(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet & Christy Hale. Each of fourteen poems centers on one particular location in the U.S. The focus is as much on people as on scenery, with many of the poems written in the first person. Soentpiet and Hale combine their talents to showcase the special elements of a place as well as the response of people to it. An impressively diverse, polished, and inspiring collection. Information about the sites is appended.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2016

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. A collection of brief poems describe the many faces of multicultural America: an African American boy dreaming, a bilingual Latina girl, a lonely Caucasian boy, an Asian boy living in Chinatown, a Native American elder spinning stories. Poets include Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Janet S. Wong, Langston Hughes, Pat Mora, and Jane Yolen. This celebration of diversity is illustrated with beautifully detailed realistic paintings.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. This story about the Hill sisters, teachers during the late nineteenth century, culminates in their composition of "Happy Birthday to You." Though the telling is sentimental, the warmth of family life comes through. Realistic watercolors portray faces aglow with sunlight from improbable angles. Appended information gives more facts about the disputed history of the song.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. This sequel to Coolies documents the experience of a Chinese immigrant boy as he joins his brothers to work at their store in San Francisco's Chinatown. The handsome, luminous paintings reflect the historical setting and add interest to the otherwise formulaic story. This is both a useful and attractive addition to a history curriculum. Reading list.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. Reminiscing nostalgically about his boyhood in Alabama in the 1960s, the narrator recalls his weekly visits to his grandmother's house, where he mowed the lawn and helped her make delicious teacakes. The watercolors are minutely lit and detailed, but the figure painting is stiff. While both text and illustrations are occasionally self-conscious, they invite readers into the narrator's memory.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. Of the many stories about Dr. King, none is as personal and revealing as this memoir-tribute by his older sister. Starting with early family reminiscences, King Farris captures the drama of a life that would lead to the "I Have a Dream" speech. The brilliance of the realistic illustrations, the placement of the precise text, and the oversize format make this a dramatic contribution. With a poetic tribute by Mildred D. Johnson, an afterword, and an illustrator's note.

Reviewer: Mary M. Burns | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2003

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. When his parents adopt a Korean baby, young David the narrator wants to share their joy but also feels jealous. Throughout the preparations, arrival, and homecoming of Jin Woo, Davey's ambivalence is revealed in realistic watercolors. The happy resolution, cemented with a letter from Jin Woo (ghost-written by Mom) to Davey, is simplistic and sentimental, but it's nevertheless touching.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet. Shek and Wong, two Chinese brothers, come to mid-nineteenth-century America to work on the transcontinental railroad. The programmatic story tells of the brothers' hard voyage across the Pacific and their arduous labor for the Central Pacific Railroad company. The writing is formulaic, but the history behind the story and the undeniable thrill of the three-quarter-spread watercolors will compel interest.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2001

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. A boy listens to his family reminisce about his deceased grandfather, but all he wants to know is, "Where is Grandpa now?" Together he and his father realize that "heaven is any place where people who love each other have shared some time together." Despite the sometimes didactic tone, the reassuring message is fitting, and the realistic watercolors are suitably expressive and luminous.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. When an African-American girl asks her mother the titlular question, the answers come as childhood memories emphasizing, not place, but the warmth of family and community, though still acknowledging racial inequities. Rich illustrations glow with realistic details from a text that is often poetic but occasionally choppy.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. This fictionalized biography traces Molly Bannaky's life from indentured servant to Maryland land owner--including her marriage to the African slave she bought and freed. The story ends somewhat abruptly with a brief mention that Molly's grandson was Benjamin Banneker; an author's note, however, provides information on the African-American inventor. Dramatic full-page illustrations will draw readers in.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. Iskander and his family flee their unnamed war-torn homeland for America, but even in the rolling farmland they settle in, he longs for his homeland's pre-war rural tranquility. This immigrant story is original and satisfying, although young Iskander's adultlike preoccupation with silence mildly strains the plausibility. Characters are depicted either beaming or frowning, but the watercolors are otherwise nuanced.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Visiting the site of the Manzanar War Relocation Camp with her family in 1972, young Laura's anger about her father and grandparents' internment experience is juxtaposed with her father's desire to forget the past and move on. Portraying a rarely seen point of view, the book provides room for discussion of changing historiographical and cultural expectations. Realistic watercolors present flashback scenes in black and white.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(4) K-3 Overlit realistic paintings chronicle the narrator's girlhood vision of what she wants to be when she grows up--from sign maker, to circus performer, to astronaut. At the end of this spare autobiographical piece, Lyons reveals how her work as a writer compares to these professions, using metaphors that reach a bit too high of a crescendo but nevertheless make her point.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet. A young African-American girl, depressed/oppressed by the ugliness in her inner-city neighborhood, searches for "something beautiful," and finds it in the small details of her community: the taste of a fried fish sandwich, a boy's moves on the basketball court, the laugh of a baby. Heartened, she scrubs some graffiti off her building and determines to keep changing the world for the better. An uplifting story illustrated with strongly realistic paintings.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano