(3) K-3 Illustrated by Raúl Colón. Employing his signature crosshatchlike textures and colors of the earth and sky, Colón creates an expansive South American Pampas setting where Abuelo, a gaucho, shares adventures and advice with his grandson; Abuelo's guidance stays with him after the boy moves to the city. Spanish words and phrases are integrated naturally within the narrative, and the strong grandson-grandfather bond transcends time and place.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. A mother and daughter have a nice day together, starting with working in the garden and ending with a surprise Mother's Day celebration. The story effectively incorporates some Spanish words and phrases throughout the text, while accompanying illustrations in vibrant hues capture both the tale's contemporary setting and traditional Latino patterns and designs.

Reviewer: Tim Wadham

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. Dorros portrays a loving bond between a Spanish-speaking father and his bilingual son. The plot is minimal, describing events that occur and observations made during the day the two spend together. Gutierrez's swirling abstract illustrations, more conceptual than realistic, reflect the day's laid-back mood.

Reviewer: Tim Wadham

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Susan Guevara. The battle between brains and brawn is entertainingly pitched here between the architect Socrates Rivera and the builder Hercules Hernandez when their village needs a new bridge. The Spanish dialogue is simple and punctuates the story-hour-ready text with verve. Guevara's tropically accented pastoral oil paintings provide contrast to the often slapstick goings-on but also do their share of the storytelling.

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

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ann Grifalconi. Julio, a little boy growing up in rural Mexico, is gifted at carving wooden animals. But rather than enter them in the annual contest and possibly earn much-needed money, he helps his near-blind mentor win the contest instead. Grifalconi's collage illustrations, made from fuzzy digitally manipulated photographs, distance the reader from Dorros's spare, moving story.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) YA In war-torn Bosnia, thirteen-year-old Ehmet and his mother leave Sarajevo for the countryside but find that things are not safe there, either. With his mother, and then alone, Ehmet heads for his grandparents' house in Croatia, making his way across dangerous land-mined terrain. A useful map dating events in 1993 prefaces this compelling novel.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2005

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Henry Cole. Gently scrambling elements from "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse" with "The Mice and the Elephant," Dorros introduces young listeners to Henry (Henrietta), a wisecracking city chicken. After a cat sows seeds of discontent, Henry becomes convinced that she should try out life in the country. Her ensuing misadventures provide a fertile field for wordplay. The appropriately bright pastels amusingly depict Henry's misconceptions.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2003

(3) PS Illustrated by Diane Greenseid. When restaurateur Don Carlos, who always wants más (more), gathers too many snails for his menu, they take over the village. Alonzo, his little brother, recruits birds to eat the snails but is stuck with the pigs he recruits to scare off the birds. Like the story, the bold illustrations, featuring scenes of people and animals milling around adobe buildings, are vivacious and amusing.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by David Catrow. When three young scientists leave a fungus experiment unattended over a wet and rainy spring vacation, they return to discover that an insatiable über-fungus has taken over the school, devouring (and mocking) everything in its slimy path. While Dorros tells this picture-book parody of a sci-fi thriller with relative restraint and sly humor, Catrow's wildly Seussian illustrations burst off the pages. Run for your lives!

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

(4) PS Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. In this giant dancing jamboree, one osprey does ballet, two toucans two-step, three bears cha-cha, all the way up to ten flamingos who tango. When all fifty-five animals dance together in the final foldout spread, the floor really begins to shake. Energetic illustrations of nattily dressed dancers have more bounce than the occasionally awkward text.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley