principles. The kind of hero needed in the these times of fear and sadness.