Age 04-08. 4 Stars. Virginia Lee Burton, who brought us Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, brings us a cautionary tale about a little engine who runs away from her job of pulling coaches.

Age 08-12. 5 Stars. The Moffats, who live in the same town as the owners of Ginger Pye, are a close-knit family of four children and a hard-working seamstress mother… Estes’ engaging characters, living in the context of a sweetly old-fashioned small town, hold an undeniable appeal that has caused this story to endure for 70 years.

Age 04-08. 5 Stars. Fred Marcellino’s artistic interpretation of Puss in Boots, narrated by a spare translation of Perrault’s original story, is nothing short of impressive.

Age 04-08. 4 Stars. Paul Galdone’s rendition of the classic fairy tale Puss in Boots sticks closely to Perrault’s original, with innocently cheerful artistic representation of the story’s action-filled scenes.

Age 04-08. 4 Stars. In this unusual book, the author presents a different butterfly or moth for each letter of the alphabet in a two-page spread. On the first of each page, the whole insect is presented by name in a small photograph, with a selected letter and a rhyming couplet; on the facing page is a close-up section of its wing, in which the letter’s shape may be traced.

Age 04-08. 5 Stars. This outstanding picture book tells the true story of the John J. Harvey, the retired fireboat, rehabilitated by hobbyists, which was called back into service during the terrible crisis of September 11, 2001

Age 04-08. 5 Stars. City by Numbers is another volume in the same spirit as Alphabet City.

Age 04-08. 5 Stars. Stephen Johnson has captured alphabet shapes in ordinary places around a bustling city… These are reproduced in paintings that are so realistic that at first glance they might be taken for photographs.

Age 04-08. 4 Stars. Glen Rounds summarizes, simply and clearly, how the sod house on the Great Plains came to be.

Age 00-04. 4 Stars. Another of the Reys’ gleeful books of monkey business… appropriate for preschool through elementary school ages.