(3) YA Pale, strange Gwendoline, who learned about healing from her mother, has long lived under suspicion of witchcraft. When the Great Plague begins to invade her village, Gwen is immediately blamed and forced into hiding. Gwen's crisp first-person narration describing her resourceful methods of survival, along with attempts to save her romantic rival, enhance this compelling work.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Scott Mack. In a Kenyan orphanage, Muktar, a Somali refugee, daydreams about camels and his family's "old ways." When a librarian arrives with books carried by three camels, Muktar helps tend the creatures. Dramatic desert-hued paintings illustrate the story. A map of Africa and an author's note provide some context, though the story also stands on its own.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(3) YA In 1942, young Marianne's widowed mother involves the unwilling girl and her deaf brother in the French Resistance, carrying messages and sheltering a British officer. Through a number of complications--some improbable, some predictable, all well described--Graber elucidates some of the risks, conflicting emotions, triumphs, and terrors of war, as reflected in a small village.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Sandra Salzillo-Shields. In this wintertime fantasy, all 172 of the tiny polar bears on Jacob's new pajamas magically come alive and search for cool water in which to frolic. The cool-toned illustrations, while amateurish in their depiction of human beings, feature detailed frames that enhance the seasonal pleasures. Some of the writing is precious, but the plot twists culminate in a satisfying conclusion.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin