(3) K-3 Illustrated by Bruce Whatley. Edith Rosenbaum brings a pig-shaped music box aboard the Titanic. On the night of the boat's sinking, she refuses to get in a lifeboat until a sailor mistakes her bundle (the pig) for a baby and throws it into a boat full of children. Rosenbaum jumps in and distracts them with the pig's music. Affecting illustrations help tell a fresh story from Titanic lore.

Reviewer: Connie ANn Kirk

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Craig Smith & Craig Smith. Eleven-year-old Troy begins writing peotry...er, poetry...as a class project that culminates in an end-of-year contest. This volume contains eleven writing assignments in which Troy's teacher explains how to write haiku, limericks, and other types of poetry, followed by Troy's clumsy, rude, and often funny attempts. Drawings, collages, and handwritten notes add a busy, visually appealing component to an otherwise slight, predictable book.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) YA In a story based on true cases of nineteenth-century "baby farmers"--women who adopted children for money and then murdered them--Sarah begins to suspect that the loathsome woman she calls "Mama" is actually responsible for the deaths of several children. Because the characterizations are strong and the creepy mood is so well sustained, readers will probably forgive the book's tacked-on, rather implausible ending.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) 4-6 When two boys take a swim in the old water tower in their small Australian town, something eerie happens to one of them. This unusual sci-fi story raises more questions than it answers and clearly pushes at the traditional boundaries for picture-book audience. The unsettlingly realistic paintings incorporate a number of clues literally and symbolically to heighten the mystery.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.