(3) K-3 Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. This picture-book biography focuses on Ralph Waldo Emerson's home in Concord, Massachusetts, and the role it played in his affinity for nature and literature. Kerley's well-documented account features many sourced quotes from Emerson's writing; Fotheringham's stylish illustrations establish a firm sense of time and place and add a colorful element of whimsy.

Reviewer: Thom Barthelmess

(4) YA World Writers series. "Reading for me was a refuge...It was almost sinful how much I liked it" (Amy Tan). Integrating the subjects' voices, love of literature, chronologies, and major works against a background of world events, these series installments effectively explore how the authors' personal lives influenced their writing. Many photographs, some applicable, some that seem like an afterthought, illustrate the solid narratives. Timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these World Writers titles: Self-Reliance, C. S. Lewis, and From China to America.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) 1-3 Ralph Waldo Emerson's new cook Annie Burns writes despairingly to her mother that "what I'll be cooking for this man is a mystery." Emerson's imagination sustains him; he pushes aside food as unimportant. Finally, Annie reaches back into her own childhood imaginings to create a dish--"Sunrise Pie"--that piques Emerson's appetite. Loose-lined watercolors illustrate a charming bit of fictionalized history about the author's great-grandmother.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute