(3) K-3 Illustrated by Peter Sylvada. This book describes in lyrical rhyming verse how people around the world might catch fish. Each double-page spread features a different culture and way of fishing (e.g., seine fishing in Tobago, cormorant fishing in Japan, fly-fishing in Ireland). With dramatic oil paintings often featuring young people, this evocative volume will be of interest to fishers and non-fishers alike.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Peter Sylvada. A girl waits with her family to see a "firefly mountain." The lyrical oil paintings in bold browns and golds with visible brush strokes convey her range of emotions, from anticipation to fulfillment when "a jillion hundred" fireflies appear on the mountain. Though the prose poetry and dark palette occasionally obscure the story, nature-loving readers will relate to the girl's experience.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(4) K-3 Tales of the World series. Illustrated by Peter Sylvada. Yatandou tells how the lives of women in her Malian village change when a machine takes over the laborious, often painful job of beating millet into meal. There's a gentle message about the value of education and technology, but the voice isn't always convincingly an eight-year-old girl's. The warm impressionistic paintings are rich with the colors of the West African setting.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Peter Sylvada. Two boys who live thousands of miles apart, on a North American farm and in a South American rainforest, stop to listen to the same thrush that migrates between the boys' homes. This intriguing look at the connections between people in distant lands is somewhat marred by the text's oratorical tone. Dramatic oil paintings enrich the story.

Reviewer: Jim St. Claire

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Peter Sylvada. When Glashka discovers thousands of whales trapped in an inlet by ice, the whole village helps keep them alive until a nearby ship can clear a channel to the open sea. Inspired by an actual event, the story's only misstep is the contrivance of Glashka's dream-inspired solution. Impressionistic earth-toned oil paintings capture the sweep of the landscape but keep readers at a distance, depicting Glashka's face only once.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli