(2) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. This thorough and visually evocative picture-book biography tells the story of Kate Walker (1848–1931), who became one of the first women to serve as an offshore lighthouse keeper. An archival Currier & Ives map of New York Harbor on the endpapers sets the historical scene in the late nineteenth century, when Kate emigrates from Germany. A widow with a small child, she begins work as a cook at Fort Hancock, where she meets and marries John Walker and, after his appointment as lighthouse keeper, settles with him on Robbins Reef. The octagonal iron structure stood on a granite foundation surrounded by water; Spires describes the lighthouse as looking, from far off, like a "tiny candle on a birthday cake." When John dies, Kate remains; four years later she becomes the permanent keeper. Giving equal measure to her devotion to John's last words ("Mind the light, Kate"); her isolation; and her bravery (she rescued fifty people during her near thirty-year career), Spires shows Walker as a quiet heroine meeting challenges calmly and efficiently. McCully's hallmark watercolors support this focus, whether depicting the cramped conditions on Robbins Reef, the pattern of life at the lighthouse, Kate braving dangerous weather, and two spectacular seascapes. Appended with an author's note, documentation, and a bibliography.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Ellen Prentiss learned navigation on her father's trading schooner. When she and her husband took command of a new clipper ship, heading from New York to the California Gold Rush, Ellen smashed the record for shortest voyage around Cape Horn. Fern's nautically infused text rolls with the waves, while McCully's ink and watercolor illustrations reflect the resplendent blues and greens of vast oceans. Glos.

Reviewer: Pam Yosca | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2014

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Maeve's grandpa unearths a mummy--common in Ireland, where (a note says) scores of remains have been found. Maeve's uneasiness at the find turns to empathy for the long-ago girl who, like her, had blond hair. McCully's masterful pen-and-ink lines capture Maeve's feelings; watercolors evoke the lush countryside. This is a sensitive opening to the universal theme of curiosity about death.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2012

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Sophie the swan tries to join a class of young ballet dancers but is shooed away. Later, a more open-minded teacher welcomes her to class; eventually Sophie earns a part in Swan Lake. McCully captures Sophie's yearning to dance in ballerina Kent's satisfying success story. Readers will appreciate the tale's acknowledgment that while some things come easily to Sophie, others do not.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2012

(4) PS Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. As a puppy watches the animals working on the farm, he wonders how he, too, can be useful. He can't give eggs or milk or wool. When his boy comes home, however, he discovers he's very good at giving love. The story of finding one's place is told in uneven rhyme and accompanied by lively watercolors of an idealized farmyard.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Rhyming text of varied line lengths describes March weather in terms of the proverbial animals' behavior. The lion stomps in with storm clouds; he seems determined to stay, but he finally--inadvertently--summons the springtime lamb with a sneeze. The text's rhythm nicely evokes erratic March, while McCully's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are at first appropriately windy and then cheerfully floral.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Faced with an unjust new tax, Julia and Abby Smith protested: since they couldn't vote, this was taxation without representation. After the sisters’ cows are confiscated, the American Woman Suffrage Association, as well as newspapers nationwide, took up the story. Van Rynbach and Shea appealingly present the resourcefulness of two nineteenth-century women. McCully’s illustrations show the aging sisters and their humorously vivacious cows.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2011

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Convinced that he hears a banshee wailing in the middle of the night, a young Irish boy fights his fear and goes out to confront her. Though there turns out to be a rational explanation, it doesn't negate the suspense of Bunting’s taut, immediate story. McCully's atmospheric watercolors add to the tension, whether depicting the banshee of the boy's imagination or the spooky-enough dark-of-night reality.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. To help his Jewish immigrant family, Ben gets a job delivering hat linings. One day he wrecks his bike and drops hundreds of the silk circles. For Ben, the beautiful sight of the colored linings floating in the wind engenders not despair but a hopeful vision of his future. Detailed watercolors reflect Ben's exhilaration and evoke the early-twentieth-century setting of this unusual story based on real events.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. A curious cat wreaks havoc in a myriad of places, including the kitchen, a closet, and a bedroom. Each time, Cat is scolded: "Cat? Out!" When the feline trots through paint in the studio, however, he's finally forgiven; his paw prints reveal a heart-shaped design. Playful type design and lively watercolor illustrations elevate the slight story.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Hitler has overtaken Europe, and young narrator Jacques and his Jewish family are living in a small French village, posing as Catholics. At Passover, Jacques's father dares to take him into the mountains to celebrate the ceremonial feast traditionally held on the first two nights of the holiday. McCully's solemn, brooding watercolors enhance this suspenseful tale of the power of faith. Reading list.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) PS Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Tired of "One, two, buckle my shoe"? The parent of a young elephant counts out the pleasure the two will share ("3, 4, dip and pour / oceans from a pail. / We might catch a mermaid / with a swishy fish's tail"). Some of the rhymes stall, but they're all ebullient--a quality aided and abetted by the book's joyful watercolors.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. When a child asks her mother about angels, her mother describes ever-present, childlike angels dressed in floral nightgowns, then says she feels these angels are "real as love and wind and light." McCully's rosy-cheeked angels cavort around puffy white clouds; the overly adorable art matches this fanciful rather than religious text.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. McCully has completely redesigned and re-illustrated this new edition, and it both gains and loses in the process. The size of the book has almost doubled, so that the intimate feeling of the text is less apparent, but the full-color paintings of an interracial family going about its daily business are warm and joyful.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(3) PS Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Bunting uses a bouncy rhythm in these cheery, accessible verses, which highlight various seasonal pastimes. For June, she writes, "Sing a song of softball, / standing at the plate. / I got a hit! / I clobbered it! / Time to celebrate!" The expert watercolors, including small spot illustrations and large double-page spreads, show two carefree piglets frolicking throughout the year.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Because Katie, a girl in Ireland during the famine of the 1840s, ungratefully wished that potatoes would disappear from her supper table, she is certain that she is to blame for the sickness and blight around her. Her father relieves her guilt when they are reunited in Boston. Despite the cliché-ridden writing and the jarring happy ending, McCully's expressive watercolors deftly convey the mood, time, and place.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Josh has recently moved to Vermont with his family. His problem with a group of bullies parallels that of his dog, a mutt Josh mysteriously understands when he hears the dog discuss a face-off with an unruly pack roaming the countryside. The emphasis here is on action and resolution, both of which occur swiftly, masking the slight characterization and some improbable plot twists.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(4) PS Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. In this giant dancing jamboree, one osprey does ballet, two toucans two-step, three bears cha-cha, all the way up to ten flamingos who tango. When all fifty-five animals dance together in the final foldout spread, the floor really begins to shake. Energetic illustrations of nattily dressed dancers have more bounce than the occasionally awkward text.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. They may have been pirates before, but the two owners of the café called the Spinach Main are peace-loving rabbits now. When a hungry fox threatens their lives, they cook up a clever way to send him packing--without fighting. In her watercolor illustrations, McCully is equally adept at showing the fox's nighttime skullduggery and the sun-splashed scenery of southern France.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 Bank Street Ready-to-Read series. Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. A young girl is intrigued by the lodge beavers have built on her family's dock. Her angry parents, however, call the game warden, but that night the dock floats downriver during a storm. The family builds a new dock: "only this time--no beavers allowed." Text and illustrations are clear and simple, but the story won't appeal to wildlife fans accustomed to more animal-friendly tales.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander