(1) 4-6 Heiligman tells the riveting tale of the SS City of Benares. Carrying two hundred passengers, half of them children, the ship was torpedoed on September 17, 1940, in the North Atlantic; many perish in the night from exposure to the cold and stormy weather. Heiligman skillfully juggles various points of view, heightening narrative tension while remaining scrupulously faithful to the historical record. Black-and-white photographs and illustrations are incorporated throughout. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(3) K-3 Oceans of the World series. REVIEW MISSING

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) K-3 Our Earth's Oceans series. This series presents a broad overview of the earth's oceans. Following a basic format, each volume discusses geography, natural resources, makeup of the ocean floor, flora and fauna, and early and continuing exploration. Sections on current issues facing the oceans, including pollution, climate change, and endangered species, add further interest. Photographs, maps, and sidebars accompany the informative text. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Out Earth's Oceans titles: The Frigid Arctic Ocean, The Huge Pacific Ocean, The Stormy Southern Ocean, The Mighty Atlantic Ocean, and The Tropical Indian Ocean.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(3) 4-6 This book gives an account of three aviator teams (Charles Lindbergh, Charles Levine and Clarence Chamberlain, and Richard Byrd) engaged in fierce competition to be the first to fly nonstop from America to Europe. Finkelstein details the personalities involved, preparations for the trip, dangers encountered during the flights, and triumphs. The readable text is enhanced with numerous archival photographs. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(4) 4-6 Arnosky and his wife follow coastal marshes from Florida to Delaware, gathering information and recording their impressions. Arnosky describes mostly the flora and fauna of salt marshes, but he also touches on tides, working fishing boats, and the colony of wild ponies of Assateague. Part travelogue, part informational book, this title, with its evocative illustrations, is beautiful but ultimately disjointed.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jim Sollers. In this original fable, the mountains and the sea of Maine engage in a geographic beauty contest when an eagle tells each of the other's boasts. Predictably, it is not until the wrath of the mountains and the fury of the sea are unleashed that a peaceful landscape can exist. Sollers's paintings make the geographic features believable characters.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(3) K-3 A book that begins "I am the Atlantic Ocean" has a lot to live up to, but Karas does a fair job of justifying his ambition. The ocean's monologue never strays into the fanciful, instead finding its poetry in demonstrable truth: "The moon / so far out in space / pulls at me / and then lets go...." While the format is large and the page design expansive, the fresh and playful illustrations display a becoming modesty with no loss to majesty.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by S. D. Schindler. In a straightforward economic history, Kurlansky informs us that cod "played a central role in the history of North America and Europe." Cod provided both healthy food and a profitable commodity for explorers and settlers. By the mid-twentieth century, they became the backbone of the frozen fish industry. Schindler's humorous watercolors lend a light tone to the text. Sidebars present various methods of preparation. Bib.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2001

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Susan Tooke. One line of alliterative text for each letter--"Imposing icebergs idle in inlets"--appears below realistic paintings rendered with a precise, photographic quality. The paintings incorporate a range of letter-related items; a list is appended, as is further information on the Atlantic seaboard locales (mostly Canadian) featured.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) YA Ecosystems of North America series. These books explore an ecosystem by examining its subsystems (e.g. the beaches, estuaries, marshes, and reefs of the Atlantic coast). The accessible texts reveal how living and nonliving components interact and affect one another, how plants and animals adapt to their surroundings, and how people have damaged and now try to sustain these ecosystems. Clear color photos illustrate the books. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli