Of well-stocked houses and smelly feet.

ONCE UPON A FULL MOONBy Elizabeth Quan Tundra. $19.5

Lurking in bookstores this spring are some real treasures for that big, fuzzy group of kids known as middle readers -- anyone from 5 to 10 who's edged past picture books but isn't quite ready for Narnia or Harry Potter.

Some of these books are stepping stones, balancing pictures and words more or less equally. One of the loveliest is Once Upon a Full Moon, by the Chinese Canadian artist Elizabeth Quan. It's a poignant memoir about the astonishing journey Quan undertook as a child in the 1920s, "a time before jet and diesel," when her father, a homesick immigrant in Toronto, led his wife and six children across Canada and the Pacific, by train, ship, rickshaw, ferry and on foot, on a two-year visit back to China. "Though we were in another world and time," as the family arrived in Grandmother's village, Quan's younger self recalls, "the full moon shone above" -- the same comforting moon that had shone on them at the start of their against-the-current trek. Quan's vibrant watercolors will help young readers follow the simple but vocabulary-rich text.

JEREMY THE WANDERER/ JEREMIAS EL CURIOSOBy Nancy Bonduranat Old Blind Dog; paperback plus CD, $10

Another book matching a middle-reader-friendly text -- in two languages -- with generous and hauntingly pretty illustrations is local author Nancy Bondurant Jones's Jeremy the Wonderer, available from Bambini's Boutique and the Color Book Gallery in Occoquan and Aladdin's Lamp Children's Books in Arlington; or $13, shipping included, from the author at 1632 College Ave., Harrisonburg, Va. 22802. The hero is a quiet, watchful little boy whose mom frets about him: "Jeremy is such a worrier." The English version is stripped across the top of the pages, with the Spanish below: "Jeremias se preocupa tanto." But Jeremy, who overhears this remark, knows better: "Jeremias no se preocupaba, pero si se preguntaba." He didn't worry, but he did wonder-- about everything from ants to stars, birds' eggs to skipping-stones. Luckily, one grownup in his life -- his grandfather -- shares his curiosity. The story of this mutually enriching relationship is as thought-provoking as it is sweet: Kids must deduce from the illustrations and a few hints, for instance, that Jeremy lives in the city and Grandpa in the country. Margot Bergman did the sensitive paintings.

VIOLENT BING AND THE GRAND HOUSEBy Jennifer Paros Viking. $14

Turning to books with more words than pictures, a standout for small girls who ever feel diffident, finicky or just plain moody is Jennifer Paros's Violet Bing and the Grand House. Violet, who is "almost eight," is "against Surprises and Things I Don't Know." Sometimes that means saying no to a bumpy pancake, or swimming, or piano, or eating out. This time she has said no to the family vacation. As a result, she's been packed off to stay with her great-aunt Astrid, whom she's never even met but who knows a thing or two about luring young people out of their shells -- she'd been there herself. In great-aunt Astrid's many-roomed mansion, Violet is given time and space to discover independently such treasures as a dog, beads, a red bicycle, a map and even a friend. Paros's line drawings are as funny and tart as Violet's own voice.

Also recommended for girls of "almost eight": Just Grace, by Charise Mericle Harper (Houghton Mifflin, $15), starring a 7-year-old whose empathetic impulses land her in a large pickle, and Sara Pennypacker's very amusing The Talented Clementine (Hyperion, $14.99), in which the "astoundishingly" precocious third-grader we first met last year is down in the dumps at the approach of the class talent show.

STINK AND THE WORLD'S SUPER-STINKY SNEAKERSBy Megan McDonald Candlewick, $12.99

Finally, younger boys everywhere will hail the return of Judy Moody's little brother Stink, on his third solo outing in Megan McDonald's Stink and the World's Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers, This series is beyond review: All that needs to be said is that this time Class 2D is going on a special trip to the Gross-Me-Out exhibit at the science museum. Oh, and that Peter H. Reynolds is back as illustrator. As Stink would say, no combination could be more en gross ing. ·

Elizabeth Ward can be reached at warde@washpost.com.