1. Auch, Mary Jane. I Was a Third Grade Science Project

2. Blake, Robert J. Akiak, a Tale from the Iditarod

3. Burandt, Harriett, and Shelley Dale. Tales from the Homeplace

4. DeFelice, Cynthia. The Ghost of Fossil Glen

5. Florian, Douglas. Insectlopedia

6. Gutman, Dan. Honus and Me

7. Hampton, Wilborn. Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns

8. Huynh Quang Nhuong. Water Buffalo Days

9. Jackson, Ellen. Turn of the Century

10. Karr, Kathleen. The Great Turkey Walk

11. Lasky, Kathryn. Marven of the Great North Woods

12. Mora, Pat. Tomas and the Library Lady

13. Paulsen, Gary. My Life in Dog Years

14. San Souci, Robert D. A Weave of Words

15. Siebold, Jan. Rope Burn

16. Skolsky, Mindy Warshaw. Love From Your Friend, Hannah

17. Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. Gib Rides Home

18. Stanley, Diane. Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter

19. Steptoe, Javaka. In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall

20. Wilson, Nancy Hope. Old People, Frogs, and Albert

1.   Auch, Mary Jane. I Was a Third Grade Science Project

From  Booklist, March 15, 1998
Gr. 2^-4. Three classmates' efforts to hypnotize a dog as a science project go hilariously awry in this short chapter book. It's Brian "Brain" Lewis' idea. As Josh holds Brian's big old dog Arful still and Dougie looks on, laughing, Brian swings a crystal, intoning over and over, "You are a caaaaat." Arful is not visibly affected, but Josh starts trading his lunch for a schoolmate's sushi, falling asleep in class, and walking with a distinctively feline gait. He sees nothing unusual about his behavior, not even during the science fair when another project's catnip mouse sets him frisking about the stage. Only then do his teammates cotton to what has happened and frantically reverse the posthypnotic suggestion: "When I snap my fingers, you will wake up and be a boy." Suddenly, the trio hears a new voice: "I want a pepperoni pizza." Yes, it's Arful. "Whoa!" exclaims Dougie. "We're winning next year's science fair for sure!" Auch's wisecracking third-graders and superb comic timing will have readers rolling on the floor. 

From Kirkus Reviews , March 1, 1998

2.   Blake, Robert J. Akiak, a Tale from the Iditarod

From Kirkus Reviews , July 15, 1997
From Jack London's Call of the Wild to Gary Paulsen's many tales, the relationship between humans and dogs as they face the harsh northern climes has captivated readers. Recapitulating that theme is Blake's story of the 1,151-mile Iditarod from Anchorage to Nome; Mick's lead dog is Akiak, who pounds through wind and across snow, never getting lost. Then, on Day Four, ice jams up one of Akiak's pawpads and she is taken out of the race and almost flown home. She twists free of her handler before the plane takes off, pushes through blizzards and past checkpoints, sticking to the trail and eventually meeting up with Mick; according to the rules, Akiak cannot be harnessed up again but she does prevent her mistress from taking the wrong trail before climbing aboard the sled for the ride to a first-place finish. Blake's naturalistic icy blue paintings chronicle Akiak's independent race across lone landscapes, burrowing in snowdrifts for shelter and escaping well-meaning trail volunteers. The rugged style translates well from the ocean setting of Spray (1996) to the untamed Alaskan terrain; the textured slathers of oil paint in repeated cold tones are perfect for icy plains, tracks in the snow, and rooftop icicles. Akiak's efforts may not constitute life-and-death drama, but young readers will cheer the heroic dog on in this satisfying outdoor adventure

3.  Burandt, Harriett, and Shelley Dale. Tales from the Homeplace

School Library Journal, April, 1997, starred review
Gr 4-8. These selections read like stories a family would tell about one another, and indeed, the incidents really did happen to members of the author's family. Irene, who is 12 and the oldest girl, is the enter of each episode, but there is plenty of action from the rest of the clan. Irene, her six brothers and sisters, and her parents live on a cotton farm in Texas during the Depression, but there is scant mention made of the hard financial times. Instead, the stories deal with growing up, having adventures, tragedies, and being part of a family. The book begins with a suspenseful tale in which Irene and the younger children encounter a panther while swimming in the creek. The girl's quick thinking and pluck save them from tragedy. In another, an odious cousin who torments Irene to the point she wishes him dead mixes drinking and hunting with disastrous results. In an absolutely wild adventure, sister Lucy and young Aunt Belle reide out a hurricane and literally have their clothes blown off as they cling to doors used as rafts. There is even a bit of social commentary on the poor treatment of the mentally ill in one story. The characters leap off the pages. They are sweet, whiny, bold, scared, obnoxious, brave, dreamy, harried, caring and loving. This rollicking good book can be tied into curriculum units on family and oral history and the Depression. 

4.   DeFelice, Cynthia. The Ghost of Fossil Glen

From Booklist , March 15, 1998
Gr. 4^-6. A tense opening scene draws children right into this beautifully crafted thriller: Allie Nichols hangs by a thread on the side of a steep cliff in Fossil Glen. Readers have nothing to worry about, though, because Allie is guided safely down by a reassuring voice belonging to the ghost of a young girl who died in the glen four years earlier. It seems Allie has been chosen to avenge the girl's murder, which was made to look like an accident by a greedy real-estate developer, the boyfriend of the girl's mother. As she did in her historical novel The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker (1996), DeFelice does a splendid job of unfolding the complicated plot, dispensing information in just the right amounts, and making connections. Very little time is given to characters and events that don't advance the story, resulting in an expertly paced, dynamic page-turner that never gives readers the chance to become distracted or lose interest. It's another fine title from a fine author.

5.   Florian, Douglas. Insectlopedia

From Booklist , March 15, 1998
Gr. 3^-5. Florian, the author/illustrator of beast feast (1994) and on the wing (1996), now presents a witty collection of short poems about insects and spiders. The verse rhymes at the ends of lines, and often internally as well, as Florian plays with sound and meter, word and sense, and even the placement of words on the page to create poems that children will enjoy, such as "The io moth / Has mam-moth eyes / That are not real--/ They're a disguise / To ward off birds / And other creatures, / Like garter snakes / And science teachers." The illustration on the facing page shows that the "mam-moth eyes" are eyespots on the moth's wings. The book is handsomely designed, with each short poem appearing on a large white page across from a full-color illustration. The artwork consists of collages of drawn and painted images and printed letters on paper that is cut and juxtaposed for effect. The clever artwork, deftly constructed, and the entertaining collection of insect and arachnid verse it illustrates will delight readers.

From Kirkus Reviews , February 15, 1998
The creator of In the Swim (1997) joins Paul Fleischman (in Joyful Noise, 1987) in poetically praising insects. Read alone or read aloud, each of these ticklish tidbits features an individual member of the insect world, and focuses on attributes, foibles, and antics displayed in the eight-legged community. The daddy longlegs is accused of engaging in spiderobics, the walking stick performs a disappearing trick, and mosquitoes feast on the skin as ``take-out.'' Some of the entries rely on clever wordplay, while others are examples of concrete poetry; the text takes on the hump of the inchworm or the spiral movements of the whirligig beetle. The watercolor illustrations, abstract and stylized, achieve a comic effect by incorporating collage elements reminiscent of an entomolgist's field notes. (Picture book. 5-10) 

6.   Gutman, Dan. Honus and Me

7.    Hampton, Wilborn. Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns.

The New York Times Book Review, Russell Freedman
... [a] minute-by-minute chronicle of what happened that momentous afternoon ... as the world reacted with shock and disbelief to word of the President's death. The narrative moves along in partnership with historic news photographs that appear on almost every page. It is an outstanding example of the role that design and illustration play in today's best nonfiction books for children (and) bring(s) a shocking episode in American history vividly alive for a generation that was not yet born.

