The title of Giddy-up! Let’s Ride is enough to convey the enthusiasm and energy of this rollicking book for young children. Flora McDonnell prefaces her tale by explaining that her own love of riding horses originates from her grandmother, who bounced her on her knee while reciting the nursery rhyme, "This is the way the lady rides." All the while, young Flora imagined herself atop ponies and horses, as well as more exotic beasts, such as donkeys, elephants and camels.

All of these animals and more appear in Giddy-Up!, ridden by an assortment of children that includes a young cowgirl, a jockey, a princess and even a goatherd. Toddlers will appreciate the repetitive rhyme and sound effects on each spread, which manage to be both lively and soothing: This is the way the jockey rides. faster-and-faster, faster-and-faster, This is the way the rajah rides. rumpetta-trump, rumpetta trump, This is the way the princess rides. jingle-ringle, jingle-ringle. McDonnell’s acrylic and gouache illustrations feature a simple background of bold color, allowing each animal and rider to be the grand center of attention, making them loom, lumber and race across the page. For the most part, she uses bold brush strokes, adding rich, intricate details when appropriate, like the flowers, jewels and bells that adorn the elephant’s headband. Color also adds to the excitement and atmosphere. The sizzling yellow background seen as a goatherd rides a donkey down a mountain conveys the heat and brilliance of summer day in a torrid, arid climate.

The animals and color, however, aren’t the only stars of this tale. McDonnell’s riders are lively youngsters who bang a drum, clown around in a circus and twirl a lasso in the air. The final spread features all the children together, a few atop a rocking horse, others riding stick horses. "Giddy-up! Giddy-up! Let’s ride!" they all exclaim. McDonnell succeeds in bringing a classic nursery tale to life in simple yet lively style.

Have you ever met a child who doesn’t get into everything? A child who isn’t mischievous and curious? Of course you haven’t. Kids have a way of getting into anything and everything. In Robin’s Room, Margaret Wise Brown, author of such classics as Good Night Moon and The Runaway Bunny, captures the essence of a young boy whose curiosity gets the best of his parents.

This laugh-out-loud picture book focuses on Robin, who leaves things all over the house, puts a sneaker full of sand in his mother’s bed, paints the walls and plants flowers in the bathtub. His parents get fed up with his rambunctious behavior and present him with his own room. But he needs three carpenters to do some remodeling. After one week of locking himself in his room with the workmen, Robin has the most wonderful space in the house. There is a special closet for his jars of paint, a tree over his bed and a ledge planted with flowers in front of a giant window.

Best-selling author Margaret Wise Brown is known by many as the first lady of picture books. Robin’s Room, published for the first time, is a manuscript that was left behind after her death in 1952. Along with the marvelous story, the unique paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher make this book particularly inviting. Once Robin is inside his room, the pictures twist to the side, then upside down so that the reader actually has to turn the book in order to keep up with him. In the bottom corner of each illustration is a picture of Robin pointing his finger in the direction in which the reader should turn the page. Robin’s Room is perfect for teaching children ages 4-8 that using their imaginations and abilities is fantastic and fun. It also teaches adults that children need creative outlets. Although it’s difficult to give kids rooms of their own in reality, it’s important that they have space in which to be creative so that they’re not painting the walls and growing plants in the tub!

Karen Van Valkenburg writes from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

At first glance, longitude doesn’t seem like a topic with the makings of a page-turner. But under Louise Borden’s sure hand, children and adults alike will find themselves caught up in the amazing saga of an important scientific challenge when they read Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude.

For centuries, sailors were able to measure latitude, their location north or south of the equator, by using the sun and the stars. But determining longitude was a different matter. Over the years, many lives were lost at sea through miscalculations. Eventually, it was determined that the solution to the problem was a clock that could keep absolutely accurate time so that sailors could know what hour it was back at their home ports. In this way, they’d be able to calculate longitude. But building a sea clock proved to be difficult, since rolling ships and weather all affected the timepieces.

