(1) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. “We must begin with the orange.” Poliquin’s “field trip through color” kicks off with the “deliciously round and sweet” citrus fruit associated with the shade of the same name and asks the questions, “Which came first? The color or the fruit?” Thus begins an impressively encyclopedic tour through the history of orange, from its etymological origins to its global journey, from India and southern China westward. These facts range from what children are likely to already know -- that the color can be produced by mixing red and yellow, for instance -- to an array of artistic, scientific, and historical facts. Who knew that the word might first have been used for the color (rather than the fruit) when describing the sleeves of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland, in a 1502 portrait? Morstad incorporates dozens of orange hues for her watercolor and chalk-pastel illustrations of everything from fruit to birds to Rothko’s famous painting Orange and Yellow, with dazzling spreads depicting overflowing-with-orange locations everywhere from Central Park to Michoacán festivals and Kolkatani flower markets. Poliquin employs a frank, informative voice, with asides that demonstrate her awe of the color (“Isn’t it magnificently orange?” she marvels, regarding the mineral crocoite) as well as the limitations of her knowledge (“I don’t know why there are three different International Oranges”). As thoroughly researched as the story is, she takes care never to make it didactic or dull: instead, it shines as an enlightening, passionate treatise on the color.

Reviewer: Ed Spicer | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2025

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. An aged sea captain dies, leaving a chest containing five puppets. After some trials and adventures, the puppets--boy, girl, king, owl, and wolf--end up in the grand home of a pair of sisters and fulfill their theatrical destiny by appearing in a play written by one of the girls. The frame story of this absorbing book of nested tales involves the sea captain and his history of unfulfilled love. Within that story is a chronicle of the puppets and the sisters, and within that narrative is the puppet play itself, which features a young man tragically cursed to a life of loneliness and despair. The story ends with a servant stealing the puppets and running away, presumably to fulfill her own destiny. Like many other stories featuring toys, from Hitty to The Mouse and His Child4, there is a strain of melancholy here, with characters who long for autonomy but whose existence is dependent on the imaginations of others. This mood is perfectly captured in digitally rendered pencil drawings that add specificity (a Regency-esque setting in fictional Norendy), dignity, drama, and sheer beauty. First in "a projected trio of novellas linked by place and mood."

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. This picture-book biography of the first woman to complete a solo motorcycle trip around the world begins in 1973 Paris. Wishing to see and write about "Elsewhere," the titular "girl" (French journalist Anne-France Dautheville, unnamed until the back matter) flies with her motorcycle to Montreal. From there, she rides to Anchorage; flies to Tokyo and then Bombay; rides until her bike breaks down and then takes a train to Delhi; and so on until, tens of thousands of miles and four months later, she returns to Paris. Novesky's lyrical text, full of lush sensory detail, emphasizes the character's wonder but also her determination: "Ribbons of dust unfurl behind her. Dirt stings her eyes. Sun burns her skin. Air vibrates with heat. She falls often...But she always gets back up." The retro 1970s palette and travel-poster aesthetic of Morstad's pencil, ink, and digital illustrations capture the very different types of beauty the motorcyclist encounters in bustling cities, welcoming villages, and wide-open landscapes. One particularly breathtaking spread portrays the woman's small form floating in a luminous teal pool far below the vast, jewel-toned swirls of the aurora borealis. Based on Dautheville's own writings (especially Une demoiselle sur une moto, 1973), this is a lovely tribute to both the pioneering motorcyclist and the joys of the open road.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. Japanese American artist Fujikawa (1908–1998) helped break the color barrier in picture books with her 1963 now-classic Babies. Maclear lucidly outlines a remarkable life of art and creativity, of struggle and perseverance. Growing up in California, Fujikawa "sometimes...felt invisible among her mostly white classmates." This feeling continued into adulthood and an art career in New York City, especially when her West Coast–based family was incarcerated in WWII internment camps. Morstad's illustrations effectively vary in style and coloring to match events. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. During a girl's immigration to America, she loses her favorite flowered dress, handsewn by her mother. Years later, she spots the same dress in a shop and buys it for her own daughter. A warmhearted, quietly told story, with expressive, delicate-lined illustrations showing the girl's Mediterranean-looking island home, the child's shipboard experiences, and the imagined travels of the dress.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. An imagined first-person voice, dotted with (sourced) quotations, introduces flamboyant Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. Beginning with her parents' harsh treatment of her, the narrative reveals a creative woman determined to leave a designing legacy with inventive, playful looks. The watercolor, gouache, and pencil-crayon illustrations depict how a dreary childhood "bloomed" into a color-filled life. An appended note says more about Schiaparelli's accomplishments. Reading list. Bib.

Reviewer:

(2) YA Illustrated by Julie Morstad. The author best known for Anne of Green Gables left behind extensive letters and journals; Rosenberg has gathered information from these and other sources to create a detailed narrative that allows Montgomery's personality to come through. Morstad's ink line drawings would be right at home in an Anne book. It's a well-balanced biography that offers tidbits for fans without overly romanticizing the author's own story. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2018

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. This collection of nearly fifty poems begins and ends on "march 20" with a blue bird on a flowering tree branch (and with the same poem). In between are poems for days throughout the year. Morstad's gouache and pencil-crayon pictures and Fogliano's poetry are delicately precise, gracefully and economically expressed, and filled with the wonder of genuine childhood experience.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2016

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. With a chatty, gently humorous narrative, this evocative portrait of a busy, imaginative girl follows Sadie throughout the day, showing her pastimes and her friends, both real and imaginary. Spacious, delicately colored illustrations in gouache, watercolor, and pencil crayon offer a look at Sadie's world, which is full of stories she finds in books and--perhaps most importantly--stories she invents herself.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. This lyrical introduction follows ballet great Anna Pavlova (1881–1931) through her training; her roles, particularly her iconic Dying Swan; her growing fame; and her determination to make ballet accessible to everyone. Delicate mixed-media illustrations perfectly suit Anna's grace, capturing her expressiveness with abstracted swan imagery. An author's note provides more straightforward biographical information and highlights Pavlova's legacy as an artist of the people. Bib.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. This warm, funny novel, illustrated with delicate line drawings and touched with magical realism, explores themes of acceptance and family with avian metaphors and imagery. Nashville, hatched from an egg his father found, lives in limbo between human and bird existences in a house nestled in a tree. Readers will cheer as Nashville builds wings and tests the limits of what's possible.

Reviewer: Pam Yosca

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. Maclear tells a fictional story about real-life friends and collaborators Julia Child and Simone Beck (a.k.a. Simca) as child chefs. Becoming silly, stubborn, and argumentative, grownups regress when they experience the duo's marvelous culinary delights. Stylish ink, gouache, and Photoshop illustrations capture the whimsy in a tale without much child appeal that plays loosely with Julia Child's iconic persona.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(3) YA Illustrated by Julie Morstad. "The truth may be simple / But its impact is complicated." Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always moving, the forty-eight quatrain poems in this collection explore the insecurities, misunderstandings, and joys of first love. Lawson uses sophisticated wordplay and syncopated rhythms as he alternates between male and female perspectives. Morstad's simple pen-and-ink sketches keep the focus on the characters and their shifting emotions.

Reviewer: Aishah Abdul-Musawwir