Age 04-08. 5 Stars. De Angeli captures a little of the flavor of Pennsylvania Dutch language along with many details of everyday life. Her characters are appealing, the family is warmly loving, and the story itself is full of excitement and danger. It will appeal to both boys and girls, but especially boys. It contains more prose than most picture books and is a perfect fit for children who are just transitioning into chapter books.

Age 04-08. 5 Stars. This beautifully written story follows a year in the life of a 19th-Century New England family….. The hard work of colonial life is made very attractive in this story, as the children cheerfully pitch in and the family works together to build their life and homestead. The rhythmic text is gentle and spare, with just the right tone of anticipation for what will come next. Cooney’s beautiful paintings, with earth-toned colors and straight lines, evoke a feeling of peaceful simplicity that encourages the reader to look back to those bygone days with romantic nostalgia. A beautiful book.

Age 09-12. 3 Stars. In this sequel to At the Sign of the Sugared Plum… Hannah returns with her younger sister Anne to re-open their confectionary shop in London…. Hooper builds upon the excellent historical foundation she laid in the original book, giving a sense of the period’s flavor… the detailed description of Hannah’s journey through the burning city, with all the landmarks that succumb to the fire, is nothing short of breathtaking. The character development is again rather shallow and the love story leaves much to be desired…. sentimental indulgence in the context of an undefined pseudo-courtship makes the book feel more like a modern teenage novel than a story from this time period.

Age 08-12. 4 Stars. Hannah and Sarah are teenaged entrepreneurs, sisters running a shop in 1665 London…. Hannah, who has recently joined her sister, is excited at the prospect of a big-city life and complacently dismisses rumors that the Bubonic Plague is reawakening in London…. Overall, the characters and relationships portrayed in this story aren’t very remarkable, but the historical description — the smell of the city, the neat pile of hand-ground sugar in the girls’ kitchen, the inside view of the theatre, the streetside view of nobility leaving town in carriages, curtains drawn, as quarantine falls — all these kinds of details combine to form a vivid depiction of the period in which this terrible Plague wreaked such destruction.

Age 04-08. 3 Stars. This is the story of Libby Mitchell, a young European-American girl in Michigan during the mid-1800′s, whose best friend is Potawatomi. When other settlers become jealous the Potawatomi’s wealth, they force them to leave their ancestral lands. Because she is visiting her friend when this occurs, Libby is accidentally taken away with the tribe… Historical events are basically accurate, and the danger is exciting without being overwhelming to younger readers. The Mitchell family, particularly Libby’s father, evidence strong interfamily relationships and genuine friendship with the Potawatomi family. This would make a nice addition to a home library, or at least a good supplement for a history lesson.

Age 08-12. 5 Stars. A beautiful story of a “girl Robinson Crusoe”…. This is a quiet, memorable story of survival and persistence in the face of difficult conditions and profound grief. Karana’s practical means of surviving against the elements and predators are interesting in themselves, but her courage in facing hunger and danger, and living alone year after year, make her a heroine worth emulating.

Age 04-08. 5 Stars. A wonderful story about a courageous little girl who rescues her favorite sheep from some dangerous thieves…. Her action is a small one, since she is a small girl, but the danger of the situation is real and she displays courage and quick thinking. This is a Little Red Riding Hood that you can respect.

Age 10+. 4 Stars. The Yearling is a masterfully written, Pulitzer prize-winning novel about a backwoods family in post-Civil War Florida…. Unfortunately, the novel reflects an unbiblical view of childhood that consists of innocent play and the pursuit of natural impulses. Implicit in this view is the sentiment that adult responsibility is an unpleasant necessity to be resisted as long as possible, rather than a good to be pursued… For discerning older readers it ought to be useful as a discussion of worldview, but parents ought to be aware that the best-told stories are the most convincing, and if introduced too early it may appeal to all the wrong instincts.