(3) K-3 Illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez. Commemorating the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and honoring lives lost in the World Trade Center, this book relates the inspiring story of a huge beam taken from the rubble; moved to a shipyard in Louisiana, it's skillfully re-crafted into the bow of the newly constructed USS New York. Somber, dramatic full-spread artwork chronicles the beam's journey to its new position of honor.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Julia Patton. Peanut butter, jelly, and bread equal a great sandwich, but where do the components originate? The text takes readers back from markets to delivery trucks to bakeries and factories to farms to seeds, always returning to the same banal description of a grocery trip. Ample white space lets the retro illustrations shine; a final page shows the story's five kids ebulliently chowing down.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Marie Lafrance. Back when "fires were fought with buckets, axes, and hand-pulled carts," a fire department plugs in its first electric light, a four-watt bulb. This amazing bulb continues to glow throughout all the changes and modernizations to the fire department and town over the next one-hundred-plus years. The folk-art-style illustrations help provide historical context for this true story.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Kathi Ember. Harvey the bear struggles to come up with a Father's Day gift for his dad, especially since his siblings have already taken the best ideas (a tie, nails, golf balls). There's nothing new about this drawn-out story's best-gifts-come-from-the-heart message, but the art is cheerful and the drawing Harvey eventually makes may inspire similarly stymied gift-givers.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Ben F. Stahl. On his way to America from Ireland during the 1830s, Fergus carves a walking stick, or shillelagh. His story and the stick are passed down through the generations--one family member fights in World War I, another works in a factory during World War II--and the result feels like an outline rather than a real story. The paintings of the many red-haired characters help move the story through time.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth