Gr 3-4-Dull, unattractive presentations in which the lines between fact and fiction are considerably blurred. No one has ever resolved whether John Henry really battled a steam drill and, if he did, where the contest took place. John Chapman's history is better documented, but it's safe to say that much of what we have heard about him is exaggerated. Nonetheless, it is problematic when an author says, as Balcziak does on the first page of Johnny Appleseed, "Some of it is really true!" without elucidating what are verifiable statements and what are products of his imagination. The color illustrations in both of these titles are reminiscent of schlocky comic-book art. The back matter, containing recipes, glossaries, suggested Web sites, and other sources of information, is considerably better than the body of the texts. The good news is that vastly superior books about John Henry, including Ezra Jack Keats's (Turtleback, 1965) and Julius Lester's (Dial, 1994), and a plethora of Johnny Appleseed titles, including Steven Kellogg's (Morrow, 1988), Reeve Lindbergh's (Little, Brown, 1993), Aliki's (S & S, 1971), Margaret Hodges's (Holiday, 1997), Will Moses's (Philomel, 2001), and Patricia Demuth's (Grosset & Dunlap, 1996) are all readily available.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.