(3) K-3 Illustrated by Amiko Hirao. Librarian Clara Breed was a hero to the Japanese American children in San Diego who were banished to internment camps during WWII: she sent books, postcards, soap, and other supplies to cheer them up. Hirao's colored-pencil illustrations and archival black-and-white photographs on the endpapers help contextualize Grady's moving story, which includes excerpts from the children's actual letters. Reading list, timelines. Bib.

Reviewer: Christina Dorr

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Michele Wood. Concept by Michele Wood. Thirteen spreads each focus on a famous spiritual and include interpretations and background information, the musical score, and an acrylic painting inspired by it; "some of the earliest recorded" lyrics to each are appended. Wood's powerful folk art is an excellent focal point for this useful introduction to the American slave experience and the resultant musical form. Reading list, websites. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Michele Wood. Grady crafts her fourteen poems to honor the art of quiltmaking. Pieces recall quilt squares by using ten lines of ten syllables each. Working in intensely hued acrylics, Wood bases her quilt-shaped designs on the patterns that give the poems their titles, incorporating forms into carefully composed scenes inhabited by heroic, emotion-charged figures. Author's and illustrator's notes are appended. Reading list.

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