(3) 4-6 During a six-week visit with her family to a seaside Rhode Island town with a "hidden, half-forgotten" pond, preteen Jessie takes to rafting with local girl Terri. Terri's father is abusive and her family as a whole is subject to not-always-justified suspicion. This atmospheric novel is full of well-developed characters whose lives are informed by slowly revealed secrets from the past.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by David Frankland. The miraculous survival of three kittens abandoned on the median prompts the highway cats to clean up their acts. Meanwhile, a new Interstate exit threatens the cats' favorite haunt. Lisle weaves concerns such as animal rights and environmental preservation into a thoughtful fable about the stresses endured by homeless creatures of any species. Frankland's lively silhouettes nicely reflect the story's mood.

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

(2) YA Thirteen-year-old Joelle has always been told she was born in Chicago and mistreated by her birth mother before being adopted by Rhode Islanders Aunt Mary Louise and Uncle Vern. But rumors, overheard conversations, and her own dim recollections convince Joelle she may be related to the local Narragansett Indians. This multilayered novel explores the subtle connections between the past and present, between generations, and between cultures.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2003

(2) 4-6 After their parents break up, aspiring writer Archie, eleven, and his six-year-old brother Oggie move to a dangerous neighborhood with their mother. When Oggie's wallet is stolen by a gang, Archie promises to get it back but must join the gang to do so. The bond between the brothers lies at the heart of this accessible novel, by turns an adventure, a survival story, and a sad commentary on modern family life.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2002

(1) YA A brilliantly conceived, multi-layered novel explores the tensions within a family against a backdrop of the wider conflict of World War II. His father in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Robert and his mother and sister move to Rhode Island to be near his paternal grandparents, from whom his father has been estranged for years. Lisle develops an unforgettable cast of characters placed against a fully realized setting.

Reviewer: Mary M. Burns | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2000

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Satomi Ichikawa. In an intriguing mixture of an almost-fantasy and an almost-problem novel, two troubled young sisters work through their own difficulties as they become involved in the work and stories of a garden they believe to be under a spell. Delicately told and understated, the book features a tantalizingly open-ended ending, leaving readers to imagine for themselves what happens next.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 1999