(2) YA Appelt personifies Texas' Buffalo Bayou as it witnesses complex backstories from the past and present. Readers meet contemporary sixteen-year-old Cade; his father, who promised he'd leave newborn Cade for adoption but couldn't let him go; and freed slave Achsah, attempting to lead her daughters to freedom through the Underground Railroad in 1845. Readers are entrusted with putting the pieces together to make their own connections before the final denouement.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(2) 4-6 One morning, eleven-year-old Jules's older sister Sylvie takes off running in the woods and never comes back. At the same time a fox kit, Senna, is born, with the instinct to protect Jules. At book's climax, the human, animal, and (most affectingly) spirit worlds converge. This story offers up comfort through nature, family, community, and the interconnectedness among them.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2016

(4) PS Illustrated by Rob Dunlavey. In clever rhyming text, an increasing number of crows clad in red-and-white-striped shirts gobble up a variety of tasty foods, all of which can be counted, providing many basic-math lessons. Pencil illustrations enhanced with digitally rendered reds contain plenty of details to pore over. Unfortunately, the book is marred by some visual flaws (e.g., the text mentions peas, the art shows peapods).

Reviewer: Grace Worcester Greene

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Cardell, a young coyote, enjoys a "mostly wonderful life" despite his daddy living with a "perfectly nice" stepfamily. When Otis comes courting Mama, Cardell resists embracing Mama's new admirer. Cardell ultimately cares for Otis, too, as he experiences the evolving family dynamics. Warm earth-tone illustrations paired with occasional Spanish words (adiós, hombre, jalapeño) capture the Southwest desert environment.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Marc Rosenthal. In this touching story, rambunctious Mogie fails as a service dog, at search-and-rescue work, and in the show ring. But when he wanders into a Ronald McDonald House (unnamed in the main text), he discovers his true calling as a comfort dog. Colored-in pencil and charcoal illustrations depict Mogie's exuberance and affection as he helps once-energetic young patients get their "mojo" back.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(2) 4-6 A gang of feral hogs is thundering toward Bayou Tourterelle, delirious at the prospect of wild sugarcane; raccoon Swamp Scouts Bingo and J'miah are ready for them. A human drama unfolds, too, as Chap Brayburn and his mother try to save the bayou from being turned into a theme park. Appelt's folksy romp includes a multitude of oddball characters--and a touch of magic.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2013

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. A new big sister sings the blues: "Once everything was peachy, / once everything was fine. / Now my brand-new baby brother / takes up all my mama's time." Appelt's rhymes are, occasionally, a reach, but older siblings will easily relate to the pensive narrator. Murphy's illustrations feature mood ring–like backdrops that change to sunnier hues as the girl warms up to her new sibling.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by August Hall. Ten-year-old Keeper "borrows" a boat to search for her (possibly) mermaid mama. Appelt's haunting, wistful novel alternates between Keeper's travails on the boat and flashbacks that tease out her past. Folkloric elements and magic realism are beautifully integrated into this tale of a girl slowly learning the truth about herself. Hall's shadowy, atmospheric mixed-media illustrations leave room for readers' imaginations to flow.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2010

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by David Small. Underneath a ramshackle cabin, an abandoned cat, newborn kittens, and an old bloodhound make a loving family. Counterpointing their present-day story is another reaching back centuries. Appelt spins a lyrical, circling narrative, its characters well realized in Small's excellent full-page drawings. This fine book is distinguished by the originality of the story and the fresh beauty of its author's voice.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Raúl Colón. "Oh my Father, thank you, / For all your many mansions..." The narrator thanks God for the diversity of nature on earth. The poetic text proceeds to list mountains, forests, oceans, and sky as worthy of appreciation. Colón's lovely textured paintings of animals in nature are well suited to the text--both are heartfelt but remote.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Joy Fisher Hein. Appelt covers major events in the life of Lady Bird Johnson, wife of Lyndon B. Johnson, focusing on the First Lady's lifelong love of wildflowers and her determination to beautify America with the passage of the Highway Beautification Act. Hein is more skillful at depicting landscapes than human figures, but overall the book is attractive and well written. Afterword, endnotes. Bib.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(2) PS Illustrated by Arthur Howard. Five short chapters relate the goings-on in Bubbaville when the kinfolk decide to come for a visit. For toddlers just learning how story works, this third entry in the series offers a progressive plot that begins with predictable events but climaxes with a great surprise. The energetic watercolor illustrations create a down-home setting that complements the colloquial voice.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2004

(4) YA In this autobiographical volume, Appelt recalls a childhood and adolescence spent missing her father--first as he works overseas and later as he leaves her family to marry another woman. Each memory is presented in a single paragraph, some only a sentence or two long, giving the book an impressionistic, often poetic quality; readers may find the format (which hopscotches back and forth in time) choppy and confusing.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) K-3 Illustrated by LeUyen Pham & LeUyen Pham. "From all across the holler, / from every nook and cranny, / all the piggies are arriving for the yearly hootenanny." In this rollicking rhyme, pigs of all shapes and sizes dance through the pages. The band keeps feet stomping to a polka beat until a "piggie mosh pit" is formed. Warm brown and red evening hues let readers feel the dusty heat of a summer's night barn dance.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(3) PS Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. A little girl spends the length of this book telling us what makes her unique ("Nobody's cowlick stands up like mine / Nobody's freckles are this divine," etc.). That the upbeat rhymes don't grow tiresome should be credited to Appelt's resourcefulness and to Karas's jubilant images of a redhead with cyclone pigtails striking Broadway-musical poses as she sings her own praises.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Paul Brett Johnson. To welcome the new preacher, members of Jory's family assemble a blackberry pie, a pail of milk, a sack of feed corn, and a basket of eggs. Jory wants to contribute but feels that he's too small to do so until Grandpa shows him a gift that he can give from the heart: a bag of skipping stones. The story has a satisfying arc, and its rural Southern flavor and warm, placid illustrations give it a down-to-earth sensibility.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) PS Illustrated by Arthur Howard. Baby Bubba and his best buddy Beau, a puppy, have a long day before night-night time, but they still aren't ready to go to sleep. Although the good-old-boy narration is witty, it does a bit too much winking at an adult audience. But fans of Bubba and Beau: Best Friends shouldn't hesitate, and Howard's pictures offer a lively competition between baby and puppy for who has the biggest eyes--and jowls.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(3) PS Illustrated by Arthur Howard. Each impressively jowled, new babies Bubba (a boy) and Beau (a dog) love the pink blankie they share almost as much as they love each other. But one day, Mama Pearl decides to give that blankie a wash...and "it was a sad day in Bubbaville." Matched by Howard's affectionately tousled line-and-wash drawings, the text has an easy drawl that will entertain parent and child alike.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(4) PS Illustrated by Megan Halsey. Pierre and Granpere spend a day exploring the swamp, in search of the endangered Louisiana black bear. Told in loosely rhymed dialogue, the tale uses sophisticated language that is lyrical but sometimes awkward. The illustrations feature a camouflaged bear, as well as swampland flora and fauna, all identified on the endpapers. An endnote provides more information.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Goodell. A rhyming text describes the romantic meeting of an oh-so-cool cat and a pretty kitty, cleverly named Red and Ginger. After tearing up the dance floor at the Alley Cat's Meow, the lovers launch a show-biz career. Goodell's painterly oil and acrylic art captures the jazz-age setting and mood.

Reviewer: Anne St. John