(3) K-3 Illustrated by Luanne Wrenn. Sam is excited about his first hunting trip with his friend Eric and Eric's father. Sam's own parents don't like the sport, but they want him to make up his own mind. A day of deer sightings and gunshots yields no game, and Sam feels conflicted about his relief. Illustrated with dark paintings, the story effectively and nonjudgmentally portrays hunters and nonhunters.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Tricia Tusa. After finding their "fairy houses" destroyed, Pru and her friends, who live on a small island off the Maine coast, search for the perpetrator. They discover that some of the townsfolk think that fairy houses clutter up the woods and want to abolish the tradition. Pru helps develop a compromise so that kids can keep building the houses. Although the plot is anticlimactic, the characters, dialogue, and loose line drawings are lively.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Tricia Tusa. Third-grader Pru Stanley will do anything to make Miss Sparling--the best teacher she's ever had--want to stay for more than one year at the tiny one-room school on Seal Island. With her friend Nicholas, Pru hatches a plan to win her teacher over to island life. The students' dialogue and behavior are right on target, but the story's pacing is choppy. The numerous illustrations will keep chapter book readers engaged.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli