(4) YA Emma goes on a week-long camping trip with a group of fellow teenagers. But when a sudden storm kills several, including their guide, she and three others must find their way to safety. Only Emma receives much in the way of character depth, while the other three are essentially caricatures. That said, the survival drama remains taut enough to keep pages turning.

Reviewer: Antonio Trujillo

(4) YA About to graduate from high school, Lily has a big secret: her dad and boyfriend are mermen. These aren't the creatures of fairy tales but mer-people on the brink of war, a war Lily herself must learn to fight. This installment doesn't stand alone and Lily's narration can be unfocused at times, but fans of Lies Beneath will be pulled right into this sequel.

Reviewer: Margaret Nell Becker

(2) 4-6 Birchbark House series. In this fourth installment, eight-year-old Chickadee's abduction from the Ojibwe camp in the deep woods initiates a string of gripping adventures for the boy and a change to his family's way of life. Every detail anticipates readers' interest; they'll absorb the history lesson almost by osmosis. Chickadee is a most sympathetic character--small in stature but big in heart. A map is appended. Glos.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2012

(1) 4-6 Birchbark House series. Nine-year-old Omakayas and her family have returned to their summer home, but things are changing. In this sequel to The Birchbark House, a group of starving Ojibwe arrive with news of the encroaching chimookomanag--white people. Erdrich gives readers another tale full of rich details of 1850s Ojibwe life, complicated characters, and all the joys and challenges of a girl becoming a woman.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jim Meyer. With rhythmic poetic prose, this picture book builds up a momentum that progressively draws the listener into a remote woods, where a mother caribou and her calf dwell. Well-chosen details enhance the reader's sense of the caribou's habitat. The accompanying woodblock prints are saturated with natural hues.

Reviewer: Jim St. Claire

(3) K-3 Illustrated by David A. Johnson & David A. Johnson. In 1916, ten-year-old Carl, who lives on Sand Island in Lake Superior, dreams of his own boat. With the help of some jetsam boards and a lot of hard work, he achieves his dream. The close-knit nature of island life is relayed both by the gentle and lyrical free verse text and by the misty large-scale ink and watercolor illustrations, which exult in the physicality of the characters, especially the quintessentially boyish Carl.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) K-3 Rivers and Lakes series. Each book in this series looks at a major body of water. The bland but accessible texts provide information about geography, geologic history, local plants and animals, settlers and explorers, and conservation efforts. Stock photographs support the text. A pronunciation guide and list of websites are included. Short and concise, these are adequate first references for report writers. Glos., ind. [Review covers these Rivers and Lakes titles: Amazon River, Lake Victoria, Nile River, Yangtze, Lake Superior, Mississippi River.]

Reviewer: Jaynia B. Fink

(3) 4-6 History Mysteries series. Before leaving Ohio to pursue life as a peddler, sixteen-year-old Will Spencer helps Noah, a slave, escape to Canada. When he learns that Noah's family is still in Kentucky, he agrees to steal them and bring them north to freedom. Though Will's horrified discovery--that slave owners view slaves as "stock" that they own, work, and breed--seems naive, his passion for abolishing slavery is inspiring.

Reviewer: Anne St. John