8.   Huynh Quang Nhuong. Water Buffalo Days

From Kirkus Reviews , November 1, 1997
The village social life and customs in the central highlands of Vietnam prior to the involvement of the US provide an affecting platform for the author's warm memories of a childhood enriched by close relationships with the animals vital to the family's economic survival. Delicate pencil drawings accompany the first-person narrative that shows the role water buffaloes played during dry-season farming and rainy-season hunting. They were creatures of such importance that, when one named Water Jug dies of old age, it is only fitting that he is buried in the graveyard, ``as we had done for all the dead of our family.'' The boy hopes for a new bull with the same gentle temperament as Water Jug's, but his father has always dreamed of a replacement bull that would be not only a valuable worker, but a strong fighter and true leader when tigers, panthers, and lone wild hogs from the jungle threaten the village's herd. The father brings home a calf from a distant village, but delays naming him until his nature makes one apparent. After a fight in which he bests the reigning leader of the herd, the young bull is named Tank. Fierce in battle, Tank's gentleness otherwise earns him the respect of the village, and readers will come to admire him; his death, the result of ``a single misplaced bullet'' in a military skirmish, is very affecting. In Tank's passing, the author brings home the waste of war, in a book written from the heart. (Autobiography. 7-10) 

9.   Jackson, Ellen. Turn of the Century

From Booklist , July 19, 1998
Gr. 3^-5, younger for reading aloud. With the millennium fast approaching, this is a perfect time for looking back. And that's exactly what this book does, and in a way that children can understand and will respond to. The book is oversize, and each two-page spread has a list of facts and a first-person narrative that introduces a child living in Great Britain at the beginning of each century between A.D. 1000 and 1600 and in America beginning in 1700 and through the year 2000. For instance, the first child we meet is John, a 10-year-old peasant boy living in Nottingwood: "My family works the land six days a week and gives our lord a portion of the crops. Our lord owns furs, jewelry, silver coins, and one book . . . I own only the clothes on my back." The facts include information about the rarity of books and that the New Year begins on March 25. What makes this book so appealing--and gives it such a cohesive feeling, despite the time span covered--is its design. Each spread looks into the home of the child, rather like looking inside a doll house. Eleanor, a nine-year-old in the year 1100, lives in a nunnery, and the pictures depict different rooms in the nunnery. The art shows the nuns and the girl at prayer, doing chores, and in a tower window. Each spread is decorative as well as informative and invitingly bordered with a design of the era. An enlightening preface and author's note explain more about life in other times, calendars, and dating; an extensive bibliography is appended. Teachers and librarians will find lots of uses for this; kids will just like poring over it

10.   Karr, Kathleen. The Great Turkey Walk

From Kirkus Reviews , March 15, 1998
Karr (Spy in the Sky, 1997, etc.) embellishes her reputation for spirited, comic adventures with this tale of a young entrepreneur who drives a thousand headof turkeysfrom Missouri to Denver in 1860. Strapping Simon Green can't pass third grade (he's tried four times), but he's a canny businessman: After learning that two-bit turkeys will sell for $5.00 in Denver, he persuades his former teacher to bankroll him, hires a drunken muleskinner for help, and sets out, braving weather, rivers, rustlers, clouds of grasshoppers (not exactly a disaster, with a thousand turkeys to feed) and other hazards, picking up two orphansone a fugitive slave, the other sole survivor of her settler familyalong the way. Karr draws characters with a very broad brush, contrasting a bloodthirsty troop of US cavalry with a helpful band of Pottawattomie`` `As official peacekeepers for our territory, we feel it incumbent upon ourselves to see that nothing unorthodox occurs on our lands' ''and supplying an inept, eminently boo-able villain in Samson, Simon's unscrupulous father. Not only do the turkeys practically herd themselves, they fetch an even higher price in Denver than Simon expects; in the end, with his new partners and a few dozen birds, he decides to try ranching. A wide-open western epic, inspired by actual drives and featuring a cast of capable young people. (Fiction. 10-13) 

11.   Lasky, Kathryn. Marven of the Great North Woods

The New York Times Book Review, Meg Wolitzer
For young readers who aren't allowed to go many places unaccompanied by an adult, Marven of the Great North Woods offers vicarious thrills. Kevin Hawkes, the illustrator, is as successful at depicting the gigantic, ursine men as he is at showing the existential vastness of the great outdoors. The oversized, painterly pictures are both exciting and tender. (Ages 5 to 9)

