(4) PS Illustrated by Jing Jing Tsong. A lullaby-like poem, full of gentle repetition, recounts a mother's relationship with her baby before and after birth. The pattern-rich digital collages have a lovely dreamlike quality, but the deep hues almost swallow the delicate font in some places. The same mother is depicted throughout, lending a personal touch to an otherwise generic, sentimental text with appeal for pregnant women and new mothers.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Elisabeth Schlossberg. Short poems describe one family's Hanukkah celebration over the holiday's eight nights. Some of the verses, which are done in different rhyme schemes and are different lengths, are more effective than others. Rosy-hued pencil and pastel double-page spreads display the activities. Brief further explanation of the holiday and traditions are appended.

Reviewer: Amy Kellman

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Frané Lessac. Melmed features twenty-six Texas locales, symbols, and historic events, one for each letter of the alphabet (e.g., G for Galveston Island, O for oil wells, V for Viva El Paso!). A singsongy rhyme introduces each topic; paragraphs of related information are presented in tiny type. Lessac's naive-style illustrations are lively without overcrowding the pages.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(3) PS Illustrated by Jane Dyer. A little bird greets a special baby born in a stable set in a snowy wood. The bird flies to gather the other animals ("Hurry, Bunny! Hurry, Fox!...Scurry, furry little mouse!"), who form a joyous parade to welcome the boy. This contemporary-set Nativity story, featuring seasonally clad but otherwise realistic-looking animals, has energy and movement.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Frane Lessac. Engaging paintings, full of activity and detail, enliven this alphabet book, with its written-to-order rhyming verses. Captions in small print offer lots of facts about Manhattan's attractions and neighborhoods, but the information is too advanced for the ABC crowd. The other boroughs are almost entirely left out, though the Bronx sneaks in on the Z for zoo page.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Frane Lessac. The occasional forced or cheesy rhyme doesn't sink this appealing guide to the nation's capital. Coverage is balanced among monuments (the Lincoln Memorial), museums (Air and Space), agencies (the FBI), and gathering places (Q Street); historical and other details flesh out each attraction. The invitingly unrefined gouache illustrations resemble folk art, and each page has a distinctive layout.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(3) PS Illustrated by Betsy Lewin. "Rosy sun's risin' / In her pink gown. / Ma lifts the baby-- / A hug goes around." This book follows a large, loving, and mishap-prone rural family throughout their day. The titular refrain is oddly dropped partway through and picked up again at the end, but the rhyming text reads well aloud and folksy verses give the story a firm sense of place. The soft illustrations mirror the controlled chaos of the family's routine.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Henry Cole. On Halloween, a witch powers up her broom and gathers some scary creatures, including "a lurking, smirking Vampire," "a howling, growling Werewolf," and "a musty, dusty Mummy," for an evening of trick-or-treating. Accompanied by comical, energetic illustrations, the jaunty cumulative rhyme invites readers to guess which creature will climb on the broom next.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) PS Illustrated by Mark Buehner. From one Pilgrim in a tree observed by two passing Wampanoag Indian girls to twelve "tables groaning / beneath a harvest spread," generally taut rhyming verse describes preparations for a shared first Thanksgiving feast. The book's message of embracing diversity is undercut by the generic quality of the faces herein (all beam and have identical features), but the conceit is affecting.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Illustrated by David Slonim. In this original Hanukkah tale, Moishe the milkman is given a miraculous frying pan with which he can feed latkes to the entire impoverished population of the village of Wishniak. Sharp-tongued Baila resents her husband's generosity and attempts to work the magic pan's miracles for her own ends. Melmed's tale traces Baila's transformation, but it is Slonim's art that portrays a soul reborn.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2000

(4) PS Illustrated by Henri Sorensen. A mother elephant lulls her offspring to sleep with a song about the dreams other wild animals have as they enjoy their quiet slumber. Serene oil paintings complement the tender relationship between adult animals (ostrich, lioness, gorilla, rhinoceros, zebra) and their young. The singsong bedtime verse offers little verve.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty