(2) K-3 Gay found inspiration for this winning story from reading about the residents of a Dutch city who transformed their streets into a "walking forest" by wheeling trees about in wooden containers. In this fictionalized telling, city girl Lily visits the woods and finds herself so enamored with trees that she asks her father for one for her birthday. She names her leafy new friend George. Gay deftly employs various shades of green in her playful mixed-media illustrations, which reflect the loving connection between child and tree. The tale takes an entertaining turn when Lily decides to show George the world beyond their tiny balcony. Lily pulls George about in a wagon and discovers that the tree provides shade and comfort to the people she meets along the way. Two boys tease her initially but learn that being in George's shadow keeps their Popsicles from melting. They ask for trees of their own, and treemania spreads as other residents follow suit. Gay captures the joy of a diverse urban community bonding over nature that brings beauty to their locale and lives. The finale depicts people enjoying a park scene filled with trees of many colors and shapes before bringing the narrative back to Lily and George and a triumphant hug.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Yas Imamura. When her family must flee their beloved home in Kurdistan, young Mevan's status as a refugee makes her feel smaller and smaller until she makes herself invisible. The family travels from Azerbaijan to Russia to the Netherlands, where a kind man sees her, despite her ability to hide herself, and gives her the perfect gift -- a red bicycle -- making her feel "a hundred feet tall." This true story, gently told in the third person and coauthored by Babakar herself, is brought to life through evocative mixed-media illustrations, which capture the deep loneliness of leaving a home full of friends and family. The illustrations shift from the lush greenery of Kurdistan to the stark concrete of Soviet Bloc apartments to a colorful and joyous double-page spread when Mevan first rides her bicycle. An epilogue and author's note describe more of Babakar's experience as a young refugee and tell her story of returning to the Netherlands as an adult and reuniting with the kind apartment manager who gave her the bike. A reflective story about the isolation of life as a child refugee and about the enduring effects of an act of kindness.

Reviewer: Laura Koenig | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) K-3 Translated by David Colmer. Mr. Coats feels the cold. He stays indoors, huddled next to the fire in all seasons. He's lonely. He thinks of a solution, then ventures out to buy three thick coats and puts them all on at once. He's still cold. He buys twelve more coats. Still cold. He puts on coats and more coats until he is so bulky he cannot get through his doorway and ends up living outside in his yurt-shaped coat-house, sleeves functioning as stovepipes. Not until a kind neighbor match-makes him with another coat-house dweller in a nearby town does Mr. Coats realize two life lessons: there's somebody for everybody, and love keeps you warm from the inside out. Good conversation helps, too. "Mrs. Coats and Mr. Coats had a lot to talk about: electric blankets, hot water bottles, earmuffs, cups of hot chocolate, sun lamps, fur-lined boots..." This wry, absurdist tall tale provides a wonderful canvas for wild fabric patterns as Posthuma layers checks upon stripes upon tartans in a wild collage of color. Originally published in the Netherlands in 2006, the story travels well across the ocean to a new generation of readers.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) K-3 Translated by Annette Appel. Illustrated by Avi Ofer. A teddy bear on display in Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum, narrates this picture book based on a true story from the Holocaust. The stuffed bear recalls his journey with young owner Fred from their home in Delft, Holland, to Fred's grandfather's house in Amsterdam--the family has been warned that "people would come and force us to leave"--and eventually to a stranger's home for the duration of the war. Short lines of text are surrounded by plenty of white space. The loose-lined, digital illustrations are similarly spare, though the light brown of the visibly well-loved Bear and the yellow of the stars sewn onto Jewish characters' clothing stand out. That the events are seen through innocent eyes allows for the posing of basic questions: "Why did we have to hide?" and "Why couldn't [Fred] tell anyone who he was? Did he do something bad?" A historical note at the front provides more specific information about the Holocaust, making the book useful as a discussion starter for those new to this part of history. Back matter includes an author's note and a letter from "Fred's Bear" (complete with photo), establishing both title characters as real figures.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2020

(3) K-3 Translated by Paul Kelly. Illustrated by Florence Koenig. Friends Anna, a servant, and Johanna, the master's daughter, discover a secret on their shared twelfth birthday in seventeenth-century Delft. The picture book's plot, explained in the author's note, is based on two Jan Vermeer paintings, The Milkmaid and The Lacemaker. Lush acrylic paintings use some of Vermeer's imagery. More information about Vermeer and reproductions of the source paintings are included.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) YA It's 1798, four years after the Terror in France when the guillotine threatened, and fifteen-year-old Hortense attends a girls' boarding school outside Paris. Accomplished in her studies, she dreams of composing her own music. Being the (real-life) stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte, however, comes with certain expectations. This fictional account favors authentically portraying history and period mentality over granting its characters great depth. Glos.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(1) 4-6 Translated by John Nieuwenhuizen. In this Dutch import, a family of nine--hapless dreamer and cigar-maker father, tough grandmother, four almost-grown-up sons, and three younger daughters--moves into the titular house and tries to figure out its mysteries. While the setting is specific (the Dutch province of Limburg in the 1930s), the whole thing feels more like a folktale. This is a strange, somber, and oddly compelling narrative.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(3) K-3 In a series of twenty-seven oversize, wordless, and stunning picture book spreads, French illustrator Dematons celebrates her adopted country. Sure, you'll find a windmill or two and some tulips among the images, but what's most impressive here is the sheer amount of human drama, architectural detail, and intricacies of land- and cityscapes to be found in each picture. Brueghel would be proud.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(3) K-3 National Geographic Readers series. These leveled beginning-reader biographies are lively and filled with colorful photographs and illustrations. Energetically designed with many sidebars and graphics, each well-organized volume gives a sense of the time in which the person lived in addition to his or her life and accomplishments. Longer and at the highest reading level, Anne Frank contains an index. Timeline. Glos. Review covers these National Geographic Super Readers titles: Amelia Earhart, George Washington, Thomas Edison, and Anne Frank.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Cheryl Orsini. Lucy wants to be good, but her impulsive nature and quick temper make it difficult. When elderly Tante Bep visits from the Netherlands, she warns Lucy to behave--or Black Piet will take her away forever. In this Australian import, Musgrove's prose is precise and her imagery well chosen. The realistic story of a girl trying to control her temper will win fans.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2010

(2) PS In this last Knuffle Bunny book, the family goes to the Netherlands to visit Trixie's grandparents; while contentedly drinking chocolate milk with Oma, she realizes someone never got off the plane. Trixie finds comfort dreaming of Knuffle Bunny, as shown in an expansive double gatefold spread--just one of the many smart design choices this series has made, hip and homey in equal measure.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2010

(4) YA Sterling Point Books series. In this updated edition (originally Beyond the Dikes), DeMallie tells his war story: shot down in December 1944, he eluded capture and found temporary refuge with Dutch Resistance fighters until the Germans caught up with him, imprisoning him for the remainder of the war. The workmanlike writing is sometimes trite, but DeMallie tells it straight and with a well-judged amount of detail.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(4) YA Readers might think they've wandered into Ken Follett territory. After a brief prologue set in 1979, the story turns to 1944, when two Dutch nationals turned British agents are parachuted into Nazi-occupied Holland. This is satisfying genre fiction; when introducing a YA slant things become a bit awkward. While occasionally purple, the writing is dramatic, and the Resistance activities are suspenseful.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2007

(2) 4-6 In the early 1600s, the Pilgrims, led by William Brewster, spent several years in Leiden, Holland, where a quirky boy named Rembrandt van Rijn lived. Brewster and Rembrandt aren't really connected to one another in this historical novel, but both figure prominently in the life of its twelve-year-old fictional heroine, orphan Lizzy Tinker. This coming-of-age tale is a deftly woven mix of adventure, youthful ingenuity, and overcoming odds.

Reviewer: Margaret A. Bush | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2002