Taback adapts thirteen well-known Eastern European tales and laces them with Yiddish words and their meanings to give the tales a flavor even a shlemiel could appreciate. The brightly colored pages are filled with gently caricatured characters; occasional collaged pieces further enliven the pages. Each tale concludes with a succinct, humorous saying that sums up its essence.

Krull, best known for her vivid and sometimes irreverent series of collective biographies such as Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (And What the Neighbors Thought) (1993), brings her lively aproach to the American Bill of Rights and shows its relevance to a young audience. After describing how the first 10 amendments came to be added to the Constitution, the book considers each one from a historical point of view, examining Supreme Court cases and famous challenges, and explaining in what ways each amendment applies to children and teenagers. Anna Divito's cartoonlike drawings add a visually appealing touch. Quotations, sidebars, and addresses of relevant organizations appear throughout the text; a bibliography of recommended books is appended. (Reviewed December 1, 1999)