If you know a kid interested in theater, here are some great books for them. The books are on a variety of aspects of theater including monologues for kids and teenagers, an introductory book to theater for young children, how to put on a play, scripts and a couple of great over all guides for acting geared to kids.
1. Break a Leg
This is an excellent resource for kids. It's geared for grades 4 - 10, but can be helpful for anyone. It's a how-to guide on the essentials of acting and stage production. There are sections on body preparation and exercises, theater games, acting skills, analyzing scripts, and rehearsals. It also information on the stuff that happens backstage like stage managing, light, sound, and costume design.
2. Acting A to Z - The Young Person's Guide to a Stage or Screen Career
I think this is a great book for anyone who is thinking about becoming a professional actor. It's a slim book, but it has information about a lot of the nuts and bolts to becoming an actor, including information about things like auditions, casting agents, headshots and resumes. Although it's geared to the young performing, this would make a great gift for anyone starting a career in acting, no matter what age.3. Putting on a Play
A great book geared to kids in fourth to sixth grades, this book breaks down the putting on a play into six steps from brainstorming for an idea to putting on the final performance. It focuses pretty heavily on the creation of the play, but is a great book for kids who like to put on plays.4. What is Art? Theater
This is a book for young kids (4-8 yrs) that introduces them to theater. (It's part of a series: What is Art?) With bold illustrations, it tells a story of children visiting a theater. The kids learn about theater and the readers are asked simple questions that involve them and start them thinking about theater, for example, what does your face look like when it's sad? (Also available in Spanish)5. Zoom - Fun with Friends
When I was a kid I had a Zoom book and this was one of my biggest resources for plays. When friends would come over or I went on a Girl Scout camping trip, I'd open up this book and we'd pick one of the plays to perform. They are fairly simple with a minimum of people and props.6. By Kids, For Kids
This is a collection of monologues for kids 6 to 18 years old.7. The Skit Book: 101 Skits for Kids
This is a collection of skits submitted by camps, schools, and youth groups.8. Tales from Shakespeare
These are children's versions of Shakespeare's plays. My dad read me Hamlet when I was five and I loved that play. I kept asking him to read the story where the princes stab each other and the queen drank the poison. It's a great into to a great playwright for kids.9. 12 Fabulously Funny Fairy Tale Plays
These funny versions of fairy tales have been turned into a bunch of read-aloud plays. On a family trip, turn of the cd and dvd players and read these as a family.