Amazing Peace, by Maya Angelou

One star, read in December 2013. Of course this was gorgeous, and in general, I love Maya Angelou’s . . . everything. But I didn’t love this book’s illustrations, and frankly, if the poem weren’t written by Maya Angelou I would give it negative stars. Because as nice an idea as this “amazing peace” is,…

The Princess and the Three Knights, by Karen Kingsbury

One star, read in June 2013. I hated this for many reasons, and in spite of the almost too beautiful illustrations. (In fact, in the context of the drippy overbearing Christianness of the story, the illustrations were too beautiful, and I scoffed at them even as I liked them.) Typical patriarchal fairy tale storyline: Very white, blonde…

In the Wild, by David Elliott and Holly Meade

The illustration in this book is definitely worth 5 stars—it is absolutely gorgeous! My niece picked it up at the library and was ready to put it down again, but I made her check it out after glimpsing the pages. Then she went home, and I kept it to read for myself. The poems I…

Goddesses: A World of Myth and Magic, by Burleigh Muten

This book is essentially an encyclopedia of goddesses. Starting with A—Aataentsic (Iroquois); Aditi (Hindu); Ama-terasu (Japan); Aphrodite, Artemis, and Athena (Greece)—and going through the alphabet to Z—Zaramama (Peru), Zoe (Gnostic), the Zorya (Czechoslovakia)—there’s a short description of each goddess and her powers, along with a pronunciation guide to their names. I love the illustrations by Rebecca…