In 1714 the English Parliament offered a reward of 20,000 pounds sterling (equal to several million dollars today) to anyone who could build an accurate sea clock. The man who ultimately solved the puzzle was John Harrison, an English clock maker. The arduous task of building the device became his life’s work. Although he had no scientific training, Harrison, along with his son William, struggled for more than 40 years to create a working sea clock, or chronometer, that met the requirements. Harrison actually built four different models and was finally awarded the prize in 1773, just three years before his death.

In her new picture book, Louise Borden manages a feat almost as difficult as Harrison’s by making his story dramatic and accessible to young readers and explaining in simple terms the complexities he faced. Borden appropriately keeps the focus on the inventor’s struggle, while offering a clear explanation of the significance of his work. Erik Blegvad’s watercolors bring an elegant, old-fashioned feel to the narrative. With an author’s note, as well as a short section on some facts of Harrison’s life story, this is a wonderful work of scientific history that young readers will love.

There are hundreds even thousands of religions in the world today, and each has its own history. From Christianity and the birth of Christ, Islam and the revelations of Muhammad, to Buddhism and the teachings of the Buddha himself, it is critical that our children learn the importance and individuality of different faiths. The Prince Who Ran Away is the perfect tool for getting kids interested in other cultures and religions. The story of Gautama Buddha, the book narrates the events of his childhood and explains how his teachings became the basis of one of the world’s five major religions.

Author of over 100 books, Anne Rockwell delights here with a captivating tale that is sure to keep the attention of children ages 7-10. Beginning with his prophetic birth in a forest of flowering trees in India, Rockwell recounts the life of Buddha, highlighting the dedication and kindness he came to possess as he matured. Over the course of this little biography, Buddha realizes his compassion for his people. He begs, fasts, meditates and preaches, all of which lead to his spiritual awakening.

The illustrations are what truly make this book outstanding. With the use of vibrant colors, illustrator Fahimeh Amiri draws readers right into the tale from the beginning. The exotic Indian setting is wonderfully rendered. Among the many images that stand out is one in which the Buddha is looked upon by Mara, the Evil One. The brilliant reds, blues, greens and yellows bring the illustration to life. The most amazing image, however, is a picture of Buddha meditating under a fig tree and being taunted by Mara’s demons. Each demon is perfectly drawn to depict the Evil One’s terror, but each is also charming enough to be pleasing to the young eye. Amiri, a native of Iran, has contributed remarkably authentic illustrations. His collaboration with veteran author Rockwell adds up to a first-rate story. The Prince Who Ran Away is the perfect addition to any family’s library.

Karen Van Valkenburg is a book publicist in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The subject of the beautifully written and illustrated Mansa Musa is a few years in the life of Kankan Musa, one of the greatest kings, or mansas, of 14th century Mali the African kingdom that used to be "four months’ travel long and four months’ wide," and that, according to legend, sent explorers to the New World years before Columbus. At first glance, the story of Mansa Musa is a typical journey-of-the-hero tale, complete with wanderings in a strange land (in this case the Sahara desert), the search for a lost father and a Virgil/Obi-Wan Kenobi-type mentor in the form of a mysterious nomad named Tariq. But Burns overlays this archetypal story with his knowledge of time and place, including differences in architecture, clothing, religion and language. Burns’ words are brought wonderfully to life by Caldecott Medalists Leo and Diane Dillon’s richly colored illustrations, whose shallow perspectives and dreamy skies recall the paintings of Fra Angelico. The paragraphs of the text are separated by strips of patterns that resemble motifs found in Akan kente cloth, and the smooth pages have the look of parchment.

Many of the book’s characters, including Tariq, are presented as tall, poker-backed and intimidatingly dignified. For desert-dwelling people, that dignity is more than a social embellishment it’s necessary for life, as Tariq indicates when he chides Kankan, the future mansa: "I bought your freedom with gold . . . I offered you a camel but you chose to walk like a slave. Already, you think like a slave . . . You claim to be a man, but have not yet mastered the beast within you." Burns’ writing is as graceful as the book’s illustrations, easy for school-age children to understand without being torturous for grown-ups. The reader eagerly follows Kankan Musa throughout his travels till he finally returns to his homeland, veiled and unrecognized at first, to find his younger brother king of Mali. What happens next is interesting, unexpected and definitely gratifying.

