(1) 4-6 This fortieth-anniversary edition includes a new prologue by Gregory Maguire and an interview with the author conducted by "Scholastic students" from Scholastic's website.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 1976

(2) 4-6 Millionaire factory owner Anson Boulderwall is looking for someone to groom to be his business's next president. When orphan Joe arrives in town to stay with his aunt in the summer of 1965, Boulderwall decides that Joe will be the one. Joe, however, dreams of becoming a scientist. Babbitt's subtle prose cloaks and deepens this brief moral fable of American ambition.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2012

(1) 4-6 When failed pirate Jack's mates set him ashore, he washes up in a congenial boardinghouse. He turns down every proposal about making a living, explaining why with tales from an eventful past. Jack's audience is charmed by his fantastical characters, as readers will be by the author's sweetly ironical voice--colloquial, studded with deliciously unexpected words, and exquisitely honed.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2007

(2) K-3 Elsie's mama is misheard by the little girl's godmother, an accommodating, but rather deaf, fairy. After she quadruples Elsie and then doubles her error, there's just one cat to cuddle, one bed to sleep in, but now eight Elsies to quarrel loudly amongst themselves. In the lively compositions, realistic characters enact the comic events in a pastoral long ago. Best is the cheerful narration, with its funny, unexpected turns.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2002

(1) 4-6 This twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of the modern classic includes an interview with the author conducted by Betsy Hearne (for an excerpt, see the March/April 2000 Horn Book Magazine).

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 1976

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Fred Marcellino. A delightful (if somewhat truncated) retelling of "The Giant with the Three Golden Hairs." When a baby boy's royal marriage is foretold, it's "happy news to a family that was nobody special, but not happy news to the King," who plots to prevent the inevitable. Babbitt's text is seamless, winsomely funny, and perfectly paced. Marcellino picks up the liveliness and wit in luminous, beautifully composed paintings.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 1999