(2) 4-6 It's 1940, and ten-year-old Lindy, along with her mother and boy cousin, is evacuated from London to the safety of the Canadian prairies. Banks herself was sent to Canada as a child during WWII; this memoir-like novel mines the war-evacuation material to reflect a child's cultural confusion, loneliness, and anxiety but also includes a more adult take on the experience of that relocation.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2015

(2) 4-6 Tame tiger Boots; Aurelia, the Roman emperor's daughter; and Boot's keeper Julius are frequent companions, but Julius knows that, as a slave, his romantic feelings for Aurelia could endanger his life. When Boots escapes, Julius is condemned to death and Aurelia is frantic. This authentic look at ancient Rome vibrates with life and with the tension of its gripping conclusion.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Terry Riley. The protagonist, a conceited and self-important hamster, is a determined rover and a near genius at escaping from his cage. Houdini's adventures are amusing, and his vanity and puzzlement over the curious ways of humans endow him with a memorable and quirky personality.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1988

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by William Geldart & William Geldart. This reissue of Banks's exciting fairy story concerns a childless couple and the tiny fairy who defies the fairy queen to help the couple have a baby. The queen's revenge threatens the child, Bindi, but the good fairies triumph in the end. The infrequent black-and-white line drawings don't add much to the story, but Banks's well-constructed and varied tale can stand on its own.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Victor Ambrus & Victor Ambrus. In the course of pursuing her scoffed-at goals of visiting the faraway mountain, meeting a gargoyle, and marrying a prince, Dakin befriends a troll, vanquishes an ogre, frees the mountain from evil, and finds true love in an unexpected place. The novel, first published more than twenty-five years ago, still seems fresh, and the simple pen-and-ink illustrations add fairy-tale appeal.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Tony Ross. When Harry ventures out to look for his mother and his friend George, he is captured by a "Hoo Min" boy and imprisoned in a jar, alongside George and several other bugs. The centipedes' serendipitous escape and their subsequent adventures make for an action-packed story. Although the author's frequent interjections quickly become annoying, young readers will forgive the interruptions and cheer on the intrepid characters.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(2) 4-6 Nine-year-old Alice ponders her "true private life" by writing in her special notebook. An apparently irreparable split between her overprotective, single-parent mother and her paternal grandmother has Alice wrestling with divided loyalties throughout the book. The structure of the novel, which combines Alice's journal entries with stories she writes for school, is a bit complicated, but Alice is a likable, well-developed character with an authentic voice.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2000

(4) 4-6 In war-torn Belfast, eleven-year-old Maura, whose father is an IRA member and whose brother is a political prisoner, struggles to hold her family together. After an angel appears in the wake of a bomb blast, Maura discovers reserves of inner strength. First published in Great Britain in 1977, the fantasy is an interesting but not completely successful look at coping in the midst of political and religious strife.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.