(3) PS Illustrated by Kelly Fry. The anteater narrator loves food ("Tortellini? Totallini! / Strudels? Noodles? I'll eat oodles") but won't eat ants. After sharing his brightly illustrated foodie fantasies, he has dinner, enjoying the (wink) "spicy, crunchy little peppers" his mother has sprinkled on his salad. Marvin pokes gentle, delicious fun at the psychological component of food aversions. (Fire ants? "Well that's totally different.")

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jim Madsen. This autobiographical picture book relates how, from early childhood, Hamlisch heard music in everything. The story focuses on young Marvin's disdain at practicing classical music instead of playing his own compositions, as well as his Julliard audition, which was punctuated with semi-comical mishaps. Madsen's slick illustrations follow the story closely. Lyrics to and a CD of "The Music in My Mind" is included.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Raschka. "Few would line up behind a small tree... / if you carried it at your waist just like a flag..." Poet Bell provides a pensive--sometimes confounding--meditation on flags (the text is reproduced in its entirety, without page breaks, at book's end). While Raschka's figures are in dramatic black and white, he primarily reserves color for the book's subject; his resplendent rectangles recall modernist painting.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) YA Brain Works series. Focusing mainly on neuropsychology (Love also delves into social psychology), this series gives an effective introduction to the brain's development and its functions. The writing is accessible, using examples geared toward teen life (though it occasionally misses the mark). Clear diagrams, illustrations, sidebars, and activities further elucidate these complex topics. Reading list, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Brain Works titles: Inside Your Brain, How the Brain Grows, A Day in the Life of the Brain, The Brain and Love, and Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling the World.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(3) YA Focus on Family Matters series. This series is dedicated to the notion that "while [teens] cannot undo the bad things that... happen, they have the power to shape their own futures." The authors avoid easy platitudes, preferring to confront difficult subjects with the help of staged but frequently artistic color photos and short, memorable profiles of presumably real teens grappling with the issues at hand. There are six other books in this series. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) YA Impact Biography series. The thorough text follows Ashe's progress from child tennis prodigy to Wimbledon champion, detailing his battles with racism, his commitment to social causes, and his eventual grace in dealing with his terminal illness. Illustrated with black-and-white photos, the clearly written prose is well documented with quotes from sports journalism, author interviews, and Ashe's own writings. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta