(4) K-3 Illustrated by Lisa Campbell Ernst. Lucy, a quiet girl with six rambunctious brothers, escapes to the peace of the library. When the librarian gives her a special book, Lucy uses it to calm her noisy brothers. Short sentences and simple dialogue make this story, with cartoonish illustrations, engaging. Superfluous reading questions and activities follow the text.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(4) PS Illustrated by John Sandford. Glowing, soft-focus paintings move outward from a little girl's room, where an African-American mother is putting her young daughter to bed. Across the world, animals and other people get ready for sleep as well. The images in the lilting text are standard-issue--e.g., tucking in the stuffed animals while "all the animals are tucked away in nature's bed outdoors"--but nonetheless soothing.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Michael Bryant. "Daddy says our people built the pyramids. / I wish I could have been there." As her father relates various African-American accomplishments, a young girl imagines what she herself would have done. The illustrations convey the warmth between father and daughter, but a deleted sentence in the revised text may confuse readers (the text mentions politicians, teachers, and doctors while the art shows a cowboy).

Reviewer: Deborah L. Thompson

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Daniel Minter. This story is based on the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Seven quarrelsome brothers from a small Ghanaian village are a source of disappointment to their father. When he dies, he leaves his sons a challenge to earn his inheritance. They must work together to make gold out of silk thread; if they argue and fail, they receive nothing. Vibrant linoleum block prints accompany the rhythmic text, which concludes with instructions on weaving Kente-style cloth.

Reviewer: Deborah L. Thompson

(4) K-3 Illustrated by John Ward. George and Poppa, from Poppa's New Pants, reappear in a warm but preachy holiday story illustrated with somewhat stiff artwork. The ice skates Poppa gives George for Christmas make up for the disappointment he feels over his other gifts--an extra-long muffler and a pair of scratchy long underwear. But when George falls through pond ice as he's skating, it's his under-appreciated presents that help save him.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute