(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Thomas B. Allen. When their parents travel north to find work during the Depression, five-year-old African-American narrator Pearl and her brother remain in Florida, where they help their grandmother run her store. Overt moralizing and a protagonist significantly younger than the target audience may turn off some readers, but others will find the story engrossing. Serviceable charcoal drawings appear throughout.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Thomas B. Allen. This sports anthology features a notable roster of authors, including James Thurber, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and Bruce Brooks (represented by an excerpt from The Moves Make the Man). Though the volume is handsomely illustrated and presented, it's difficult to imagine many children being drawn to stories such as John Updike's "Man and Daughter in the Cold" and its ruminative middle-aged protagonist.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Thomas B. Allen. Nine-year-old Laura describes her 1871 Arctic voyage on her father's whaling ship. A deft mixture of mundane details (daily meals, schoolwork) and exciting experiences (whale sightings, storms) lends an authentic feel to Laura's diary, which an authors' note explains is based on the real-life adventures of two different girls. Small ink drawings pepper the diary's pages, but larger colored pencil illustrations are static and detract from the format. Glos.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(3) K-3 In 1929, a boy named Gil Wickstrom gets the thrill of a lifetime when the aviator Charles Lindbergh lands his biplane in a pasture near Gil's father's farm and camps overnight. In the morning Gil helps hold the wings of the 'Curtiss Falcon' steady as the famous pilot prepares for take-off. Illustrated with muted colored pencil pictures, the story, based on a real event, captures the excitement of a bygone time when flying was still a daring feat.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.