(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Barry Moser. The late master storyteller marshals her prodigious power to relate the life of Moses. The striking watercolor illustrations set on creamy paper are framed and captioned. They are particularly arresting because of the use of light--sometimes blindingly bright, sometimes dark--to effectively magnify moments in the text.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Aki Sogabe. Drawing on a Japanese legend concerning a fifteenth-century artist, Hodges tells a pleasing tale of a boy artist so skilled that his creations spring to life to confound a supernatural antagonist. Hodges's text is so expertly honed that it could easily stand on its own. Sogabe's cut-paper, watercolor, and airbrush illustrations set the stage handsomely, their bold outlines and areas of dramatic black mellowed with a cool palette.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2002

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Robert Rayevsky. A simple, matter-of-fact, yet graceful biography effectively presents the dramatic events in the life of the peasant girl who led the French army to victory against the English and later became a saint. Illustrations rendered in dry point and etching on buff-colored paper have an elegant simplicity well suited to the story's medieval setting. An author's note provides additional details about Joan's life.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Amanda Harvey. Two sisters--one good, one bad--seek their fortunes with very different results in this retelling of Joseph Jacobs's "The Old Witch." Contemporary details in the watercolor and pencil illustrations jazz up the classic folktale (the wicked sister sets off wearing a Walkman and high heels). Although the ending is unnecessarily bowdlerized, repetition and humor make this a good storytelling choice.

Reviewer: Pamela McCuen