From Kirkus Reviews , September 1, 1997
With a daughter's fitting reverence, Lasky tells the story of her father, Marven, who was sent away from his family at the age of ten to work in a logging camp. Duluth, Minnesota, is plagued with influenza in the winter of 1918, so Marven's parents send off their only son to the great north woods for the winter. As the train pulls away, Marven is in the middle of nowhere; he must ski five miles to meet his new employer. The young boy is given the job of bookkeeping and the daunting task of waking the lumberjacks who linger in bed in the morning. Marven grows close to Jean-Louis, the giant sleepyhead of the bunch. Hawkes's illustrations are as moving and effective as the story, especially when Marven appears in the snowy loneliness of the north country. Hawkes characterizes the burly lumberjacks with humor and style, cleverly contrasting them with Marven's childlike innocence. Unlike Gary Paulsen's bittersweet northland novella, The Cookcamp (1991), over which hangs a vague sense of unease, this book is a happy adventure that brims with rugged excitement. (Picture book. 6-10)

12.   Mora, Pat. Tomas and the Library Lady

From Booklist , August 19, 1997
Ages 4^-8. From the immigrant slums of New York City to the fields of California, it's an elemental American experience: the uprooted child who finds a home in the library. Mora's story is based on a true incident in the life of the famous writer Tomas Rivera, the son of in Texas, the small boy is working with his family picking corn in Iowa. Inspired by the Spanish stories his grandfather (Papa Grande) tells, Tomas goes to the library to find

From Kirkus Reviews , August 1, 1997
A charming, true story about the encounter between the boy who would become chancellor at the University of California at Riverside and a librarian in Iowa. Tom s Rivera, child of migrant laborers, picks crops in Iowa in the summer and Texas in the winter, traveling from place to place in a worn old car. When he is not helping in the fields, Tom s likes to hear Papa Grande's stories, which he knows by heart. Papa Grande sends him to the library downtown for new stories, but Tom s finds the building intimidating. The librarian welcomes him, inviting him in for a cool drink of water and a book. Tom s reads until the library closes, and leaves with books checked out on the librarian's own card. For the rest of the summer, he shares books and stories with his family, and teaches the librarian some Spanish. At the end of the season, there are big hugs and a gift exchange: sweet bread from Tom s's mother and a shiny new book from the librarianto keep. Col¢n's dreamy illustrations capture the brief friendship and its life-altering effects in soft earth tones, using round sculptured shapes that often depict the boy right in the middle of whatever story realm he's entered. (Picture book. 7-10)

13.   Paulsen, Gary. My Life in Dog Years

From Booklist , January 1, 1998
Gr. 5^-10. Paulsen's style has been smoother, but this honest, unpretentious celebration of dogs further entrenches his reputation as an author who is as successful at writing nonfiction as he is at writing novels. In roughly chronological chapters, he introduces eight memorable canines he has known and loved over the years. Some were pets, others he knew as trusted partners or protectors--from Snowball, the first, to Josh, who "if possible . . . is always with me." Although the chapters are linked by small details and references (often easy to recognize from his previous books), each can stand alone, with several, including a wildly funny one devoted to an adopted Great Dane named Caesar, promising good read-aloud material. Paulsen differentiates his canine friends beautifully, as only a keen observer and lover of dogs can. At the same time, he presents an intimate glimpse of himself, a lonely child of alcoholic parents, who drew strength and solace from his four-legged companions and a love of the great outdoors. Poignant but never saccharine, honest, and open, these engaging canine character studies are guaranteed to charm animal lovers and Paulsen's fans, especially those who know Woodsong (1990) or Father Water, Mother Woods (1994). There's something to please at every turn of the page. Stephanie Zvirin

From Kirkus Reviews , November 15, 1997
Paulsen paid loving tribute to the sled dogs in his life in Puppies, Dogs and Blue Northers (1996) so gives eight more canine companions equal time: Snowball, who saved his life when he was seven, to Caesar, an enthusiastic Great Dane who ``overwhelmed the furniture'' but was gentle with children, to Fred, who did battle with an electric fence, to Quincy, who did battle with a bear that attacked the author's wife. Thoughtful, ironic, often hilarious, these vivid character portraits not only make winning stories, but convey a deep respect for all dogs: ``They are wonderful and, I think, mandatory for decent human life.'' (illustrations, not seen) (Memoir. 10-13) 

