(3) 4-6 Creative Minds Biography series. Illustrated by Ralph L. Ramstad. Written in narrative form, this biography traces the life of Levi Coffin, a Quaker who helped establish the Underground Railroad. Beginning with his youth and ending with his death, the biography smoothly conveys how Coffin's work grew out of his youthful moral vision and Quaker background. Black-and-white line drawings accompany each chapter. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Jim St. Claire

(3) K-3 Carolrhoda On My Own Books series. Illustrated by Ralph L. Ramstad. Freed slave and activist Clara Brown and radical abolitionist John Brown are profiled in these early readers. Simple sentences make for taut story lines and render weighty themes, especially John Brown's controversial legacy, accessible to children. The spare, expressionist paintings in Aunt Clara are mostly successful in conveying emotions in a few strokes; some human figures in John Brown are stiff and awkwardly rendered.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 On My Own series. Illustrated by Ralph Ramstad. Published spring 1998. Based on a little-known incident, this historical story is set in 1847. Homan Walsh enters an important kite-flying contest: to fly a kite over the Niagara River from Canada to the United States, enabling work to begin on a suspension bridge between the two countries. An afterword provides additional information.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee