Can You Find It? America
(by Linda Falken , Metropolitan Museum & Abrams $16.95 Score:)

Newest in a wonderful series of art books that encourage children to look closely at the many details in paintings. Using both famous and less familiar works of art from the Met's collection, these 20 images all center on scenes from American history. There is no story as such, yet you can spin a story about such scenes as the classic image of Washington Crossing the Delaware or simply search the handsome reproduction with your child to find the three horses, fringed scarves, one bandage, four fur hats, and other details. Like other books in this collection, the art is beautifully reproduced and the concept of looking at more than the whole painting is built into the experience. Getting children to look beyond the first impression can become a way of looking at the book and on future visits to the museum. 7 & up.

Age: Early School Years. Award Year: 2010. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Roman Diary
(by Richard Platt/ illus. by David Parkins, Candlewick $18.992 Score:)

When Iliona leaves with her family from Greece to Rome she starts a diary. Little did she know that before she even gets there their ship will be taken by pirates and she will become a slave and this then becomes a vehicle for showing life in Rome. Of course, Iliona has the good fortune ( if one can say that about being a slave) to be bought by a Roman senator. Because she is educated her life as a slave is less bitter than it might otherwise have been. Platt manages to weave a good enough story into his travelogue of ancient Rome, giving Iliona and her brother a happier ending than most slaves could expect. Parkins art carries the tour forward with details that capture time and place. 8 & up

 

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009.

In the Belly of an Ox
(by Rebecca Bond, Houghton Mifflin $16.99 Score:)

An interesting true story of two brothers, Richard and Cherry Kearton who became innovative bird photographers in the early days of photography. Their ways of hiding and capturing images were inventive and the few true photos at the end of the book add much to this introduction to photography and the idea of following one’s interests. 8 & up.

Age: Early School Years, Later School Years. Award Year: 2009. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Liberty
((by Lynn Curlee), Atheneum $18 Score:) It is hard to imagine a time when Lady Liberty was not standing in New York's harbor. As in his award winning book, Rushmore, Curlee documents the long years of effort it took to raise the funds and build the colossal statue-a gem of a book about a national treasure. 8 & up.

Age: Early School Years,Later School Years. Award Year: 2001.

Inside the Hindenburg
(by Mireille Majoor/illus. by Ken Marschall, Little Brown $18.95 Score:) An oversized book to match the scope of the subject—the largest object ever to fly. Breathtaking cutaways give readers a sense of what this gone-but-not-forgotten way of travel must have been like. Also very well done on the same subject, The Hindenburg (by Patrick O'Brien, Henry Holt ). 8 and up.

Age: Early School Years,Later School Years. Award Year: 2001.