Many little girls dream of becoming ballerinas. They picture themselves in tutus pirouetting across the stage, pointing their toes in ballet slippers and gracefully leaping through the air. This, too, was the girlhood dream of dancer Anna Pavlova, whose memoir Pages of My Life provides the text for I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina. For Pavlova, the images of her childhood were not simply a passing fancy; they guided her throughout her career. Pavlova not only became a dancer; she developed into one of the most important prima ballerinas in the world and, until her death in 1931, performed on more than 4,000 stages.

In this charmingly poignant story, Pavlova shares with us the series of events that ignited her passion to become a dancer. The child of a poor but loving mother, Pavlova rarely had the chance to appreciate the finer elements of culture. One day, however, her mother saved up enough money to take her to see the ballet Sleeping Beauty. Pavlova was awestruck by the orchestra and mesmerized by the beautiful dancers. When, afterward, her mother asked if she wanted to dance like the performers they’d seen, Anna replied that one day she would dance upon the stage of that very theater. Thus began her dream of becoming a ballerina, a difficult goal that because of her weak feet and scrawny body would take many years and true dedication to achieve. In her use of fluid language and vivid descriptions of that first performance, we see that Pavlova not only adored her occupation, she lived and breathed it. Beautiful paintings by French Impressionist Edgar Degas underscore his love for the ballet as well. Through his classic depictions of ballerinas at work, it is easy to understand why both he and Pavlova were so inspired.

I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina emphasizes the importance of childhood aspirations. No one’s dreams should be taken lightly. You never know when the poor little girl who longs to don a tutu and toe shoes will become a prima ballerina.

Heidi Henneman is a freelance writer in New York City.

Merry Hanukkah? The yearly tension felt by some who negotiate Hanukkah amid the Christmas season gets an ironic twist in several new books. Given the diversity of even single-faith families, this may not be a surprising move. Whether trend or coincidence, it means more books for children, which is always a happy result.

"Old man Scroogemacher was as sour as a pickle and had a tongue like horse-radish." The first sentence of Hanukkah, Shmanukkah! gives a forshpice (appetizer) of the Yiddish flavors that follow—a hint that Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has undergone a religious and cultural conversion. Yes, the most unloved character in the most beloved Christmas story has been appropriated for the other big holiday in December. As odd as it may seem, author Esmé Raji Codell pulls off the switcheroo with humor, history and heart.

Codell folds Dickens’ universal themes of social justice, class and belonging into a particular place and time of Jewish history. Scroogemacher is a merciless factory owner on New York’s Lower East Side until, courtesy of three visitors—the Rabbis of Hanukkah Past, Present and Future—he learns how to be a real mensch (human being). Along the way, readers witness the rededication of the Holy Temple in Maccabean times (the event Hanukkah commemorates), a perilous transatlantic journey to Ellis Island, and the eventual good life in the Golden Land (present-day America), created from the hard work and labor reforms of immigrants who kept alive Old World traditions in a New World.

Readers unfamiliar with Yiddish terms will find the glossary invaluable, and two bibliographies (one for kids, one for adults) point to resources on the Jewish immigrant experience and Jewish history in general. Illustrations pepper at least every other page, keeping visual interest throughout a fairly long story, and the artist’s conception of the Rabbi of Hanukkah Future (a wise woman with reading glasses) is not to be missed.

Joanna Brichetto negotiates Hanukkah and all Jewish holidays as a graduate student in Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University.

If You Were My Baby: A Wildlife Lullaby by Fran Hodgkins gives little ones a charming look at the wonders of the wild and the joys of family. In this breezy read-along, parents of every species imaginable from skunks and beavers to bears and bats share affectionate moments with their young, imparting important lessons and words of encouragement. The cute critters, depicted by Laura Bryant in their natural environments with wonderful detail, make this a terrific introduction to nature. An adorable addition to your child’s collection, If You Were My Baby is sure to become a family favorite.