(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jennifer Mack-Watkins. Elijah Pierce was a Black Mississippi folk artist born in 1892 in a log cabin. In this imagined encounter, a young Black boy gets his hair cut at Pierce's barbershop and is treated to a tour of the barbershop's art gallery, featuring Pierce's wood carvings. "Sculptures and walking sticks. Models and message signs...Everyday people. And famous people. Everything I carve, I want it to tell some kind of story." Mack-Watkins uses printmaking techniques and mixed-media collage to create colorful, textured art representing Pierce's folk art. The brief narrative works on several levels. It showcases the artist and his work and how he was instrumental in the growing recognition of folk art in the American art scene. We also see how Pierce's art inspires a young boy's burgeoning interest in making art of his own. The story would pair well with Tate and Christie's It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw (rev. 5/12). Back matter includes an authors' note, images of Pierce's art, an artist's note, a timeline, and a list of museums where Pierce's work is shown.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) YA During a singing lesson, Magia discovers the eerie bone flutes music teacher Miss Grand has been using to ensorcel the townspeople. Afterward, nothing goes right for Magia and her family, and improving their circumstances comes at a high price. With its vivid Eastern European–flavored setting, dreamlike internal logic, and hopeful ending, this re-casting of traditional folklore will captivate readers.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(4) 4-6 Pino is now a real boy, working as an apprentice to his woodcarver papa, Geppetto. When it is discovered that Pino can bring wood to life (though at great personal cost), others attempt to exploit his talent, forcing Pino and Geppetto to flee for their lives. Set post–Collodi's Pinocchio, this is a dark tale of self-realization worthy, despite a didactic ending, of its source.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(2) YA After trading her shadow for "a heart's wish," Plain Kate (along with talking cat Taggle) is banished from town. Taken in by a caravan of Roamers, Kate makes friends with a girl whose mother was burned as a witch. The vaguely Eastern European setting lends the story an old-world beauty that softens the often brutish events in this stunning debut fantasy.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2010

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Johanna van der Sterre. When Feivel the woodcarver immigrates to America, he finds a job fashioning wooden carousel horses. To assuage his anguish over leaving his family behind, he imbues each creature with characteristics of one of his loved ones. Watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations complement a text that presents more a picture of the past than the development of a character or story.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ann Grifalconi. Julio, a little boy growing up in rural Mexico, is gifted at carving wooden animals. But rather than enter them in the annual contest and possibly earn much-needed money, he helps his near-blind mentor win the contest instead. Grifalconi's collage illustrations, made from fuzzy digitally manipulated photographs, distance the reader from Dorros's spare, moving story.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) YA When a mysterious wood carver arrives in Madeleine's small Scottish village, she is enchanted by his skills and falls in love. Later she learns of his horrific double life as a werewolf, as well as how she can save him. The novel's predictable conclusion is offset by the gruffness of the characters, the seamlessly woven historical details, and the village's superstitious atmosphere.

Reviewer: Lauren Maggio

(4) K-3 Translated by Enrique Lamadrid. Illustrated by Amy Cordova. When Don Jacobo, a santero, teaches his grandson the art of carving wooden saints, a saint they work on together creates a Christmas miracle. Suitable for reading aloud in English or Spanish, the story is too long but successfully evokes the spirit of community. The illustrations portray the characters with just the right sense of humanity. Glos.

Reviewer: Tim Wadham

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Amy Cordova. This story about a boy who carves animal figures uses some elements from the life of Manuel Jiménez, a woodcarver of Oaxaca, Mexico, who promoted a new vibrant style of animal carvings. An afterword provides some information on Jiménez and his style, which now dominates Oaxacan carvings. The intensely colored acrylic paintings portray a traditional Mexican setting.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt