Books with a travel theme — whether practical, beautiful, inspirational or just a good read — make a good holiday gift. Here are some recommendations:

Pauline Frommer, the travel book writer and founder of Frommers.com, lists "MapHead" by Ken Jennings (Scribner, $25) as one of her recent favorites. Jennings, the legendary "Jeopardy!" winner from the Seattle area, is "a very witty, insightful writer and has written an entertaining and educational book about maps and the geeks who obsess over them," Frommer said.

"City Secrets" is a new series of small hardcovers for discriminating travelers. New guides published this year include London ($20), Rome ($20), Florence/Venice ($15) and Manhattan ($20). Writers, artists and others reveals their favorite places, from urban walks to shops and restaurants.

Lonely Planet has published its first series for children called "Not For Parents" that includes books on Paris, London, Rome and New York. The $15 paperbacks offer curious kids cartoons, photos and drawings packed with tidbits on local history, geography, the arts and pop culture. "Not For Parents: Paris, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know," for example, mentions everything from crepes to a look at Deyrolle, a bizarre showcase for taxidermied animals.

Lonely Planet is also offering a version of "The Travel Book" for kids ($20) subtitled "Cool Stuff to Know About Every Country in the World."

Lonely Planet's new books for grown-ups include "Great Journeys" ($40), a coffee-table book about "the world's most spectacular routes," from the trail to Peru's Machu Picchu to America's classic Route 66, and a collection of stories by celebrities called "Lights, Camera ... Travel!" ($15) including Brooke Shield's tale of her wintertime visit to the Arctic.

Patricia Schultz is out with a new edition of the ultimate bucket-list, "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" (Workman, $20). This version adds 200 new entries, including countries not in the original 2003 edition, such as Estonia, Latvia, Nicaragua, Qatar and Mozambique, plus budget-conscious suggestions for lodging and food.

A new interactive companion iPad app for "1,000 Places" offers photos, maps and a way to log your past and future travels. The full app is free with a code included on the first stickered printing of the book; without the book, you can download the app for free with a preview of 99 places or pay $10 for full content.

For train buffs "America's Great Railroad Stations" (Viking Studio, $40) is the perfect gift, with 250 photographs by Roger Straus III (plus vintage black-and-white pictures) and text by Ed Breslin and Hugh Van Dusen.

A coffee-table beauty is "The World's Must-See Places: A Look Inside More Than 100 Magnificent Buildings and Monuments" (DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, $25) with photos and 3-D cutaways of places like Beijing's Forbidden City, Mexico's Chichén Itza and Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock.