(4) K-3 Illustrated by Albert Lorenz. Previously published as A Three-Minute Speech: Lincoln's Remarks at Gettysburg, this is a lively recounting of events leading up to Lincoln's famous speech. Younger readers will find the story-behind-the-story interesting (including a section dispelling myths: e.g., the speech wasn't written on the back of an envelope). The historical background may be a bit long for some chapter-book readers to wade through. Websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Roger Roth. From Paul Revere's midnight ride to the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima, major moments throughout American history are described clearly and succinctly. Each essay ranges from two to four pages and features a storyteller's eye for detail and a historian's sense of inquiry. The book is divided into five sections and is copiously illustrated. A subject list is included. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(2) K-3 Illustrated by David Small. Take a juggler, a mischievous monkey, a banana peel, and a man on a ladder, and put them on a busy city street. What will happen? Small's energetic line-and-watercolor paintings take us through a circuit of slapstick chaos. Armstrong's concept could have been presented wordlessly, but instead she slyly gives textual signs of impending disaster. The final endpapers reveal the larger picture.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2007

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Owen Smith. Magnus the fire horse is trained to pull the steam-powered fire engines of the nineteenth century. When motorized engines are invented, he is put out to pasture but keeps jumping the fence and beating the new truck to the fire. When the truck breaks down, Magnus saves the day. Strong oil paintings full of action illustrate the dramatic tale.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) 4-6 Armstrong first provides a factual overview of the war and then focuses on showing how photographs, Mathew Brady's prints in particular, allowed noncombatants to see how the war looked on battlefields. The principals have photographic space here, but so do the foot soldiers, the dead and wounded, barren farmlands, and civilians. The dual perspective, while rich in context, results in some omissions. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2005

(4) K-3 Milestone Books series. Illustrated by Albert Lorenz. This is a lively recounting of the events leading up to Lincoln's famous speech. Younger readers will find the story-behind-the story interesting (including a section dispelling several myths, such as that the speech was written on the back of an envelope on the train ride there). However, the historical background, beginning with the Revolutionary War, may be a bit too long for some readers to wade through. Websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jos. A. Smith. Focusing on an eight-year period in Audubon's life, this book underscores his passion for painting detailed, life-size bird portraits. The text creates excitement in some extraordinary moments, such as Audubon's watching trumpeter swans scare away predatory wolves. Smith's illustrations extend the narrative, as when they show Audubon inside a hollow sycamore tree with roosting swifts or painting enthusiastically with both hands.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(3) YA Fire-us Trilogy series. In the conclusion of this suspenseful post-apocalyptic series, the band of feral children at last finds the President of the United States and uncovers his insane, messianic decision to wipe the world clean with a virus. The many child characters are successfully delineated, their misremembered store of phrases is simultaneously funny and touching, and the vision of a destroyed world is chilling.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) YA Fire-us Trilogy series. In a post-apocalyptic age when a virus has killed the grownups, seven traumatized children band together to survive, forgetting their names and much of the past. When a disturbed youth with knowledge of the virus arrives, he persuades them to embark on a search for the president. The convincing setting, varied characters, and rising action form a solid foundation for an intriguing series.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) YA Fire-us Trilogy series. The seven children who banded together in the post-apocalyptic The Kindling find respite with an enclave of adults immune to the worldwide virus, but the adults' religious fundamentalism and extreme (though shadowy) plans force the children to strike out again on their own. Intriguing plot developments set up the next book to be an exciting and revelatory conclusion.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) 4-6 Dear Mr. President series. This series features an intriguing concept--a fictional correspondence between a president and a young citizen, thus providing social and political history. Readers who can suspend their disbelief (especially regarding the uneducated coal miner, who seems an unlikely letter writer) will enjoy the books. Photos and reproductions are included. Roosevelt contains a glossary. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(4) 4-6 Dear Mr. President series. This series features an intriguing concept--a fictional correspondence between a president and a young citizen, thus providing social and political history. Readers who can suspend their disbelief (especially regarding the uneducated coal miner, who seems an unlikely letter writer) will enjoy the books. Photos and reproductions are included. Roosevelt contains a glossary. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by William Maughan. Aimed at a younger audience than the author's previous book about Shackleton's 1914 expedition, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, this volume briefly recounts the story of the ship that was trapped in Antarctic ice for over a year and Shackleton's heroic attempts to save his crew. The oversized pages display expedition photographs and Maughan's icy-blue artwork to good effect. A time line is included. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Susan Gaber. Lying down to rest, lazy Pierre wakes to find a circus has set up around him while he slept. Thinking that he must be dreaming, he believes he can do anything, from taming a charging lion to dancing on a tightrope to standing on the back of a galloping horse. Armstrong's storytelling is delightfully understated and enhanced by Gaber's beautifully composed, richly detailed paintings.

Reviewer: Jennifer Polshek

(1) 4-6 Ernest Shackleton's 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition was, in Armstrong's words, "one of the most incredible feats of survival ever recorded." Her captivating, complete account, which identifies and tracks practically every crew member and liberally employs quotes from crew diaries, will find an audience with the detail-oriented, want-to-know-it-all kind of reader. A stunning array of photographs lend startling immediacy to the story. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1999

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Mary GrandPre. In a story that gets bogged down under the weight of its overly ornate prose, a stranger becomes the tailor in a remote village, sewing magical embroidered scenes into the pockets of the villagers' drab clothing and bringing color to their humdrum lives. GrandPr_'s glowing pastel illustrations capture with ease the magic that the text struggles to express.

Reviewer: Jackie C. Horne