(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jim Burke. After finishing sixth grade, Honus Wagner, a homely, bowlegged boy, worked in the mines near Pittsburgh but devoted all his free time to his greatest love, baseball. Yolen uses a colloquial writing style and quiet humor to describe Honus's ascent from a humble beginning to being one of the greatest baseball players ever. Burke's uncluttered paintings capture the man's strength.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jim Burke. Author Wood tells how he resented the extra reading practice his second-grade teacher required of him. Slowly, though, he finds a story with which he connects. Ultimately the adult Douglas thanks his teacher for her "gift of extra time and extra care" with a copy of his first published work. Expressive oil paintings reflect the picture book memoir's inspirational and encouraging tone.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Jim Burke. Yolen attempts to distinguish mythology from biography regarding the famed apple evangelist. Each spread includes a snippet of a hagiographic poem, some myth-busting information ("The History"), and thumbnail supplemental details ("The Fact," which sometimes includes Yolen's source). Burke's accomplished earth-tone paintings reflect imaginative Johnny's preoccupation with apples, starting in childhood and continuing throughout his life.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jim Burke. During the Russian pogroms, seven-year-old Gitl and her family plan their escape. In a parallel story, Frédéric Bartholdi designs the Statue of Liberty. On each left-hand page, Gitl's saga unfolds, while right-hand pages tell of Bartholdi's progress. Burke's warm paintings, facing each other across the pages, illustrate very different events but nicely echo each other in composition and shading.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Jim Burke. In this retelling of "The Gift of the Magi," it's the first Christmas since Grace's father's death, and she's determined to lift her financially strapped mother's spirits with a special gift, for which she trades a beloved doll. There's no arguing with O. Henry's plot, and Burke's somber paintings are worthy of Thompson's careful prose, which only occasionally lapses into schmaltz.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jim Burke. The story of Wilbur and Orville Wright's accomplishments is told in spirited free verse by younger sister Katharine. As she relates the efforts behind their achievements, it becomes clear that Katharine played an important role in their success, providing encouragement and minding their bike shop while her brothers tinkered. Handsome large-scale paintings capture period detail in both the portraits and the panoramas.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute