(4) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Because Katie, a girl in Ireland during the famine of the 1840s, ungratefully wished that potatoes would disappear from her supper table, she is certain that she is to blame for the sickness and blight around her. Her father relieves her guilt when they are reunited in Boston. Despite the cliché-ridden writing and the jarring happy ending, McCully's expressive watercolors deftly convey the mood, time, and place.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) PS Illustrated by Jane Manning. In an unoriginal rhyming text, best friends who like to share discover that not everything is so easily divided when they come across a toad they both want. While their tempers flare, the toad hops away. The boys come across a rock, and "kick until our mad is gone." The illustrations enhance this mildly amusing look at the difficulties of sharing for preschoolers.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(3) PS Harper Growing Tree series. This book enumerates where various animals sleep, before describing a child's bedroom and bedtime rituals in comparison. Everything about this book is soothing: the gently rhyming text, rich with alliteration and assonance; the soft, cool-toned watercolor illustrations, new to this edition; even the rounded corners of the pages. A mellifluous choice for bedtime reading.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.