People: Aug. 7, 2006

Because, apparently, you're never too young to be susceptible to star power, celebs keep writing those children's books.

DAVID BECKHAM hopes to encourage the pitter-patter of little cleats with next year's Making It Real, a soccer-skills book.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG teaches manners to ages 2 to 6--and Hollywood agents--this fall in Nobody Wants to See Your Finger in Your Nose.

JAMIE LEE CURTIS, with her seventh title, Is There Really a Human Race?, is the Marcel Proust of the genre. But her books have better pictures.

EMERIL LAGASSE's There's a Chef in My World! kicks the brown-bag lunch set (What do you mean, no PB&J?) up a notch this fall.

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN's Lady in the Water was a bedtime story before it was a film. Now it's a picture book. Paul Giamatti doll not included.