Waldman, Neil 1947-

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WALDMAN, Neil 1947-

PERSONAL: Born October 22, 1947, in Bronx, NY; son of Abraham (a businessman) and Jessie (Herstein) Waldman; married Jeri Socol (an elementary schoolteacher), December 20, 1972 (divorced, 1988); children: Sarah, Jonathan. Education: Rochester Institute of Technology, B.F.A., 1969, M.A., 1970. Politics: Liberal. Religion: Jewish Reformed. Hobbies and other interests: Chess, guitar, classical music, travel, softball.

ADDRESSES: Home—Greenburgh, NY. Agent—c/o Boyds Mill Press, 815 Church St., Honesdale, PA 18431.

CAREER: Painter, stamp designer, and freelance writer/illustrator, 1971—. Has worked as package designer, art teacher, and border guard. Olive farmer in Israel, 1970-73, 1975-76; Linbry Products, Yonkers, NY, art director, 1971; member of faculty, William Paterson College of New Jersey, 1980-81; art instructor at Westchester Art Workshop, State University of New York, 1994—; designer of postage stamps (for governments of Sierra Leone, Grenada, and Antigua), record album covers, book dust covers, and theater posters. Waldman's paintings can be found in the capitol buildings of more than a dozen nations, as well as in the United Nations building, and in the offices of several major corporations, including American Airlines, Merrill Lynch, and Sony. Exhibitions: Artwork exhibited at galleries in New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.

MEMBER: Graphic Artists Guild.

AWARDS, HONORS: Desi Award, 1980, for a poster for Sylvania; Grammy Award nomination, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1982 and 1983, for record cover designs; United Nations Poster Award for International Year of Peace, 1986; Parents' Choice Award, 1990, for Nessa's Fish, written by Nancy Luenn, and 1994, for Nessa's Story, written by Nancy Luenn; Washington Irving Award for illustration, 1990, for Bring Back the Deer, and 1992, for The Highwayman; Christopher Award (ages 8-10), 1991, for The Gold Coin, written by Alma Flor Ada; Notable Book selection, American Library Association, and Children's Book of the Year selection, Bank Street College, both for The Passover Journey: A Seder Companion, written by Barbara Diamond Goldin; Best Books of the Year selection, School Library Journal, 1995, for Bayou Lullaby, written by Kathi Appelt; National Jewish Book Award, Jewish Book Council, for Next Year in Jerusalem: 3000 Years of Jewish Stories, retold by Howard Schwartz; American Storytellers Award, for The Two Brothers: A Legend of Jerusalem; Notable Books selection, Smithsonian magazine, 1998, for Masada, and 2000, for Wounded Knee; Sidney Taylor Honor Book for Younger Readers, Association of Jewish Libraries, 2000, for The Wisdom Bird: A Tale of Solomon and Sheba, written by Sheldon Oberman.

WRITINGS:

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

(With Jeri Waldman) Pitcher in Left Field, Prentice-Hall (New York, NY), 1981.

The Golden City: Jerusalem's 3000 Years, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1995.

The Never-Ending Greenness, Morrow (New York, NY), 1997.

(Reteller) The Two Brothers: A Legend of Jerusalem, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1997.

Masada, Morrow (New York, NY), 1998.

The Starry Night, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 1999.

Wounded Knee, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2001.

They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo WereSaved from Extinction, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2001.

The Promised Land: The Birth of the Jewish People, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2002.

The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2002.

Dream Makers: The Hopes and Aspirations of Children, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2003.

ILLUSTRATOR

Walter Harter, Osceola's Head and Other Ghost Stories, Prentice-Hall (New York, NY), 1974.

David C. Knight, The Moving Coffins: Ghosts andHauntings around the World, Prentice-Hall (New York, NY), 1983.

Patricia T. Lowe, The Runt, Caedmon (New York, NY), 1984.

Michael Mark, Toba, Bradbury (New York, NY), 1984.

