Year of the Jungle

In "Year of the Jungle", Collins writes a child's-eye memoir of life during her father's tour in Vietnam. Soldiers who go to war leave questions for families to live with -- Where are they? What are they experiencing? Are they alive? -- and children are experts at filling in gaps. The little girl hears her father is in the jungle, so she imagines the jungle she knows from cartoons. The illustrations show how clues from the adult world feed her worries. She is a thinker, and when her father arrives home, changed, she finds a way to reach him." --Newsday

When Charlie McButton Lost Power

"Charlie loves computer games so much, he never plays with anything else - so when the power goes out, he's really in the dark. His desperate search for batteries involves his sister's toys and some nasty behavior before he settles down to realize what's truly important in his life." --Midwest Book Review