(4) 4-6 Little Catfish helps with a theatrical production about African American heroes (the "tallest tree" being Paul Robeson) to inspire his rundown neighborhood. The narrative is interspersed with first-person perspectives of Little Catfish and hooligan Lamar; photographs of Robeson are also set between chapters. Though it's preachy, the story's account of efforts to improve one corner of the world is stirring. Reading list, websites.

Reviewer: Juliet S. King

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. A child spends the summer in the Sea Islands and learns to make the traditional seagrass baskets that symbolize the African-American culture of that region. Richly colored paintings evoke setting and interpret character in a diffuse but attractive vignette of the history and traditions of a unique people.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Benny Andrews. Belton's fictional text honors Josephine Carroll Smith, an extraordinary African-American educator and mentor who died in 1997 at the age of 103. In the story, "Miss Josie" welcomes a young boy into her Washington, D.C., home for a visit just as she had welcomed the boy's father when he was an impoverished student. Brightly colored, well-composed illustrations complement the text's tone and mood.

Reviewer: Michael Santangelo | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2003

(3) 4-6 In alternating chapters, not-quite friends and sixth-graders Ernestine and Amanda tell how the dance studio at which Amanda takes lessons and for which Ernestine plays the piano is vandalized. The African-American girls are confronted with serious issues involving desegregation and integration. This story of growing up in the 1950s is just as well told and believable as the earlier titles.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.