(4) K-3 Illustrated by Paul Yalowitz. This variant on the peripatetic gingerbread man features three potato pancakes that take to the road. Rebecca, who was making the latkes for the synagogue's Hanukkah party, chases them down, along with the rabbi, cantor, and others. The lively cumulative text is accompanied by bland illustrations with muted color. A recipe for latkes is appended.

Reviewer: Amy Kellman

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Paul Yalowitz. Mary Veronica hopes the egg she found by the pond and is diligently caring for will hatch in time for whatever's inside to win the "Most Unusual" award at the school pet fair. A sweet ending, in which the anticipated platypus or python turns out to be a garden-variety duck that is prizeworthy only in Mary Veronica's eyes, caps this rather nondescript story, illustrated with washed-out colored pencil art.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(3) 4-6 After eleven-year-old Venola Mae Cutright's grandfather dies, her parents send her to stay nights with her grandmother, who lives with thirteen cats in a trailer in Venola Mae's back yard. As her grandmother's health declines due to the diabetes she's eventually diagnosed with, Venola Mae's diary entries record her problems and feelings in a lighthearted but realistic way. Childlike line drawings accompany many of the journal entries.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.