David C. Knight, editor, Best True Ghost Stories of the Twentieth Century, Prentice-Hall (New York, NY), 1984.

Lee P. Huntington, Maybe a Miracle, Coward (New York, NY), 1984.

(And editor) Edgar Allan Poe, Tales of Terror: TenShort Stories, Prentice-Hall (New York, NY), 1985.

William Warren, The Headless Ghost: True Tales of the Unexplained, Prentice-Hall (New York, NY), 1986.

William Warren, The Screaming Skull: True Tales of the Unexplained, Prentice-Hall (New York, NY), 1987.

Jeffrey Prusski, Bring Back the Deer, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1988.

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit: Or, HowToys Become Real, Tom Doherty Associates (New York, NY), 1988.

(With Bryna Waldman) Sarah Leiberman, A Trip toMezuzah Land, Merkos L'inyonei Chinuch (Brooklyn, NY), 1988.

Robert Orkand, Joyce Orkand, and Howard Bogot, Gates of Wonder: A Prayerbook for Very Young Children, Central Conference of American Rabbis (New York, NY), 1989.

Mark D. Shapiro, Gates of Shabbat: Shaarei Shabbat:A New Shabbat Manual for the 1990s, Central Conference of American Rabbis (New York, NY), 1990.

Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1990.

Betty Boegehold, A Horse Called Starfire, Bantam (New York, NY), 1990.

Nancy Luenn, Nessa's Fish, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1990.

Robert Orkand, Howard Bogot, and Joyce Orkand, Gates of Awe: Holy Day Prayers for Young Children, Central Conference of American Rabbis (New York, NY), 1991.

Alma Flor Ada, The Gold Coin, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1991.

Ken Kesey, The Sea Lion: A Story of the Sea CliffPeople, Viking (New York, NY), 1991.

Nancy Luenn, Mother Earth, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1992.

Ellen Blanker, Down by the Seashore, Silver Burdett and Ginn (New York, NY), 1992.

William Blake, The Tyger, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1993.

Katharine Lee Bates, America the Beautiful, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1993.

(Reteller) Sarah Waldman, Light: The First SevenDays, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1993.

Nancy Luenn, Nessa's Story, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1994.

Barbara Diamond Goldin, The Passover Journey: ASeder Companion, Viking (New York, NY), 1994.

Chaim Stern, editor, On the Doorposts of Your House:A Mezuzot Beitecha—Prayers and Ceremonies for the Jewish Home, Hebrew Opening, Central Conference of American Rabbis (New York, NY), 1994.

Kathi Appelt, Bayou Lullaby, Morrow (New York, NY), 1995.

Howard Schwartz, reteller, Next Year in Jerusalem:3000 Years of Jewish Stories, Viking Penguin (New York, NY), 1996, reprinted as Jerusalem of Gold: Jewish Stories of the Enchanted City, Jewish Lights Publishing (Woodstock, VT), 2003.

Shulamith Levey Oppenheim, And the Earth Trembled:The Creation of Adam and Eve, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1996.

Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Quetzal: Sacred Bird of the Cloud Forest, Morrow (New York, NY), 1996.

Sheldon Oberman, By the Hanukkah Light, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 1997.

Ellen Schecter, The Family Haggadah, Viking (New York, NY), 1999.

Sheldon Oberman, The Wisdom Bird: A Tale of Solomon and Sheba, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2000.

Richard Michelson, Too Young for Yiddish, Talewinds (Watertown, MA), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Neil Waldman is a distinguished author and illustrator of children's books with eleven of his own self-illustrated titles and three dozen other books that he has illustrated for a myriad of authors. Waldman's solo efforts as author and illustrator include many books on the Jewish religion, tradition, and folklore, like the Holocaust tale The Never-Ending Greenness and explorations of Jewish history in The Golden City: Jerusalem's 3000 Years, The Two Brothers: A Legend of Jerusalem, Masada, and The Promised Land: The Birth of the Jewish People. In Wounded Knee and They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo Were Saved from Extinction, Waldman deals with Native-American and frontier history. Working with other authors, the illustrator has looked at similar themes, as in Jeffrey Prusski's Bring Back the Deer and Nancy Luenn's Nessa's Story, both of which deal with Native Americans, and Howard Schwartz's Next Year in Jerusalem: 3000 Years of Jewish Stories and The Passover Story: A Seder Companion by Barbara Diamond Goldin. Additionally, Waldman has proven an able illustrator for poems and stories by classic English and American authors, including Alfred Noyes's The Highwayman, William Blake's The Tyger, and a collection of horror stories by Edgar Allan Poe titled Tales of Terror: Ten Short Stories.

Waldman once told CA: "I was raised in a house where all the arts were encouraged. I sensed, as a small child, that finger paints and coloring books were more than just fun. They were important tools that led to a road of joy, discovery, and fulfillment.

"When I entered first grade, I learned very quickly that, within the classroom walls, the arts were 'secondary subjects,' not nearly as important as reading, math and science. I resented this deeply, and unconsciously began to rebel. Through twelve years of school I was considered an 'underachiever.' In fact, I was doing the minimum possible to get by, while working on my art at home.

"When I graduated from high school (near the bottom of my class), I felt as though I had been liberated. I entered an art college, where I spent most of my time drawing and painting. Here, surrounded by other artists for the first time, I began to blossom. Though I'd always known that art was important too, now it was reinforced in my environment. Instead of struggling against the current, I was gliding freely, ever faster and deeper, to places I had never imagined."

Waldman studied illustration and painting at Rochester Institute of Technology. "During and after college there was never a plan for my life," the artist told John Dalmas in the Sunday Journal-News. "I wanted to travel since I was a kid, and I always wanted to draw and paint. It just never occurred to me I would end up doing what I like for a living." After graduation, Waldman added, "I began to work as an illustrator. This seemed a natural decision, because it would allow me to do what I love most, while earning a living. It was difficult at first, almost like learning a new language. But it was worth it."

Early in his illustration career, Waldman designed postage stamps for Sierra Leone, Granada, Antigua, and many other countries, and won the United Nations poster competition representing the International Year of Peace in 1986. He also designed book jackets and magazine covers, but never considered illustrating children's literature until an editor at Gulliver Books approached him about working on a book titled Bring Back the Deer, by Jeffrey Prusski. Illustrating that book changed Waldman's life. Erin Gathrid, the editor at Gulliver, chose Waldman because she had been drawn to his work and felt that it had the same mystical quality as the manuscript for Bring Back the Deer. Initially Waldman refused, but Gathrid talked him into reading the manuscript at least five times before he made a decision.

Bring Back the Deer is the story of a young Native American boy's search for identity. When his father goes to hunt for food and doesn't return, the boy follows after him, and in the process discovers the animal spirit inside himself. Waldman once recalled for CA: "As I began to read, I felt like I was entering a dark, winding cave. By the time I finished reading, I was totally confused. The story left me feeling that I had missed something. If I hadn't promised to read it five times, I would never have looked at it again. But then a strange thing happened. On my second reading, a few things were revealed to me that had escaped me the first time. And when I read it again, I saw even more. By the fifth time, not only did I begin to appreciate it . . . I began to love it."

Though he had never worked on a children's picture book before, he agreed to handle the project. After weeks of difficulty finding the right images, Waldman arranged to meet with Gathrid and Prusski in New York City. Prusski told Waldman of his experience with Shamanism, and how a Native-American spirit had written the story through him. Waldman once told CA, "As Jeff continued speaking, I felt myself being transported back . . . back . . . back into the story. Images began flooding my brain. I opened my napkin and began scribbling on it. When I got home later that afternoon, I unfolded the napkin and began to study it. One of my scribblings was the image of two rectangles, one inside the other. I envisioned the main subject of each page within the smaller rectangle, with secondary subjects floating around it. The larger rectangle became the frame for each page. The color within the smaller rectangle would be very bright, to focus the viewer's attention on the central image." After discovering the boy and the grandfather in the tale, "the paintings were flowing effortlessly. Each image was like a road sign, directing me to whatever came next. I created a tribe, with its own special clothing, dwellings, environment, and even its own language of pictographs. It was as if I was constructing an entire world, which I lived in as I continued to paint."

"I painted intensely for two months," Waldman continued, "and when I finished the book it was clear that my life had changed forever. I knew that I wouldn't be working for advertising agencies or design studios anymore. I wanted to do more picture books. I had tiptoed through the window, and my path lay clearly before me. Like a many-colored fan, my life was unfolding before my eyes, revealing colors I had never even dreamed of." A Publishers Weekly critic praised Waldman's "splendid debut" in Bring Back the Deer, noting that his illustrations "have a lyrical quality that is haunting." Since 1988, when Bring Back the Deer was published, Waldman has worked exclusively on children's literature, having illustrated numerous picture books and dust jackets, including several Newbery or Newbery Honor winners. The book prompted changes in Waldman's personal life as well, as he decided to leave his marriage and embark on a journey of self-discovery.

In 1990, Waldman brought his artistic vision to Alfred Noyes's famous poem The Highwayman, which had recently been illustrated twice: once by Charles Mikolaycak and once by Charles Keeping. Unlike his predecessors, Waldman brought a broad palette to the poem, prompting Roger Sutton of the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books to observe: "[Waldman's] colors are often unlikely—plenty of aqua and magenta—but surprisingly effective, as in a moody painting of the highwayman upon his horse, a study in blue and black and gray." A Publishers Weekly reviewer characterized Waldman's style in The Highwayman as "both abstract and realistic," adding that his watercolors "capture the haunting, tragic spirit of the text." Eleanor K. MacDonald, writing for School Library Journal, praised the effect of Waldman's artwork, stating that "the strong sense of atmosphere and dramatic use of design reinforce the melodrama of the story."

In 1993, Waldman illustrated another classic poem, this time William Blake's The Tyger. In her School Library Journal review, Ruth K. MacDonald described Waldman's acrylic artwork as "modern, highly painterly, and formal." The final picture is a fold-out spread of the "tyger" that covers four pages, with each of the pages leading up to it featuring a section of the larger picture, each reproduced in black and shades of gray. MacDonald stated that "the focus on individual portions of the whole gives readers an opportunity to study The Tyger carefully, and to discuss the artist's interpretation."

Nessa's Story, by Nancy Luenn, features the story of an Inuit girl who learns from her grandmother how to participate in the cultural tradition of storytelling. Booklist contributor Isabel Schon asserted that Waldman's "original, luminous watercolor paintings," which use a wide range of settings, "are the best part of this story." School Library Journal contributor Roz Goodman noted that the "soft, cool colors in a variety of pastel pinks, blues, purples, greens, and browns blend into scenes both realistic and imaginary."

In Booklist, Stephanie Zvirin described The Passover Journey: A Seder Companion as "a beautiful wedding of the work of two talented individuals" that is "exquisitely designed." Author Barbara Diamond Goldin describes the history behind the Jewish holiday of Passover, and the symbolism behind the Seder meal, eaten in remembrance of the Jews' freedom from slavery in Egypt. Waldman's interpretation of this text features the "geometric borders and pastels characteristic of [his] work," according to Zvirin, and are combined with "stylized classic Egyptian hieroglyphic figures and set against softly tinted pages that actually glow." Hanna B. Zeiger, writing for Horn Book, commented that "the page design and stylized illustrations, in pleasing soft pastel colors, help make this book a welcome addition to holiday literature."

Waldman followed his work on The Passover Journey with another Jewish-themed book the following year, writing and illustrating The Golden City. School Library Journal contributor Susan Scheps noted that the book "successfully introduces the panorama of religions and cultures that have formed the city's heritage and created its mystique." A Kirkus Reviews critic, on the other hand, maintained that the writing "often overly romanticizes and is entirely subjective about a topic few people can approach objectively." Both reviewers, however, praised Waldman's watercolor-and-pencil illustrations featuring architecturally accurate portraits of Jerusalem during various time periods in its three-thousand-year history.

In 1995, Waldman lent his talents to a story written by Kathi Appelt, Bayou Lullaby. Judy Constantinides, writing in School Library Journal, commented that while the verse of this Cajun lullaby is enjoyable, "the true merit of the book lies in Waldman's double-page acrylic paintings." Waldman's figures are stylized and his palette includes rich jewel tones set against a black background. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Bayou Lullaby "an inspired pairing of author and artist."

Turning his attention once again to Jewish themes, Waldman teamed with reteller Howard Schwartz to create a collection of Jewish folktales titled Next Year in Jerusalem. The tales are taken in part from the Talmud and Midrash, some from folklore, and others from mystical or Hasidic sources. Marcia W. Posner wrote in School Library Journal that "Waldman has suffused the pages with the peach-colored dawns, golden sunlit days, and turquoise and lavender twilights of Jerusalem." In Horn Book, Hanna B. Zeiger observed that "Waldman's watercolor illustrations enhance the handsomely produced volume."

Two more books illustrated by Waldman and published in 1996 deal with ancient myth. Quetzal: Sacred Bird of the Cloud Forest, by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, draws upon Mexican myths of the beautiful bird which inhabits the cloud forests of Mexico and Central America. Waldman employed colored pencil on tinted paper for his illustrations, which, according to School Library Journal contributor Pam Gosner, "are quite lovely, with rich glowing tones." For Shulamith Levey Oppenheim's book And the Earth Trembled: The Creation of Adam and Eve, based on a traditional Islamic tale of creation, Waldman used the technique of pointillism, which Patricia Lothrop regarded in School Library Journal as "well suited to his subject." Lothrop continued: "The pages are brightly colored, the image of the Ibis is appropriately scary, and Paradise is a vision of order in green and blue."

In 1997, Waldman wrote and illustrated The Never-Ending Greenness, a story of holocaust survival. In this work, the Jewish narrator reflects on his childhood as he recalls being exiled to a ghetto along with his family at the hands of Nazi soldiers. The family escapes to the surrounding forest, and the boy later realizes his dream of planting trees in Israel. Waldman's story is told in simple language, and his illustrations feature his characteristic stylized palette, using bright blue, orange, pink, and turquoise. A Publishers Weekly critic noted that the "reference to Tu b'Shvat . . . might commend the book to families who observe that holiday." Betsy Hearne of the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books called The Never-Ending Greenness "perfectly paced as an unfolding of personalized history reflected in a life cycle like an unfolding of leaves." Hearne added that the "intensity of the boy's project is magnetic enough to build a bridge of identification with today's young listeners." Focusing on the artwork in the same book, a contributor for Reading Teacher lauded the "pointillistic" acrylic paintings which accent "the colorful beauty of new growth."

Waldman continues with Jewish themes in several more of his titles. The Two Brothers, a retelling of the legend of how Solomon selected the site of Jerusalem for his temple, is a "moving" tale, according to Maeve Visser Knoth in Horn Book Guide. The 1998 title Masada is a "tribute to the legendary citadel," according to a contributor for Publishers Weekly, following two millennia of history about the fortress built on a high plateau in the Negev desert, which became a final stronghold for the Jewish people in the Holy Land. Here the Zealots made the stand against the Romans, fighting to the last and committing suicide rather than surrendering. Waldman traces the history of the place from its founding by King Herod up to the 1960s when much of the current knowledge about it was revealed by an archaeological expedition. But it is the final battle against the Romans that takes center stage and is "most compelling," as the Publishers Weekly reviewer noted. Janice M. DelNegro, writing in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, spoke highly of Waldman's "thrillingly dramatic and admiring prose," adding that it has "strong nationalistic undertones." Susan Scheps, reviewing the same title in School Library Journal, observed that Waldman bases his tale on the account of Josephius Flavius, a young Jewish man who took an oath to serve the Romans in order to save his life. Waldman also uses dialogue in his account, "a tactic that gives a fictional quality to the otherwise carefully researched text," according to Scheps.

A change of pace for Waldman is the 1999 The Starry Night, a "nifty little fantasy based on the life of painter Vincent Van Gogh," as Booklist's GraceAnne DeCandido described the picture book. In Waldman's tale, the Dutch artist pops up in Manhattan, setting his easel in Central Park. Young Bernard makes his acquaintance and takes him on a tour of the city. Afterwards, Vincent takes the young boy to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and shows him the picture "Starry Night," which inspires the boy to sketch his own interpretation of the famous painting. Throughout, the artwork represents both Waldman's impression of what Van Gogh's colorful vision of the city perhaps might be as well as more realistic, sepia-toned illustrations. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly felt that "Waldman's paintings . . . cleverly imitate Van Gogh's feeling for color." Similarly, DeCandido praised the contrasting of "briliantly colored" paintings in Van Gogh's style with the "lively sepia-toned . . . sketches." Margaret A. Chang, writing in School Library Journal, similarly called the book a "showcase for Waldman's paintings of New York City."

Waldman deals with Native American and Western themes in two further solo efforts, Wounded Knee and They Came from the Bronx. In the former title—a "remarkable and well-written history," according to Linda Greengrass in School Library Journal—Waldman provides a "vivid description" of that Lakota Indian massacre in 1890. Waldman's book also details the history of the settlers and the Native Americans in the South Dakota region known as the Black Hills. Randy Meyer, writing in Booklist, found Waldman's account to be "balanced" and "succinct," accompanied by black-and-white and color portraits. Likewise, a reviewer for Publishers Weekly found Waldman's treatment a "moving yet balanced overview." A Horn Book critic also thought that Waldman "provides a clear and focused background" to the tragedy but complained that "the lack of documentation hampers readers who want to reconsider [Waldman's] opinions."

With They Came from the Bronx, Waldman presents something of a hybrid tale of the history of the American bison. This "articulate and informative volume," as a reviewer for Publishers Weekly described the picture book, begins with a Comanche boy in Oklahoma who asks his grandmother to tell him the story of the buffalo. The grandmother proceeds to tell the young boy of the amazing wild beast and its decimation at the hands of white settlers. Interspersed with this tale is a parallel one of how the herd was rebuilt from animals shipped west from the Bronx Zoo at the turn of the century. The same Publishers Weekly critic praised Waldman's "eloquent, sepia-tone watercolors." Mary L. Laub, reviewing the book in Childhood Education, found it "inspirational as well as informative," while Kate McDowell, writing in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, reserved her praise for the illustrations, which, in her opinion, "provide some of the emotional appeal absent from the story."

Waldman returns to Jewish life and history with illustrations for Sheldon Oberman's The Wisdom Bird: A Tale of Solomon and Sheba and Too Young for Yiddish, by Richard Michelson. Patricia Pearl Dole of School Library Journal commended Waldman's illustrations for Oberman's book, noting that the artwork of "elegant abstract designs, the king and the queen, the city of Jerusalem, and the many beautiful birds shine forth in full splendor." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly also had kind words for Waldman's work on the intergenerational tale Too Young for Yiddish, noting that this volume was "handsomely illustrated . . . in a sepia-toned palette recalling old family albums."

