(4) K-3 Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright. A clever but disjointed reworking of "The Princess and the Pea" gives voice to the many characters in the drama--including Patrick the Pea. Each page or double-page spread presents a new point of view, some entirely peripheral to the central story (Roger the doorman, Mother Mouse). The watercolor illustrations and the lengthy text are diverting but not entirely satisfying.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger. Stewig cleverly incorporates an animal alphabet into this Noah's Ark retelling in which biblical details abound. A repetitive pattern adds a pleasing cadence to the text. Litzinger's forms bespeak the heroic with their bulk, the simplicity of their rendering, and their placement close to the picture plane. The story's creative telling and attractive format recommend it to a wide audience.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2007

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Kevin O'Malley. While visiting his unconventional aunts in the country, Jackie participates in a raid on the neighbor's plum tree to make jam. After Jackie drops off a few jars of jam in a nighttime restitution visit, the angry farmer becomes a lot more neighborly. Although long, the story is amiably paced and filled with farm details and the aunts' idiosyncrasies; the illustrations are O'Malley's humorous, individuated cartoons.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Patricia Wittmann. In exchange for help in winning the mayor's daughter, Gretchen, in marriage, Hans agrees to become a goat-footed stranger's servant after seven years of wedded bliss. The only way out of the bargain is if Hans can pose a question that the stranger is unable to answer, so Gretchen devises a plan. While the watercolor illustrations are pleasant, the story's resolution makes it seem that the stranger is more credulous than Gretchen is clever.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Omar Rayyan. In this comic retelling, King Midas is a bored, greedy, middle-aged man who receives the golden touch from a mysterious stranger only to regret it even before he eats breakfast, having turned the food, and his daughter, into gold. Whimsical gold-washed watercolors crammed with mythological creatures play up the humor in Stewig's interpretation of the Greek myth.

Reviewer: Pamela McCuen