(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Paul Meisel. Richie tries to act welcoming to French classmate Sophie during Mind Your Manners Week, but minor misunderstandings become more and more confusing due to English and French idioms. The silly, small-stakes story, illustrated with Meisel's light pencil sketches, should be manageable for independent chapter-book readers, who may learn a few new expressions along the way.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) 4-6 The new edition (published sans Linda Strauss Edwards's original illustrations) has both child appeal and substance. A class of fourth graders holds a competition to see whether it will be the boys or the girls who can make their substitute teacher cry first. After their plans backfire, the kids develop respect for their former foe. Gilson's narration is convincing and engaging.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Amy Wummer. In this book about the Table Two second graders, narrator Richard and bully Patrick are both in the Sumac School Chess Club (motto: "Chess! I love it I love it I love it!" accompanied by pumping fists, shown in the black-and-white ink and watercolor illustrations). The boys' personal rivalry threatens their tournament preparations, though Gilson's message about teamwork doesn't overpower the story.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Amy Wummer. In this spirited fourth volume about the kids at Table Two in Mrs. Zookey's second-grade class, the narrative incorporates a science lesson about spiders as Richard and the other students try to learn about arachnids despite troublemaker Patrick's mean-spirited distractions. Lighthearted cartoon illustrations follow the class on a field trip to observe spiders, during which Patrick's antics leave him, literally, all wet.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(2) 4-6 In the early 1600s, the Pilgrims, led by William Brewster, spent several years in Leiden, Holland, where a quirky boy named Rembrandt van Rijn lived. Brewster and Rembrandt aren't really connected to one another in this historical novel, but both figure prominently in the life of its twelve-year-old fictional heroine, orphan Lizzy Tinker. This coming-of-age tale is a deftly woven mix of adventure, youthful ingenuity, and overcoming odds.

Reviewer: Margaret A. Bush | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2002

(3) K-3 Embarrassed when he's forced to wear to school the too-large purple pants given to him by his aunt and uncle, Richard grows even more self-conscious when jovial Uncle Ken shows up for a lunchtime visit. The daily activities of a second-grade classroom are accurately portrayed in realistic black-and-white line drawings and a slim but good-humored text.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.