In his self-illustrated The Promised Land, Waldman takes a look at the beginnings of the Jewish people, tracing the origins from the time of Abraham to Moses and Joshua. Waldman begins with an examination of the promise of the land that God made to Abraham, an act that seems to have sustained the people, according to Waldman, through their long and turbulent history, including the time in Egypt, the Exodus, and Diaspora. A Kirkus Reviews critic called this "a straightforward account that sticks to Biblical sources," while Amy Lilien-Harper of School Library Journal felt it was "beautifully written but rather obscure." Lilien-Harper further noted that the writing is "lyrical and lovely," but that it is also often rather complex and "requires a certain amount of familiarity of Jewish history." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly also noted the demanding text, but found the artwork "consistently moving." Similarly, Booklist's Stephanie Zvirin felt that Waldman's "densely packed text is not quite as successful as his art," which she described as "gorgeous."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1994, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The Passover Journey: A Seder Companion, p. 1260; February 1, 1995, Isabel Schon, review of Nessa's Story, p. 1012; November 1, 1999, GraceAnne DeCandido, review of The Starry Night, p. 541; March 15, 2001, Randy Meyer, review of Wounded Knee, p. 1389; March 1, 2002, Hazel Rochman, review of Too Young for Yiddish, p. 1142; October 1, 2002, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The Promised Land: The Birth of the Jewish People, p. 344.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December, 1990, Roger Sutton, review of The Highwayman, pp. 95-96; June, 1997, Betsy Hearne, review of The Never-Ending Greenness, pp. 347-348; October, 1998, Janice M. DelNegro, review of Masada, p. 76; December, 2001, Kate McDowell, review of They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo Were Saved from Extinction, pp. 154-155.

Childhood Education, spring, 2002, Mary L. Laub, review of They Came from the Bronx, p. 172.

Horn Book, May-June, 1994, Hanna B. Zeiger, review of The Passover Journey, p. 334; July-August, 1996, Hanna B. Zeiger, review of Next Year in Jerusalem: 3000 Years of Jewish Stories, p. 472; July-August, 2001, review of Wounded Knee, p. 478.

Horn Book Guide, spring, 1998, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of The Two Brothers: A Legend of Jerusalem, p. 114; fall, 2001, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of The Golden City: Jerusalem's 3000 Years, p. 425.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 1995, review of The GoldenCity, p. 1118; January 15, 2002, review of Too Young for Yiddish, p. 106; September 1, 2002, review of The Promised Land, p. 1322.

Publishers Weekly, October 14, 1988, review of BringBack the Deer, pp. 71-72; September 14, 1990, review of The Highwayman, p. 124; February 13, 1995, review of Bayou Lullaby, p. 77; February 3, 1997, review of The Never-Ending Greenness, p. 107; August 10, 1998, review of Masada, p. 390; February 22, 1999, review of The Family Haggadah, p. 86; October 18, 1999, review of The Starry Night, p. 80; August 28, 2000, review of The Wisdom Bird: A Tale of Solomon and Sheba, p. 78; May 14, 2001, review of Wounded Knee, p. 83; August 13, 2001, review of They Came from the Bronx, p. 312; January 14, 2002, review of Too Young for Yiddish, p. 60; September 9, 2002, review of The Promised Land, p. 65.

Reading Teacher, April, 1998, review of The Never-Ending Greenness, p. 589.

School Library Journal, December, 1990, Eleanor K. MacDonald, review of The Highwayman, p. 118; January, 1994, Ruth K. MacDonald, review of The Tyger, p. 118; April, 1994, Roz Goodman, review of Nessa's Story, p. 108; April, 1995, Judy Constantinides, review of Bayou Lullaby, p. 97; November, 1995, Susan Scheps, review of The Golden City: Jerusalem's 3000 Years, p. 94; January, 1996, Marcia W. Posner, review of Next Year in Jerusalem, p. 125; September, 1996, Patricia Lothrop, review of And the Earth Trembled: The Creation of Adam and Eve, p. 219; October, 1996, Pam Gosner, review of Quetzal: Sacred Bird of the Cloud Forest, p. 138; November, 1998, Susan Scheps, review of Masada, pp. 143-144; June, 1999, Yapha Nussbaum Mason, review of The Family Haggadah, p. 120; October, 1999, Margaret A. Chang, review of The Starry Night, p. 129; October, 2000, Patricia Pear Dole, review of The Wisdom Bird, p. 132; May, 2001, Linda Greengrass, review of Wounded Knee, p. 172; September, 2002, Amy Lilien-Harper, review of The Promised Land, p. 255.