Publishers Weekly : Starred Review. After scores of Da Vinci Code knockoffs, spinoffs, copies and caricatures, Brown has had the stroke of brilliance to set his breakneck new thriller not in some far-off exotic locale, but right here in our own backyard. Everyone off the bus, and welcome to a Washington, D.C., they never told you about on your school trip when you were a kid, a place steeped in Masonic history that, once revealed, points to a dark, ancient conspiracy that threatens not only America but the world itself. Returning hero Robert Langdon comes to Washington to give a lecture at the behest of his old mentor, Peter Solomon. When he arrives at the U.S. Capitol for his lecture, he finds, instead of an audience, Peter's severed hand mounted on a wooden base, fingers pointing skyward to the Rotunda ceiling fresco of George Washington dressed in white robes, ascending to heaven. Langdon teases out a plethora of clues from the tattooed hand that point toward a secret portal through which an intrepid seeker will find the wisdom known as the Ancient Mysteries, or the lost wisdom of the ages. A villain known as Mal'akh, a steroid-swollen, fantastically tattooed, muscle-bodied madman, wants to locate the wisdom so he can rule the world. Mal'akh has captured Peter and promises to kill him if Langdon doesn't agree to help find the portal. Joining Langdon in his search is Peter's younger sister, Kathleen, who has been conducting experiments in a secret museum. This is just the kickoff for a deadly chase that careens back and forth, across, above and below the nation's capital, darting from revelation to revelation, pausing only to explain some piece of wondrous, historical esoterica. Jealous thriller writers will despair, doubters and nay-sayers will be proved wrong, and readers will rejoice: Dan Brown has done it again.

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School Library Journal : K-Gr 3—This title examines a variety of ancient mammals. It opens with a brief introduction, followed by a spread devoted to each animal. The creatures are compared to things that readers will recognize (e.g., "size of a small dog"). The pronunciation guide is a welcome feature. The finely detailed watercolor illustrations emphasize the unusual features of each species. This title is more substantive than Helen Frost's Woolly Mammoth (Capstone, 2005) as it focuses on more than one ancient animal in more complex sentences. Add this book if your students are addicted to prehistory.—Christine Markley, Washington Elementary School, Barto, PA

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

School Library Journal : K-Gr 3—This title examines a variety of ancient mammals. It opens with a brief introduction, followed by a spread devoted to each animal. The creatures are compared to things that readers will recognize (e.g., "size of a small dog"). The pronunciation guide is a welcome feature. The finely detailed watercolor illustrations emphasize the unusual features of each species. This title is more substantive than Helen Frost's Woolly Mammoth (Capstone, 2005) as it focuses on more than one ancient animal in more complex sentences. Add this book if your students are addicted to prehistory.—Christine Markley, Washington Elementary School, Barto, PA

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

School Library Journal : K-Gr 3—This title examines a variety of ancient mammals. It opens with a brief introduction, followed by a spread devoted to each animal. The creatures are compared to things that readers will recognize (e.g., "size of a small dog"). The pronunciation guide is a welcome feature. The finely detailed watercolor illustrations emphasize the unusual features of each species. This title is more substantive than Helen Frost's Woolly Mammoth (Capstone, 2005) as it focuses on more than one ancient animal in more complex sentences. Add this book if your students are addicted to prehistory.—Christine Markley, Washington Elementary School, Barto, PA

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

School Library Journal : K-Gr 3—This title examines a variety of ancient mammals. It opens with a brief introduction, followed by a spread devoted to each animal. The creatures are compared to things that readers will recognize (e.g., "size of a small dog"). The pronunciation guide is a welcome feature. The finely detailed watercolor illustrations emphasize the unusual features of each species. This title is more substantive than Helen Frost's Woolly Mammoth (Capstone, 2005) as it focuses on more than one ancient animal in more complex sentences. Add this book if your students are addicted to prehistory.—Christine Markley, Washington Elementary School, Barto, PA

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Publishers Weekly : In this picture book set in 19th-century Paris, a child helps a daredevil who has lost his edge to regain his confidence. Many traveling performers stay at Madame Gateaux's boarding house, but Mme.'s daughter Mirette is particularly taken with one guest--the quiet gentleman who can walk along the clothesline without falling off. Mirette implores the boarder to teach her his craft, not knowing that her instructor is the ``Great Bellini'' of high wire fame. After much practice the girl joins Bellini on the wire as he conquers his fear and demonstrates to all of Paris that he is still the best. McCully's story has an exciting premise and starting point, but unfortunately ends up as a missed opportunity. Bellini's anxiety may be a bit sophisticated for the intended audience and, surprisingly, the scenes featuring Mirette and Bellini on the high wire lack drama and intensity. McCully's rich palette and skillful renderings of shadow and light sources make this an inviting postcard from the Old World. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions Inc. Terms

School Library Journal : K-Gr 4-- Mirette's mother keeps a boardinghouse that attracts traveling performers . The girl is intrigued by one silent visitor, Bellini, who has come for a rest. She finds him next morning walking a high wire strung across the backyard. Immediately, she is drawn to it, practicing on it herself until she finds her balance and can walk its distance. But she finds the man unusually secretive about his identity; he was a famous high-wire artist, but has lost his courage. He is lured by an agent to make a comeback, but freezes on the wire. Seeing Mirette at the end of it restores his nerve; after the performance the two set off on a new career together. As improbable as the story is, its theatrical setting at some historical distance, replete with European architecture and exotic settings and people, helps lend credibility to this circus tale. Mirette, through determination and perhaps talent, trains herself, overcoming countless falls on cobblestone, vaunting pride that goes before a fall, and lack of encouragement from Bellini. The impressionistic paintings, full of mottled, rough edges and bright colors, capture both the detail and the general milieu of Paris in the last century. The colors are reminiscent of Toulouse-Lautrec, the daubing technique of Seurat. A satisfying, high-spirited adventure. --Ruth K. MacDonald, Purdue Univ . Calumet, Hammond, IN

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Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. After an act of heroism garners instant fame for 30-something New York freelancer Ridley Jones, she receives a faded photo of a man, a familiar-looking woman and a little girl along with a note asking, "Are you my daughter?" Shaken, she confronts her parents, who affirm she is theirs by birth; that same day, however, hot new neighbor Jake enters her life, and he's less sure. With breathless speed, Unger is off on an action-packed journey of treachery and intrigue—and sex and romance. Jake turns out to have just as much at stake in discovering Ridley's past as she, but in the way are Ridley's controlling parents; her drug-addicted brother, Ace; her intrusive former boyfriend, pediatrician Zack; and the people protecting the legacy of her Uncle Max, a real estate mogul who used his influence to fund rescue houses for abused women and children. Following leads garnered from scrutinizing the operations of places Max's foundation supports, Ridley and Jake uncover a chilling scheme for taking infants and toddlers from violent homes; their relationship heats up, and Ridley's family gets very edgy. The premise—that there is a dark side to the safe haven law—is deep as well as clever, and Unger plays it out thrillingly. rights reserved.

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