(1) YA Illustrated by Julia Iredale. Curation, historical fiction, performance piece--Schlitz (Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, rev. 11/07) brings a bundle of learning, artifice, and intentionality to this highly stylized tale of ancient Greece. With the god Hermes as sometimes-narrator ("No. Don't put down the book...If the lines look like poetry, relax. This book is shorter than it looks"), the plot revolves around Rhaskos, an enslaved boy, and Melisto, an aristocratically born Greek girl--"a wild girl, chosen by Artemis." For structure, Schlitz curates eighteen "exhibits"--fragments of inscriptions, pottery, and sculpture. As in a museum display or textbook, each has its explanatory note. Each also initiates a section of the story. We follow Rhaskos from his childhood collecting dung to his work as slave to upper-class Menon, when he first encounters Sokrates. We watch as Melisto survives maternal abuse to become one of Artemis's acolytes, her life ending in an ecstatic, tragic dance, when the two narrative threads--one in verse, one in prose--entwine. Schlitz deploys many voices; Hermes, Rhaskos, Hephaistos, Artemis, Sokrates, and more have their declamations, strophes, and antistrophes, characteristic of a Greek chorus and fitting for oral performance. Scraps of philosophy find a place, as does much information on pronunciation, etymology, the gods, and relevant cultural practice. Ambitious and original, this is stuffed with food for thought, often sparkling with wit and appropriate strangeness.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by Brian Floca. Princess Cora longs for a dog. The grownups say no, but her fairy godmother delivers a pet--a crocodile--who takes the girl's place (wearing Cora's dress and a wig) when she needs a break. Seven spry chapters detail Cora's much-needed day off and the crocodile's humorous attempts to impersonate her. Copious ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are witty in their execution.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2017

(1) YA In 1911, spirited fourteen-year-old Joan leaves rural Pennsylvania for Baltimore, taken in by the kindly, well-to-do Rosenbachs as their "hired girl"--assistant to grumpy domestic Malka and performing household tasks forbidden to Jews during the Sabbath. The book is framed as Joan's diary, and by the end readers feel as if they've witnessed the real, authentic growth of a memorable young woman.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015

(2) 4-6 Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, two Victorian waifs living under the guardianship of crook/magician/puppeteer Grisini, cross paths with cosseted Clara. This meeting results in a kidnapping, the magical imprisonment of Clara in puppet form, and encounters with aging witch Cassandra. Schlitz takes the conventions of melodrama and fleshes them out with toothsome scene setting and surprising, original character details.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2012

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Angela Barrett. After nearly being eaten by a bat and left flightless, young night fairy Flora vows to become a day fairy and avoid bats altogether. Schlitz explores Flora's moral development, magical spells, and cleverness as she learns to wield a dagger, sting predators with her mind, and make friends with squirrels and hummingbirds. Minpins and Stellaluna fans will enjoy Flora's wit and derring-do.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2010

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Robert Byrd. Schlitz presents seventeen monologues and two dialogues about life in the Middle Ages. Rhythm and style vary, from breathless phrases describing a boar hunt to more lighthearted rhymes. Schlitz conveys information about class, attitudes, and social practices through the monologues, footnote-like sidebars, and six spreads titled "A Little Background." Byrd's pen-and-ink illustrations in opulent colors are pristine and elegant.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2007

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Robert Byrd. This irreverent biography of the nineteenth-century German who rediscovered ancient Troy attempts to disentangle fact from Schliemann's autobiographical fiction. Cartoonlike illustrations add to the appeal of the gently humorous text, though some readers may struggle with the complex sentences and unfamiliar vocabulary. Engagingly told and well documented, this will be particularly welcome where students already have some familiarity with ancient history.

Reviewer: Kathleen Isaacs | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2006

(1) 4-6 Maud achieves an orphan's dream when pretty Hyacinth Hawthorne brings her home. The discovery that the maiden Hawthorne sisters expect Maud to live as a "secret child" and help them with sham séances does nothing to dampen Maud's devotion to her charismatic guardian. Schlitz realizes both characters and setting (an early twentieth-century seaside town) with unerring facility, ending on a hard-won but triumphant note.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2006