14.   San Souci, Robert D. A Weave of Words

From Booklist , March 15, 1998
Ages 6^-9. While hunting in the forest, Prince Vachagan meets and falls in love with Anait, a weaver's daughter, who refuses to marry him because he can neither read nor write nor make his living by his hands. Taking her words to heart, the prince shuns his lazy palace ways, earning her hand by learning to read and write, and weave a beautiful carpet. Years later, those skills enable Queen Anait to find and save King Vachagan after he is captured and imprisoned by a monstrous, three-headed dev. Drawn from many sources of Armenian folklore, the story weaves strong characters, an adventurous plot, and underlying wisdom into a fabric as beautiful as the carpet King Vachagan weaves to save his life. Rich with subtle colors and strong composition, Colon's textured paintings create a fantasy world that reflects the tale's subtlety and its dramatic force. Readers tired of princes rescuing princesses will have the added pleasure of seeing a queen rescue her beloved king. A fine picture book to read aloud.

From Kirkus Reviews , January 15, 1998
0-531-33053-2 From San Souci (Nicholas Pipe, 1997, etc.), a blending of a handful of Armenian folktales into one story that can be filed under plain old good advice, ornately illustrated by Coln. In days of yore, there was a prince by the name of Vachagan, a good but uneducated man, both rich and powerful. Out hunting one day, he happens across Anait, daughter of a weaver, possessed of a quick wit, ready laugh, good sense, great beauty, and magic in her fingers when at the loom. The prince proposes, Anait demurs; she will not marry a man who cannot read nor write, nor earn a living with his hands: ``Times change,'' she notes. ``A king may become a servant.'' Vachagan gets down to the task, learns to read and write, and learns a craft: weaving. The two are wed and become king and queen, living happily until Vachagan goes to investigate trouble in the eastern provinces of their kingdom and falls into the hands of a horrific three-headed dev. Coln's etched watercolors, shadowy and talismanic, ably support this tale of love and sapience and derring-do, which San Souci tells with perfect pacing and alluring imagery. (Picture book/folklore. 5-9) 

15.   Siebold, Jan. Rope Burn

From Kirkus Reviews , May 1, 1998
Siebold gives an 11-year-old boy the chance to gain a better understanding of himself and his family through effective use of a well-worn devicea class assignment. To fulfill a school requirement, Richard, 11, redefines well-known proverbs, then uses them as a framework to talk about the fears and feelings unleashed by his parents' recent divorce and his move to a new neighborhood. Filled with realistic dialogue and subtle humor, each short chapter offers a simple yet thought-provoking story about a different aspect of Richard's life. He writes about being the ``new kid'' in an unfamiliar school, becoming best friends with James, overcoming his fear of climbing the rope in gym class, feeling guilty about ``secret weekends'' with his father, and attending a funeral service for the first time. From the first sentence (``I hate writing'') to the last, the tone of the book is engaging and true to life; Richard not only gains understanding, but discovers his own voice as well. (Fiction. 9-12) 

16.   Skolsky, Mindy Warshaw. Love From Your Friend, Hannah

From Booklist ,April 1, 1998
Gr. 4^-6. Readers who know the earlier Hannah novels, such as The Whistling Teakettle and Other Stories about Hannah (1977) and Hannah Is a Palindrome (1980), and remember the pastel colors, gentle beauty, and nostalgic air of their dust jackets will know something's up as soon as they see the splashes of bright colors and stylized forms on the jacket of Skolsky's new novel. Still, Hannah is the same sensitive yet determined girl, though a little older and more independent now. She tells her own story through a series of letters. Spanning the months from the fall of 1937 to the summer of 1938, Hannah's correspondence includes letters to and from her Kansas pen pal Edward, her friend Aggie (who never responds to Hannah's countless letters), President Roosevelt (who always responds and sometimes sends stamps for her postage collection), Eleanor Roosevelt, Aunt Becky, Grandma, and an itinerant artist working for the WPA in Oregon. Not only are the letters lively and readable, they also offer a vivid picture of the period from Hannah's point of view. Though some will find the presidential correspondence unlikely, those who accept the premise will see it offers a broader view of Hannah's America. A fine choice for classrooms studying the 1930s, and for fans of the other Hannah books, a rewarding series of letters from an old friend. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. All rights reserved  

From Kirkus Reviews , January 15, 1998
An irrepressible young heroine provides readers with a slice of life along New York State's Hudson River during the Roosevelt era in this epistolary novel. The Depression--at least during the period of September 1937 to June 1938--doesn't dim Hannah's spirits, but she recognizes that it forced her best friend Aggie's family to move away. Hannah's first letters are to Aggie, who never writes back. So Hannah writes to her grandparents who run a candy store in the Bronx, to a pen pal in Kansas, and finally, to President and Mrs. Roosevelt. The movies, radio programs, penny candy treats, and financial hardships of the time come through the prism of Hannah's sweet but never mawkish letters, with their asides, addenda, and postscripts. The White House letters--invented by Skolsky but true to the tone of letters from FDR, Eleanor, and Missy, FDR's secretary--respond to Hannah's daily concerns and also illuminate the private lives of these very public people. Her friendship with Edward, who lives on a farm in Kansas, is developed neatly through a correspondence that starts out badly before blossoming realistically. Hannah's bright, clear voice rings with joy, even when she is grounded for slipping off on the river ferry without permission, and later for swearing at the school bully. Cheery and winning. (Fiction. 9-12) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.  

17.   Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. Gib Rides Home

From Booklist , January 1, 1998
Gr. 5^-8. Snyder's take on the orphan tale is rooted in her father's stories of his childhood in a Nebraska orphanage, where a boy was more likely to be farmed out to perform grueling menial tasks than he was to be adopted. Gib Whittaker's calm, steadfast personality helps him survive both the petty meanness and larger cruelties of living in the Lovell House Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Boys. When he is sent to the well-to-do Thornton family, his life improves considerably. Even though he works from dawn to dusk, he still has the opportunity to discover an inborn love of horses, to learn more about his own circumstances, and to see firsthand the tensions and compromises of family life. Deft pacing and characterization, along with a background rich in sensory detail (as in most orphan stories, food plays an especially important role), make this a touching, satisfying tribute to Snyder's father and to all children who face difficult lives with courage. Susan Dove Lempke
Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , December 1, 1997
Snyder (The Gypsy Game, 1997, etc.) recreates life in a boy's orphanage at the dawn of this century in a sobering and poignant novel. There is little to distinguish Gibson Whittaker, 11, from his fellows at the Lovell House Orphanage, where poor food, severe whippings, and staff ambivalence are everyday facts of life. When Gib is adopted by the affluent Thornton family, he dares to dream that he's found a loving home at last, only to realize that he has been ``farmed out''--a routine practice of the era, where older orphans were adopted but expected to work as field hands. Gib is disheartened, although the workers and owners of the Rocking M Ranch feed him well and treat him kindly. A soap-opera plot twist thrusts Gib back into the orphanage one more time before he takes his place with the Thorntons for keeps. A good look at the period, with moments that are searing, and a heartfelt author's note that readers are sure to find particularly compelling. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

