(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Leonard. Facts about marine species are featured for almost every letter of the alphabet, from "A is for Atlantic Spotted Dolphin" to "Z is for Ziphius" (q, u, and x are shortchanged). The result is an extended tour of life in and near the oceans, including less-familiar species and their relations. Nicely detailed illustrations of the animals in their habitats help support the text.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford

(2) PS Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Two of Margaret Wise Brown's seven Noisy books featuring Muffin, "the little dog who heard everything," are here reissued in sturdy, glossy, faithful-to-the-original board books. Generations of children have reveled in the books' interactive noises, direct-address questions, enjoyably silly possibilities ("Was it a policeman going squeak squeak squeak? NO"), and final revelations. Review covers these titles: The Noisy Book and The Quiet Noisy Book.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(2) PS Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Two of Margaret Wise Brown's seven Noisy books featuring Muffin, "the little dog who heard everything," are here reissued in sturdy, glossy, faithful-to-the-original board books. Generations of children have reveled in the books' interactive noises, direct-address questions, enjoyably silly possibilities ("Was it a policeman going squeak squeak squeak? NO"), and final revelations. Review covers these titles: The Noisy Book and The Quiet Noisy Book.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1950

(3) PS Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. This reissue gathers stories and poems about rabbits. Weisgard's richly layered illustrations are carefully reproduced; they are both a product of their time and an invitation for a contemporary child to look at woodlands in a new way. Brown's text fully inhabits a rabbit's world.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Extraordinary Migrations series. Illustrated by Tom Leonard. A gray whale feeds heavily in her arctic home, preparing for her annual migration to warmer waters off Mexico. Once there, she has a baby, then in a few months, they return north. The clear though uneventful text is joined by full-page acrylic illustrations, which, while not adding much context apart from a single map, are accurate and realistic. Reading list. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) 4-6 Women Who Broke the Rules series. Illustrated by David Leonard. Using the theme of rule-breaking to introduce a variety of women, Krull crafts informative and readable biographies. While Krull strives to tell the whole story, certain elements feel out of place or casually thrown in. But the various illustration styles are well matched to their subjects, and for young readers looking for facts about fascinating women, this series fits the bill. Reading list, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Women Who Broke the Rules titles: Dolley Madison, Judy Blume, and Sonia Sotomayor.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Illustrated by David Leonard. It's Election Day, and the child narrators here know what a special day that is for the United States. Told from multiple points of view (it's sometimes unclear which character is narrating), this book includes descriptions of what Election Day is as well as the day's events, political vocabulary, and voting history. Upbeat illustrations mirror the celebratory and informative text.

Reviewer: Julie Bartynski

(4) PS Illustrated by Tom Leonard. "A playful dolphin pushed a coconut into ocean currents. The coconut floated to an island and a palm tree grew!" Text and pictures show the many ways seeds are planted and trees grow worldwide. Double-page spreads feature an animal/seed pair (e.g., squirrel/acorn; wren/juniper berry) and a brief explanation of how planting takes place. Realistic illustrations enhance the overly simplistic text.

Reviewer: Pearl Higgins

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Animals gather to decorate a fir tree and celebrate Christmas together. Wahl's quiet, reverent text is extended by Weisgard's art in which the lines of the animals' fur connect them visually with the fir tree's needles, unifying the pages. This new edition, though essentially unchanged, has a slightly different format than the original.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher. Don't be fooled by the title, which suggests a sequel: this is a straightforward (if wordy) retelling of Washington Irving's classic cautionary tale about the dangers of lazing one's life away (although Kimmel does give Rip the opportunity to redeem himself). The accompanying paintings, with key characters and objects smartly outlined in black, are historically accurate.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins. FDR's assistant secretary of the interior, Oscar Chapman, was instrumental in organizing Marian Anderson's 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert. This picture book biography fills in Chapman's civil rights background (e.g., his childhood attempts to hang a picture of Abraham Lincoln in his racist Virginia school). Jenkins's expansive mural-like paintings are impressive in themselves but tend to overwhelm the slight--in comparison--text.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins. In this fictionalized account of a true story, an African American Little League team in South Carolina can't enter the playoffs because sixty-one white teams refuse to play them. While the story is dramatic in and of itself, the text doesn't manage to convey much emotion; the impressionistic illustrations are more effective. An author's note provides background information on the 1955 event.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins. In a small village in Ethiopia, a girl sets out to become the best beekeeper even though she's told, "That's men's work, little girl." Her determination and creativity help her succeed by finding a novel way to protect her hive from ants. The dark textured acrylic, pastel, and spray-paint illustrations set the scene in contemporary Africa. An author's note is included. Glos.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher. This energetic distillation of the oldest surviving epic poem in English literature tells of the Viking hero Beowulf's defeat of Grendel, a monster who has been ravaging Denmark. Pared to its dramatic essence, the story has enough action to satisfy even today's media-saturated youngsters. Fisher's large, solid figures in a brooding palette are worthy of Kimmel's text.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(2) 4-6 Adapted by Joyce Carol Thomas. Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins. Thomas sacrifices none of the oral qualities of the original collections' language in these adaptations that bring six of Hurston's tales to a younger audience. Jenkins's haunting illustrations vary from representational art (in a portrait of Hurston accompanying a biographical sketch) to surreal collages. Rich in both language and art, this collection is a fitting tribute to Hurston's work.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2004

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher. Cervantes's famous character comes to vivid life for a young audience in this incident adapted from Spain's most famous novel. Bold illustrations from varied perspectives perfectly capture the drama of Don Quixote's illusions. Appealingly told, the text underscores the wry humor and poignancy inherent in this knight errant's story.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Leonard. These books offer readers a focused look at a tide pool and at the rotting hole in a tree. The detailed pictures and second-person text work well together to show how the animals that inhabit these two microcosms adapt to the coming and going of the tide and to the demise of the tree from the inside out. Review covers these titles: One Small Place by the Sea and One Small Place in a Tree.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Leonard. These books offer readers a focused look at a tide pool and at the rotting hole in a tree. The detailed pictures and second-person text work well together to show how the animals that inhabit these two microcosms adapt to the coming and going of the tide and to the demise of the tree from the inside out. Review covers these titles: One Small Place by the Sea and One Small Place in a Tree.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Jenkins. Burleigh tries to convey the creative process by assuming Langston Hughes's voice to describe a ride on a train from Illinois across the Mississippi to Mexico, on which Hughes wrote his famous poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." The text is unconvincing and wordy, but Jenkins's art is more successful, using mixed media to capture both Hughes's experience of the train ride and the power of his poetry.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Robert Riger & Leonard Derwinski. An overview focuses on the first days of the Pony Express, tracing the adventures of the individual riders who traveled between California and Missouri in April 1860. The story is fast paced and dramatic, though this reissue's dated illustrations and prose ("One of America's greatest strengths is her ability to produce men capable of meeting every national emergency") bespeak an earlier era. Ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: April, 1959