As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
(2)
K-3
In dramatic double-page watercolor spreads, Ray follows Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl and his five-man crew on their 101-day, 4,300-mile odyssey, in 1947, to prove that ancient Incan sailors could have reached the South Pacific by raft. Emphasizing high-seas adventure over theory, the story will capture the imagination of young readers with the drama of flying fish, gale-force winds, and giant waves. Bib.
Reviewer: Dean Schneider
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2015
48 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| May, 2012
|
TradeISBN 978-0-374-39897-2$17.99
(2)
4-6
Nineteenth-century Native rights advocate Sarah Winnemucca used her formal education and her fluency in English to make speeches, write letters, circulate petitions, and travel to Washington, DC, to appeal to government officials. Ray's evenhanded account of the key events in Winnemucca's life is denser and longer than most picture book biographies, but there is still plenty of room for her dramatic full-color illustrations. Bib.
40 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| April, 2010
|
TradeISBN 978-0-374-31789-8$16.99
(2)
4-6
Earl Douglass's expeditions in what is now Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado and Utah began in 1908 when Andrew Carnegie sent him to find "something big." Dramatic illustrations show the land's harshness and isolation, and spot art sketching some fossil finds, tools, and preservation methods gives the book a field manual feel. Quotations from Douglass's journals indicate his reverence for the work.
Reviewer: Betty Carter
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2010
40 pp.
| Viking
| October, 2008
|
TradeISBN 978-0-670-06292-8$16.99
(3)
K-3
In this admiring biography, Wanda Gág, best known for her Newbery Honor–winning book Millions of Cats, emerges as a single-minded and passionate artist. Using research from "a treasure trove" of Gág's diaries and other documents, Ray describes her subject's difficult childhood and rise to success. Textured paintings will engage readers' imaginations, transporting them back to the first half of the twentieth century. Bib.
48 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| November, 2007
|
TradeISBN 978-0-374-31838-3$17.00
(2)
4-6
In 1869 Powell led the first recorded expedition down the Green and Colorado rivers, mapping the Grand Canyon. Ray emphasizes Powell's accomplishments in text and art: primarily full-page illustrations, spacious watercolors in natural colors of the West. The book's pacing allows readers, like Powell, to experience the natural beauty around them. A helpful map and author's note complete the book. Timeline. Bib.
Reviewer: Betty Carter
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2008
40 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| November, 2006
|
TradeISBN 0-374-37627-1$17.00
(4)
K-3
This look at how Neruda's childhood in a frontier town in Chile shaped his writing elegantly incorporates passages from his poetry and prose. Influenced by the stories of his stepmother and encouraged by teacher/poet Gabriela Mistral, Neruda finds his own song as a poet. Ray's warm-hued paintings and musical language capture the power of place, although the text is overly long. Timeline.
40 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| April, 2004
|
TradeISBN 0-374-34589-9$$17.00
(2)
4-6
William (1739–1823) and his father John ("His Majesty's Botanist for North America") traveled from Florida to the Catskills, identifying and describing hundreds of species. The narrative--fifteen fictional samples from William's journal--summarizes the accomplishments of both men. Ray's art includes atmospheric renderings of landscapes and precise maps and vignettes. This book is both an introduction to botany and a revealing window into the past. Bib.
(3)
K-3
Lily's narrative is presented as an ongoing, month-by-month conversation about gardening and growing between Lily (in Maine) and her grandparents (in California). Recipes, history of various fruits in North America, and information on varieties of trees are relayed in sidebars on each double-page spread. Soft, homey pastel-colored illustrations mimic the seasons' changing colors.
40 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| October, 2001
|
TradeISBN 0-374-33263-0$$18.00
(3)
4-6
A clear text and expressive, detailed art introduce young readers to the famous Japanese artist and his life and times. Ray emphasizes the man's passion for creating art, his unusual rise out of the peasant class into which he was born, and his astonishingly prolific career. A few reproductions of Hokusai's artwork are included, and an appended biographical note provides further background. Bib.