18.   Stanley, Diane. Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter

From Booklist , March 1, 1997
Ages 5^-9. Forget passive damsels in distress. Most fractured fairy tales have a feminist spin, and this sequel (sort of) turns Rumpelstiltskin into a witty mix of fable and farce, with a king who's as stupid as he is greedy and a sly 16-year-old damsel, who manages the whole show and saves the world. It turns out that Rumpelstiltskin and the miller's daughter had really escaped the wicked king; they had married and had a daughter. Now at 16, she is captured by the king and ordered, as her mother once was, to spin straw into gold. She could ask her dad for help, but instead she cooks up a plan, outwits the king, and brings food and power to the starving people. She persuades the king that the best way to make gold is not to spin it but to grow it, and she makes him give his gold to the poor farmers--who then grow golden wheat and food. Pictures and story are a clever mix of period and contemporary. Stanley's artistry transforms the Renaissance court of her majestic Leonardo da Vinci (1996) into delicious slapstick here, with the stately palace festooned with grotesque versions of the Mona Lisa and Botticelli's Venus. The king looks like a costumed buffoon in drag, and the ringlets of his giant wig like clusters of coins. In a wonderful climax, the tamed king decides to marry her, but she suggests she become prime minister instead. This tale would make an uproarious readers' theater, with the king like a whining child ("Is it time yet?" "Do I have to?"), his guards gnashing their teeth and clutching their swords, and the smart blond bossing them all. Hazel Rochman
Copyright© 1997, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , February 15, 1997
A feminist revision of Rumpelstiltskin, in which the small man and the miller's daughter marry and raise a daughter, Hope, who finds herself in the same room of straw her mother once faced. She tricks the king out of his selfish ways, by making him provide for his subjects, who then raise golden wheat in the fields, and dress in golden wool knit clothes. The king realizes that generosity brings far more wealth than mere gold can; Hope becomes the country's prime minister. Stanley (Leonardo da Vinci, 1996, etc.) plugs in quips and fast plot maneuvers to keep this tale hopping, but it's the detailed, humorous illustrations that will entice readers, for she slightly alters her familiar style to encompass the comic pitch. Those who like Babette Cole's send- ups will find plenty of giggles in this reworking. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved

19.  Steptoe, Javaka. In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall

From Booklist , February 15, 1998
Gr. 3^-5, younger for reading aloud. The son of John Steptoe has a true winner in fact, receiving the 1998 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for his first picture book. Javaka Steptoe creates a splendid series of images in mixed media--from found objects, torn and cut paper, and color--to illustrate a series of short poems about fathers. From the stark simplicity of David Anderson's "Promises," with its cut-paper silhouette figure of a child's hug seen from behind his dad, to the many-layered image of shells, kente cloth, and paper for Sonia Sanchez's "My Father's Eyes," to the shirt made from a scrap of old tin ceiling in the evocative illustration for Carole Boston Weatherford's "Farmer," these arresting illustrations are a rich foil for the singing tenderness of the poetry. Different in spirit and texture but with the same warmth and joy as Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly's Lots of Dads (1997), this promises read-aloud and read-to-share comfort for many readings and rereadings. GraceAnne A. DeCandido
Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , November 15, 1997
Steptoe (son of the late John Steptoe) creates art for 13 poems that honor fathers, e.g., Sonia Sanchez's ``I have looked into/my father's eyes and seen an/african sunset.'' Among others who have contributed to the volume are Folami Abiade (with the title poem), Lenard D. Moore, Dakari Hru, and Dinah Johnson. At times, elements of the poets' subject matter are depicted--photographed pennies are the background for the portrait of one father. Some poems are better than others; some are more message than art, although all of them are appealing. A particularly memorable sentiment is found in Davida Adedjouma's ``Artist to Artist,'' in which a woman appreciates that her artist father sorted mail ``all night and into the day'' for the family, and passed on to her the ``urge to create/characters with meat on their bones, in flesh-colored tones written in words as vivid'' as her crayon-box colors. Each piece elicits a work of art that translates beautifully to the printed page, from the jacket's gallery of small paintings to the half-title's portrait of a family--with smudged limbs and torsos, and heads made from painted discs or buttons--framed by colorful wooden beads. Brief biographies of the contributors appear in the back of this inventive, evocative book. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

20.  Wilson, Nancy Hope. Old People, Frogs, and Albert

From Kirkus Reviews , June 15, 1997
Fourth-grader Albert has always been a little afraid of the Pine Manor Nursing Home, which he passes on the way home from school; the residents wave at him, but he just can't relax until he's well past it. When Mr. Spears--a school volunteer who helps Albert with his reading--has a stroke, he can no longer live alone, and moves into Pine Manor. Albert's wish to share his newfound ability to read with the elderly man helps him overcome his fear of the home. Wilson (Becoming Felix, 1996, etc.) pens a gentle story; the moment Albert reads to Mr. Spear, and finds the other residents listening in, is done without sentimentality. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 7-9) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.  

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