THE LOG OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

As he did with his sampling of Thoreau's Walden (1990), Lowe gives a careful introduction to these brief excerpts and is scrupulous in using ellipses; but while each entry here is dated, these scattered fragments give no real sense of the bulk of the original document. Still, children should be fascinated by the fact that these are actually Columbus's own words. Sabuda's expansive linoleum prints make a handsome complement. Using variations of muted turquoise as his key colors and pairing them with sunny hues, glorious sunset colors, or dramatic browns and blacks to suit different moments in the text, he imaginatively re-creates the voyage—the perilous pitch of the deck in a rainstorm, the first sighting of Native Americans on the golden sand, even a unique glimpse of a ship's bottom, looking straight up from among underwater weeds. One of the more attractive and authentic of the Columbus bunch. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 5-10)