(4) K-3 Illustrated by Gayle Garner Roski. Ancient Chinese villagers prepare for a festival, suffer a devastating flood, and flee before an enemy force. Fact and fiction collide in this explanation of how a horde of archaeological treasures came to be buried near modern-day Chengdu, China, over three-thousand years ago. Illustrated with stilted paintings, the story's point is obscure until the last few paragraphs and the explanatory author's note.

Reviewer: Antonio Trujillo

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jennifer Kindert. Based on the author's father and grandmother's experiences, this compelling fictional account of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in WWII is narrated by Choi, a ten-year old boy who becomes a slave worker for the Japanese and a secret member of the resistance movement. The text occasionally uses abrupt transitions; muted illustrations with spare pops of color are stirring. Extensive historical notes add value.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Sopaul Nhem. A nine-year-old Cambodian boy describes being ordered by the Khmer Rouge on a forced march to a countryside concentration camp, where inhumanities surround him. This introduction to the Cambodian genocide will mesmerize young readers (at one point, the starving boy pulls off a frog's legs and eats them). The oil paintings, though uneven in quality, have a grim realism.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Accompanied by lively illustrations, this bilingual English/Japanese text tells of Tokuzo, a poor toymaker, and his kindness to an injured cat. When Tokuzo is rescued by the cat's spirit after its death, he creates a beckoning cat statue to pass on his good fortune. Without any source documentation, it's difficult to know how much of the interesting tale has been invented by the reteller-illustrator. Glos.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn