(2) 4-6 Aisulu must become a burkitshi (eagle hunter) and fly an eagle she rescued at the National Eagle Festival to win the prize money that will save her ill brother and her home. Details of nomadic Kazakh life in Western Mongolia are authentically woven throughout. Aisulu's efforts to raise and train eagle Toktar, and the bond that develops between them, recall classic nature dramas. Strong family support offers heart and warmth.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(3) 4-6 Farm girl Only Fallow can tell when someone is lying and herself always speaks the truth. When this secret is discovered, Only is taken from her orchard home and forced to serve the king. She takes the opportunity to help the Ordish, a persecuted nomadic minority, but as her influence at court grows, so too do the dangers. With a cheerful, folksy voice, narrator Only has charm as well as heart.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(1) 4-6 Cal Black enjoys his nomadic life with his WWI-veteran father in Depression-era America. But then his father reveals their Creek heritage and enrolls Cal in an Oklahoma Indian boarding school. Cal, who always believed he was white, confronts this heretofore-unknown part of himself while adjusting to a school designed to "kill the Indian" within him. His first-person narration rings true in this tautly paced, compelling story of family and identity.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Feronia Parker Thomas. In this warm story by a Romani storyteller, based on true events, a coal-mining pony escapes the drudgery and joins a family of British Travelers. Polonius saves the day when the family's truck breaks down and he helps to bring a load of handmade wooden stools to the dock to be shipped to the U.S. Mixed-media illustrations show the various types of caravans, both motorized and traditional horse-drawn ones. Includes a note on Traveling culture.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) YA As seventeen-year-old Dessa starts to think about her future, her family's nomadic lifestyle feels less appealing. The aspiring painter contends with self-doubt when her art school applications are rejected, but an apprenticeship with a Santa Fe artist offers an opportunity to define herself as an artist and as an individual. Spieller offers a fresh take on the coming-of-age novel with her debut.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(3) YA Allegra, niece of hunted assassin Lea Saldana (Assassin's Heart), has constantly felt out of place in her family. An unexpected romance blooms with Traveler boy Nev after Allegra learns the truth about her identity--which leads to her kidnapping and more revelations. Set eighteen years after its companion novel, Ahiers's latest YA fantasy contains strong world-building, plenty of plot twists, and a sympathetic heroine.

Reviewer: Janet Daniels

(2) YA Code Name Verity protagonist Julie begins this prequel in 1938 as an earnest fifteen-year-old. While idling by the river on her family's Scottish estate, she is mysteriously knocked unconscious and rescued by a group of Travellers. The ensuing atmospheric mystery is complete with love affairs, gruesome offstage violence, three-thousand-year-old artifacts, and pearls once owned by royalty. Wein's ability to inhabit a young woman of another era shines.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2017

(3) K-3 Tales of the World series. Illustrated by Beth Peck. Cook focuses on a boy in the south of France who dreams of following in his chef father's footsteps. Year is about an Irish girl whose family members are nomadic Travelers. Whelan aptly describes the children's attitudes toward their unusual lives. Both books' illustrations are eye-pleasing and highlight unique aspects of each culture. Glos. Review covers these Tales of the World titles: The Boy Who Wanted to Cook and Megan's Year.

Reviewer: Sophie Williamson

(3) K-3 Adapted by Helen Mixter. In simple prose, a Mongolian child describes the first year of his life, beginning with the moment of his birth. At the center of his family's traditional nomadic experience stands the "little round house"--the ger--which is taken apart and rebuilt with each seasonal move to a new location. Rich-hued gouache paintings display the text's details about Mongolian culture.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(2) K-3 This book focuses on a horse race during the Naadam festival in Mongolia, in which boys gallop their stallions fourteen miles across the Gobi Desert. The text, accompanied by some nimbly sketched spot art, offers a vivid picture of this traditional culture. Watercolor expanses feature desert vistas, horses in action, and sympathetic portraits of the Mongolian people at home and work. Glos.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2008

(3) YA Art Encounters series. A well-known painting and its creator feature in each of these works of historical fiction. In Garden, a Persian girl seeks refuge at an artists' colony. In Mountains, a Chinese American boy goes to live with his uncle in Shanghai. A wounded soldier (Napoleon) works for Jacques-Louis David. The tales are complex and engrossing, with the artists' techniques illuminated in the stories' contexts. Timeline. Review covers these Art Encounters titles: Deep in the Mountains, Jackal in the Garden, and A Brush with Napoleon.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(3) YA Rulers and Their Times series. Divided into three parts, this book covers the life of the infamous Genghis Khan, as well as everyday life and literature of the twelveth- and thirteenth-century Mongolian Empire. Illustrated with plentiful archival art, the facts about society, sports, housing, food, clothing, cosmetics, and other topics are brought to life. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman