(3) YA The 1913 murder of Mary Phagan in Atlanta began a messy investigation characterized by sloppy police work, prosecutorial ambition, and prejudice against a northern Jew. The real heart of the book comes in the final chapters where Alphin allows her opinion to show and discusses the impact of this miscarriage of justice. Many archival photographs (some graphic) illustrate the text. Reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(4) 4-6 History Maker Bios series. Illustrated with archival photos and art (as well as unfortunately cartoonish illustrations), each of these books presents a brief overview of the life of a famous American leader. Sidebars with tidbits of additional information extend the choppy text. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these History Maker Bios titles: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, John Hancock, John F. Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Reviewer: Barbara Barstow

(4) 4-6 Creative Minds Biography series. Illustrated by Paul Casale. These books adequately narrate the major events in the lives of their subjects: Alcott's writing to provide for her family, Mozart's musical precocity, Jones's rise in naval rank and unwillingness to accept defeat, and Whitney's invention of the cotton gin. Black-and-white drawings illustrate the texts, whose styles range from Aller's reasonable fluidity to Allman's rather abrupt account. List of works (Mozart and Alcott). Bib., ind. Review covers these Creative Minds Biography titles: Beyond Little Women, Musical Genius, I Have Not Yet Begun to Fight, and Maker of Machines.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(2) 1-3 I Can Read Book series. Illustrated by Don Bolognese & Don Bolognese. Readers of this advanced I Can Read book will welcome a story about unexpected discoveries, attempted swindling, and quick-wittedness when young Ned finds a fossilized dinosaur skeleton on his father's Wyoming ranch. Appropriately in a book for skilled early independent readers (who don't need to depend on the illustrations to decode the text), the watercolors sketch in the personalities and the sere Western landscape.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2004

(4) YA From the outside, eighth grader Ian seems fine: he's the school yearbook photographer along with his best friend Teddy. But when Teddy disappears, Ian struggles with inner voices, memory gaps, and his relationship with his psychologically abusive father. For a thriller, the book is at once too complex and too transparent, but sympathetic Ian is so clearly in need of help that readers will want to stick by him until the end.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(4) K-3 History Maker Bios series. The colorful characters featured in this biography series make for lively reading. The texts focus on the path each individual took as they pioneered their way into the history books. Simply designed, the pages include reproductions of period illustrations, portraits, and photos; and somewhat goofy color cartoon illustrations. Timelines punctuate the volumes. There are six other fall 2002 books in this series. Bib., ind. [Review covers these History Maker Bios titles: Davy Crockett, Dolley Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Amelia Earhart, Paul Revere, and Neil Armstrong.]

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(3) 4-6 Alexander reluctantly goes with his father to visit Dad's girlfriend in North Carolina. During a Civil War reenactment, Alexander meets the ghost of a young Confederate soldier killed in battle. Richeson asks Alexander to help find out what happened to his family after the war. Alexander does museum research, and even travels back in time, as he solves the mystery and adjusts to his new family situation in this engaging novel.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) K-3 Household History series. A brief history of communication precedes information about the first attempts in Germany and the United States to develop the telephone. An easy-to-follow text is supplemented by color photos, archival reproductions, and diagrams. Instructions for creating your own telephone with Styrofoam cups, an aluminum pie pan, and craft wire are appended. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Barbara Barstow

(3) YA In this gripping first-person narrative, a fourteen-year-old boy tries to escape his fate as the son of a serial killer by assuming the identity of one of his father's victims and rejoining that boy's family. Swift pace, believable dialogue, and realistic details (some gruesome but not gratuitously so) move the story along until its shocking (perhaps improbable to some) resolution.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(3) 4-6 Household History series. Archival and color photographs, along with sidebars of additional information, enhance these brief histories of two common household appliances. Alphin discusses why these tools were developed and how electricity affected their use. Related activities are included. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 4-6 Household History series. Archival and color photographs, along with sidebars of additional information, enhance these brief histories of two common household appliances. Alphin discusses why these tools were developed and how electricity affected their use. Related activities are included. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.