(4) K-3 Retold by Allison Grace MacDonald. This collection of fourteen popular fairy tales includes four by Andersen. Many of the digital pictures are beautiful and pay homage to Arthur Rackham's illustrations and Art Deco style, though some have odd compositions and contain rather frightening images. MacDonald retells the tales with a slightly heavy hand and with some changes to details. There is no source information.

Reviewer: Janet Daniels

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Michael Hague. Hague sets Irving Berlin's famous Christmas tune in a world of elves, polar bears, and snow angels. The lyrics of the song don't work well as text in order to develop a story. However, Christmas-hungry readers may enjoy poring over the somewhat glitzy pictures while listening to the original; musical notation is appended.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 "I am just a woolly sheep. / Please help me count myself to sleep." Twenty short works by poets including Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson, Laura Godwin, and Eileen Spinelli offer glimpses of different animals, from spiders and caterpillars to bears, elephants, and whales. Hague's old-fashioned-looking pencil-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are more successful with animals than people, some of whom look awkward.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) PS Illustrated by Michael Hague. In this alphabet book, a mouse explores and discovers things to eat around the house. The narrative vacillates jerkily between quaint descriptions ("She found a lady's Lipstick / In a shiny golden case") and more modern-day expressions ("She sniffed a candy Wrapper / That was thrown down by some kid"). Digital coloring makes the otherwise traditional-looking illustrations appear synthetic.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(3) K-3 Retold by Michael Hague. Illustrated by Michael Hague. This picture-book version of "A Book of Beasts," originally published in 1900, is about a little boy who becomes king and inherits a magical bestiary. Each time he opens the book, a mythical animal is released. Hague's bright watercolors provide a suitably impressive array of beasts, and our sympathy goes out to King Lionel, who is also a tired little boy who needs his nurse.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Michael Hague. This edition, with its generous size and smooth, creamy pages, contains nine of Andersen's tales, with favorites like "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Ugly Duckling" and lesser-known works such as "The Elfin Hill." Hague's warm, nostalgic illustrations, with their accomplished fantasy backgrounds and oddly awkward human figures, are scattered sparsely throughout.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Michael Hague & Michael Hague. This illustrated edition of Peter Pan features a new design to mark the classic's one hundredth anniversary. Ample white borders make the text-only pages seem more manageable; full-page color paintings perfectly suit the fantastical adventures of the text. This edition has an eye fixed firmly on the classic stories illustrated by N. C. Wyeth and others in the early part of the twentieth century.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Michael Hague & Michael Hague. A human foundling is adopted by a wood nymph who lives in a magic forest. Claus grows up to make toys that he gives to mortal children; the joy that he spreads eventually earns him the Mantle of Immortality. First published in 1902, this meandering but appealingly old-fashioned tale by the author of The Wizard of Oz features full-page magic-creature-filled illustrations indebted to Arthur Rackham.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Michael Hague. Hague's style of illustration, with its detailed realism and nostalgic earth tones touched with color, is well suited to Grahame's tale of Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger's adventures in the English countryside. The occasional art, both vignettes and full- or double-page spreads, complements the book's generous size and smooth, creamy paper.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) K-3 After getting her foot stuck in a grave, Kate must dig up the coffin and carry its occupant into the village, where he drains and consumes the blood of three brothers. Hague's watercolor illustrations convey the Weird Tales atmosphere of this gruesome Irish folktale, a good choice for older kids who want a really scary story.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Michael Hague. This Newbery Medal-winning story about the adventures of a veterinarian who's conversant with animals has been revised by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack to remove controversial language and artwork. The deep-toned, full-page paintings and line drawings capture the story's fancy and old-fashioned appeal.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Michael Hague. Containing The Children's Book of Virtues (1995), The Children's Book of Heroes (1997), and The Children's Book of America (1998), this sizable volume of poems and stories, designed to instill moral values in youth, is didactic and often dated. Hague's purposefully retro illustrations have awkward human figures and a limited range of color value, but Bennett's fans will find this collection invaluable.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Michael Hague. To commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the novel's first publication, the classic story of Dorothy's first trip to Oz has been reissued in this handsome volume. Set in a large, easy-to-read typeface, the text is liberally illustrated, but the book will mainly be of interest to Michael Hague fans. Some biographical information about the author is included at the back.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Michael Hague. While Mole and Rat are traveling one wintry evening, Mole discovers his old home, and as they settle in for the night, a troupe of young field mice entertain them with carols. This chapter from Grahame's classic novel works well as a stand-alone story, and Hague's artwork captures both the setting and the personalities of the enterprising Rat and the sensitive Mole.

Reviewer: Anne St. John