(3) PS Illustrated by Melissa Iwai. When everything in the new house needs "fixing," Daddy brings the narrator and his younger sister to the local hardware store. As they shop, the text introduces simple tools and materials as well as more complex vocabulary. The straightforward narration and friendly mixed-media collage illustrations emphasize the child's perspective, warmly welcoming young tool lovers and others on this timeless small-town excursion.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(4) 4-6 When Uncle Gary disappears, Billy and Sophie use a magic nightstand he left them to save their family from the creepy, inhuman representatives of the Zobadak Wood Company. While the premise of transdimensional carpentry is intriguing, the writing is stilted in places, and the unresolved ending, clearly intended to set up a sequel, creates more confusion than it resolves.

Reviewer: Barratt Miller

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jim LaMarche. During the Depression, kindly construction workers build Henry's impoverished family a new home. Later, an enormous tree Henry planted becomes the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, and its lumber is used to build a house for a similarly needy family. Rubel's story of compassion hits all the right holiday notes while LaMarche's lush, warm illustrations drive home the central message of charity.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2011

(4) YA On September 8, 1900, a hurricane hit Galveston Island, killing thousands. Hale states in her author's note that she read first-person accounts of the storm and wanted to honor those who lived through it. She does, but the power of the setting and the survivors' experiences overwhelm all other elements of this novel, particularly the underdeveloped conflict between sixteen-year-old Seth and his father.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Timothy Bush. Each of about a dozen neighborhood kids pitches in--one provides a plan, another a wrench, etc.--to build a clubhouse. The layouts are a jumble, featuring "Who's got the saw [or level, etc.]?" refrains, kid-friendly rhymes, instructive how-to texts, plus illustrations of children at work, tools (with labels), and outsize carpentry motifs, but the book's enthusiasm will be contagious.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 The Peck family membersadd room after room to their house until it takes so long to get from one room to another that they have to take a train. They decide to dismantle all the rooms but the original. The charming story about making changes without thinking through the consequences continues to be relevant. The illustrations are reminiscent of the work of Lois Lenski and Virginia Lee Burton.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth