(3) YA Working-class teen Ramiro Lopez goes to an all-Hispanic high school. Jake Upthegrove is a wealthy WASP with anger-management issues who attends the magnet school next door. Both struggle with feelings of abandonment, and the boys relate their stories in parallel first-person narratives. The book takes a while to get going, but intriguing supporting characters and a vivid El Paso setting help sustain interest.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2008

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Scott McKowen. The complete text of Alcott's classic tale of Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March is reprinted with a ribbon bookmark and a list of open-ended questions ("Do you think she overreacted, or was her anger justified?") designed to stimulate thought. Repeated scratchboard illustrations head each chapter, giving the book a generic appearance.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) 1-3 Stepping Stone series. Illustrated by Ellen Beier. In this reissued sequel to The Chalk Box Kid, Gregory paints pictures on an elderly neighbor's home in an attempt to save it from being torn down by the city. The realistic conclusion is satisfying, yet contains some unresolved conflict. The simply written text is illustrated with dated line drawings.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Scott McKowen. The story of Sara Crewe, a wealthy boarding school student who retains her pluck even when her personal circumstances change, is presented in its unabridged format. A handful of scratchboard illustrations (all featuring a monkey that doesn't debut until halfway through the novel) repeat over and over as chapter headers. The book concludes with some open-ended questions to stimulate thought.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Scott McKowen. The time-tested classic about orphaned Mary Lennox and the neglected walled garden she returns to life is presented with a ribbon bookmark and a list of open-ended questions ("Is an absent father worse than a bad father?") for readers to ponder or discuss. A handful of scratchboard vignette illustrations repeat as chapter headings throughout the book.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) 1-3 Stepping Stone series. Illustrated by Colin Paine. Tired of being picked on by the class bully, third-grader Tim organizes an "Annoying Team" to get back at Jon. After its initial success, the group gets out of hand: it harasses a substitute teacher, holds up the school lunch line, etc. Illustrated with serviceable line drawings, this simple story has an intriguing premise but is too easily resolved.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) YA When Chance Taylor is offered a suspicious job--retrieving hidden packages and stashing them away for later pickup--the high school senior doesn't ask many questions. He views the two-hundred-dollar-a week salary as a means to pay the mooring fees for the sailboat where he and his alcoholic, chronically unemployed father live. Narrator Chance is an empathetic central character in this fast-paced and suspenseful novel.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2005

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Adam Rex. A brief bouncy rhyme ("Floating palace, / white and red, / chimneys belching overhead") describes the excitement when a Mississippi steamboat docks at a small town. Locals gather, travelers disembark, and crates and barrels are unloaded, revealing luxuries such as pickles, sugar, and lace. The art has a cinematic quality as small illustrations give way to large, busy tableaux.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) K-3 In this inventive book illustrated with flat, cartoony art, an exterior view (e.g., of an elementary school) shows figures silhouetted in windows (schoolchildren ostensibly studying). The next page reveals the building's surprising interior (because the drinking fountain overflowed, the kids are rowing a canoe inside). The exterior-interior contrasts grow repetitive, but each pairing yields a worthy reminder that first impressions can deceive.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) YA At boarding school in Alabama, narrator Miles Halter faces challenging classes, school-wide pranks, and Alaska Young, a sexy, enigmatic girl. After Alaska is killed in a car crash, Miles and his friends question whether it could have been suicide and acknowledge their own survivor guilt. These intelligent characters talk smart, yet don't always behave that way, and are thus complex and realistically portrayed teenagers.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2005

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Greg Harlin. A taut fictionalized text and stately illustrations describe the 1778 Atlantic voyage of John Adams and his ten-year-old son, Johnny. As they travel to France to seek support in the Revolutionary War, their ship is chased by British frigates, hit by lightning, and fired on by a merchant ship. A brief author's note describes the subsequent achievements of John and John Quincy Adams.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) 4-6 A gifted violinist, fifteen-year-old Reuven Bloom lives in the Pale, "the only region in Russia where Jews were allowed to settle." When Cossacks kill most of his family during a pogrom, Reuven escapes to Poland in disguise and carrying his baby sister on his back. Their dangerous trek is filled with incident and drama in this companion volume to The Night Journey.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2005

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Scott McKowen. London's classic tales--one about a family dog forced to adapt to the Canadian wild, the other about an untamed wolf-dog who decides to adapt to civilization--are presented in a single volume with a ribbon bookmark. A few scratchboard illustrations are repeated over and over as chapter headers. The book concludes with two lists of open-ended discussion questions for each story.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Middy Thomas. Mrs. Pidgeon promises the lead role in the second-grade Thanksgiving play to the student who can find a room mother for their classroom. Gooney Bird Greene announces that she has found a room mother, although her surprising identity is not revealed until the day of the play. This second, gently humorous story about the idiosyncratic Gooney Bird is illustrated with so-so black-and-white drawings.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) 4-6 Young readers will delight in this series of twelve interconnected mazes (a companion to Munro's Mazescapes), set in a theme park. The real challenge is in tracing the spiraling tracks of the Cyclone ride, but along the way, readers can also search for people and objects hidden in each of the detailed illustrations. An answer key is appended.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2005

(3) 4-6 Series of Unfortunate Events series. Illustrated by Brett Helquist. This omnibus edition contains the first three books in the series: The Bad Beginning (1999), The Reptile Room (1999), and The Wide Window (2000). The unbelievable plot turns and one-dimensional characters are offset by stylistic flourishes and Snicket's distinct literary voice, which make these parodies clever and entertaining.