(3) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. As they did in Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal, Fleischman and Paschkis take elements from many countries and cultures to weave a fresh telling of "Jack and the Beanstalk." The narrative can be a bit choppy in comparing variants from Denmark and Italy: "he was the youngest of twelve. The youngest of thirteen"--but Fleischman's skill with language and Paschkis's ability to incorporatte cultural elements into her folk art make this a useful companion to traditional tales.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. This multicultural mash-up aims at inclusivity and universality but risks erasure of difference as spreads depict the creation beliefs of various, but unspecified, groups to build a single story with words and vibrant folk art–inspired gouache illustrations. Juxtaposing contemporary place-names with cultures predating them (e.g., setting an "Inktonmi" story in South Dakota) also undermines cultural specificity, and the sourcing is sketchy.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert

(2) YA A wake-up call about the environmental crisis, this book homes in on five "key fronts"--population, consumption, energy, food, and climate--and explores historical and sociological contexts. Fleischman writes urgently, conversationally, and inspirationally, in a flow of ideas that can be dizzying. Yet none of the concepts is dumbed-down. A refreshingly opinionated approach to informed action. Reading list, websites. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. An Italian immigrant tells his great-granddaughter the family's history by showing her his "diary"--the contents of the matchboxes that he collected before he could write. His storytelling is so captivating that it will probably escape readers' notice that the girl isn't much of a character. Realistic acrylic gouache paintings on mottled tan pages simulate photographs of an earlier time.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by David Roberts. You'd think that summer means tyrannical Miss Breakbone's class (The Dunderheads) would be free of her. But when the kids sign up to be extras in Ashley Throbb-Hart's latest movie, their erstwhile teacher and her police-chief brother are there too, bristling with accusations. Roberts re-creates the self-reliant, multi-talented crew with the same wit and panache, the perfect complement to Fleischman's snappy, kid-friendly narration.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2012

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by David Roberts. Miss Breakbone is a piratical confiscator of treasures brought to class. Led by self-possessed narrator "Einstein," her students set out to retrieve Miss Breakbone's latest plunder--a one-eared cat statue. Roberts caricatures the formidable teacher and the amiably wide-eyed kids with a witty, agile pen and judicious splashes of color, an excellent foil for Fleischman's terse and comical, action-packed private-eye send-up.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2009

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Barry Root. After losing three sons, a sailor and his wife establish a farm and have another son, Jack. They plant an apple tree, and Jack and the tree mature together, the tree miraculously reflecting the boy's welfare even after Jack sets out to sea. Root's new illustrations are in warm, dappled golds and cool blue-grays that brighten in the story's happier times.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2008

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. Fleischman snips thirty-six bits from seventeen Cinderella stories and strings them into one continuous tale. The result is a kaleidoscope of storytelling styles and ethnic and cultural details. With marvelous ingenuity, Paschkis incorporates decorative folkloric motifs into the illustrations. In words and art, a graphic and inspiring demonstration of humanity's common themes, as well as its rich diversity.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2008

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Three fanciful tales harking back to the spirit of Poe and Hawthorne are linked by the central theme of a sculpted figure and by a pervading atmosphere of mystery and suspense in this Newbery Honor Book. The author's elegant figurative prose is fashioned with fluency and skill. New art opens each story, and an author's afterword is included.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: December, 1982

(2) YA Illustrated by Gwen Frankfeldt & Glenn Morrow. In this adroit, concise adaptation, Fleischman juxtaposes twentieth-century news items with the Trojan War. As the ancient story unfolds, present-day events are revealed on a facing page of each spread through reproductions of actual clippings, arranged within handsome collages in black, white, and sepia tones--providing a stirring if overt message. This updated volume includes ten new clippings. Reading list.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1996

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. A circus is coming soon; yet it's already rivaled by happenings on the street. Folks at the bus stop are treated to variously comical and hair-raising events for which circus posters serve as captions (and the book's only text). Hawkes's paintings let readers enjoy both the sidewalk performers and the larger-than-life circus figures their shadows cast.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2004

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. After a destitute farmer sells his land and livestock, he expresses his enduring love for the animals by creating topiary figures in the hedge surrounding his house. When his sons must choose trades, he instructs them to find their hearts' desire by clipping the hedge into other, revealing shapes. Painted in a folk-art style, the rich watercolor and gouache artwork perfectly suits the story, which is both larger than life and down to earth.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(2) YA Seventeen-year-old Del is running away--actually, driving away--from the latest in a string of foster homes. She's barely left before she finds herself stuck in a massive all-day traffic jam. Alternating chapters contain a one-woman play about a traffic jam written and performed by a twenty-five-year-old Del. The two voices mesh neatly; the story is moving--and given its static setting, that's quite an achievement.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2003

(1) YA Using a script format, Rob relates his experiences growing up listening to local and distant radio stations, searching for the disk jockey father who abandoned him before birth. Seeking his father's voice, he ultimately finds his own. Fleischman does wonders with his unique format, creating a musical blend of rhythmic, almost metered prose that begs to be read aloud.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2001

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Beppe Giacobbe. For this trio of choral poems, each voice is assigned its own color, on which the poems are printed in type large and bold enough to read over the shoulders of other participants, and it's clear when voices speak alone or join together. Each poem is more demanding, and more rewarding, than the last. Giacobbe highlights the humor in strips of vignettes that run along the bottom of the page. This is "toe-tapping, tongue-flapping fun."

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2000

(3) YA Photographs by John Whalen. This artfully executed book pairs over two dozen color photos of current American culture with quotes from early explorers and missionaries describing "primitive" cultures. Because the pairings are so deft (Marco Polo's comment about thirteenth-century astrologers faces a photo of tabloid "predictions"), the quotes' ironic relevance will inspire amusement and awe rather than cynicism.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by C. B. Mordan. A grandmother tells a story to her nine-year-old granddaughter using a cat's-cradle-type loop of string for pictures. In this interesting tale-within-a-tale, woodcut-style artwork illustrates both the story of a girl using her wits to find her dog and get out of the snowy woods, and the grandmother's string designs. Instructions and diagrams are appended to help readers make the figures themselves.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(1) 1-3 Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Wesley is a nonconformist suffering rejection from classmates until he puts his school lessons to use and founds his own civilization. Beginning with the discovery of a new staple crop that Wesley christens "swist," the idea works superbly, its flowering caught equally well in text and illustrations. A language and counting system evolve to support his innovations; it's all here and it all fits.

Reviewer: Elizabeth S. Watson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 1999

(4) YA When teenage paraplegic Courtney's elderly nursing home roommate has her read aloud from a 1910 Baedeker guide to Italy, Courtney moves beyond adolescent moping to find solace in their imaginary travels. The story of Courtney's emotional recovery, told as a play-script consisting only of dialogue and directions for pauses and intonations, is implausible and static but thematically compelling.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1999

(2) YA Humiliated at a party, Brent tries to commit suicide while driving home but instead kills a seventeen-year-old girl. Desperate to atone, Brent agrees to the victim's mother's request that he build four whirligigs and set them up in the four corners of the United States as monuments to her daughter. In this intricately structured novel, Fleischman skillfully connects the stories of several people to the evolution of his main character.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.