(2) K-3 Belbum the giant can't find his pants. He asks his friends and then heads into town (wearing red polka-dotted boxer shorts) to purchase multiple pairs. At home, he puts his new pants away in a drawer--leading to a (somewhat predictable) twist. A large trim size and bold colors and lines suit the story line, and the digital art's details ramp up the humor and character development.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2018

(4) K-3 When Pepper needs a new dress for Grandma's birthday tea, her mother takes her to Mr. Taylor's shop, where she must select a fabric: herringbone, seersucker, etc.; this proves challenging (e.g., "Too plain for me"). The art is sensational--Kraulis uses the patterns considered as her pages' backgrounds--but the text amounts to little more than an introduction to textiles.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Tailor Uncle Flores used to love bright colors but now makes only gray overalls for the local environment-ruining factory. When they cut his job, Flores's nephew, Edinho, encourages him to make colorful curtains; soon, the townspeople also paint their houses and start desiring brighter clothes again. Intricate collages hint at the town's transformation. An afterword illuminates conditions in contemporary Brazil and the universality of the issues.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) 4-6 This retelling of "The Brave Little Tailor" adds another deception to those that characterized the original: protagonist Saville is a girl who disguises herself as a boy so she can take over father's tailoring business after he falls ill. Political intrigue and a larger-than-necessary cast of characters overcomplicate the story, but Saville's motivations make her a likable heroine.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Barbara McClintock. Aylesworth extends the Yiddish folksong's events over four generations. "My grandfather," a tailor, made his own blue wedding coat; while his daughter's a baby, it serves for a jacket. Soon it's reduced to a vest, then a tie, then a toy for "you" (his great-grandchild). The old-timey, inviting book has well-paced pages, spreads, and vignettes that nicely celebrate one family's ongoing affection and continuity.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014

(4) K-3 Elderly tailor Mr. Frank works on "an outfit that made all the others rather dull." The others include WWII uniforms, dapper fifties-era suits, bell-bottoms, and pieces only adults will appreciate; the big reveal adds the kid-appeal: Mr. Frank has made a superhero costume for his grandson. Luxbacher's graphite drawings with mixed-media touches for fabric, wallpaper, etc. have an ethereal quality.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(4) YA Living in postbellum Virginia, Shad follows older brother Jeremiah in joining the KKK. But after stumbling into an arrangement to teach tailoring at the colored school in exchange for reading lessons, Shad's loyalty to the Klan begins to come into conflict with his conscience. Though the tension is mostly well sustained, the narrative slows at times and the resolution feels rushed.

Reviewer: Randy Ribay

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mary GrandPré. Take one part love story, add fantasy elements, and mix with a parable about making time for happiness. Schmuel has been pushed to "hurry up" throughout his life. He becomes a skilled tailor but never has a moment for himself--until the clock goes "Tickety-tock tick!" stopping time for the harried man. Rhyming text and textured illustrations capture the story's magic.

Reviewer: Amy Kellman

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Katya Krenina. This story moves adroitly through its plot: Haskel the tailor wants to make a cloak to keep his beloved Moon warm but lacks appropriate material. Searching for fabric, he finds a wedding gown made of beams of moonlight, mends it for its royal owner, and is rewarded with enough thread to begin his own project. Richly colored gouache pictures illustrate this retelling of a story by Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(2) K-3 Demi's retelling is lucid, graceful, and true to the original, though Andersen's verbal elaboration is replaced here by Demi's sumptuous illustrations. Figures are delicately outlined; they are painted with flat, jewel-like colors and metallic gold and set against subtly patterned grounds that resemble silk damask. Several fold-out pages don't add much, but that's only a cavil to a lovely and meticulously wrought rendition.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2000

(2) K-3 In this newly illustrated adaptation of a Yiddish folk song, die-cuts help tell the story of resourceful Joseph, a farmer/tailor, who recycles his worn overcoat into ever-smaller items. A mixture of painting and collage create a somewhat surreal but delightful effect; details in the art make this a pageant of pre-WWII Jewish-Polish life. Clever, humorous, visually engrossing, poignant, this tribute to a vanished way of life is worth holding on to.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2000

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Mary GrandPre. In a story that gets bogged down under the weight of its overly ornate prose, a stranger becomes the tailor in a remote village, sewing magical embroidered scenes into the pockets of the villagers' drab clothing and bringing color to their humdrum lives. GrandPr_'s glowing pastel illustrations capture with ease the magic that the text struggles to express.

Reviewer: Jackie C. Horne

(3) 1-3 Inspired by Gogol's famous story "The Overcoat," this version has a different ending: a boy's coat is stolen after he brags about it, but a stray dog helps him recover it. With artfully crafted prose, a carefully considered design, and rich paintings that, in style and in subject, evoke their nineteenth-century setting, Fagan and Ricci have created a handsome volume.

Reviewer: Jackie C. Horne