KING KENRICK’S SPLINTER, by Sally Derby, illustrated by Leonid Gore, Walker, 32 pages, $14.95, ages 5-8

King Kenrick — a plump, whiny sort — gets a splinter, and the queen is determined to get it out of his royal foot. A scullery maid’s uncle is called in to do the deed, and his wisecracking ways give the king fits. There’s much to laugh about in this clever tale, including the expressive paintings which capture the tale’s sense of whimsy.

HONKERS, by Jane Yolen, Little, Brown & Co., 32 pages, $14.95, ages 5-9

Five-year-old Betsy is sent to stay with her grandparents until her mother has the new baby. After a lonely ride to their farm, her Nana and Grandy point out an abandoned nest of three goose eggs, and she manages to forget her homesickness. She’s given the responsibility of turning the eggs each day, and once they hatch, develops a special bond with one that she names “Little Bit.” By the time her baby sister is born, the geese have grown and are ready to fly south for the winter, leaving Betsy with a special lesson in mothering and independence. A heartwarming tale.

THE BOY WHO SWALLOWED SNAKES, by Laurence Yep, illustrated by Jean and Mou-sien Tseng, Scholastic, 32 pages, $14.95, ages 5-9

A poor woman and her son, Little Chou, live in a village in South China. One day, Little Chou sees a rich man drop a basket of silver coins in the forest. When Little Chou opens the basket to show his mother, a small blue snake slithers out and wraps itself around his leg and he cannot get rid of it. The village wise woman says it is an evil ku snake that kills people, then steals their treasure for its owner. If Little Chou does not use the snake, it will kill him. Not wanting to steal from anyone, Little Chou swallows the snake, only to have two more escape from his stomach, then 50, then 100. The snake’s greedy former owner, upon hearing that the boy has found a way to multiply the snakes, returns to reclaim them. The evil man tries his luck at eating the snakes, with much different results. This is taken from an original folk tale in which courage and honesty triumph over evil greed. Lavish watercolors reflect period details of South China during the Tang Dynasty.

DIXIE IN THE BIG PASTURE, by Belinda Hurmence, Clarion, $13.95, 160 pages, ages 10-14

In 1907, 12-year-old Dixie Watson and her family move from Tennessee to the Oklahoma Territory, or “Big Pasture,” to build a homestead on the claim her father has won in a land-auction giveaway of the last of the great reservations. Kiowa Indians live on three sides of them and the family makes the acquaintance of one Kiowa family when Dixie’s father buys a pony from Old Man Sixteen. It had belonged to his son, John Three, and the boy is furious that his horse has been sold. When Dixie’s cherished dog disappears, and she sees John Three’s sister wearing an Indian remedy necklace that includes animal parts very similar to those of the dog, it is her turn to be outraged. Events pull the two families together, however, and Dixie learns much about traditional Indian ways and the importance of accepting difference in others.

The story is based on actual experiences in Hurmence’s family. All four of her grandparents homesteaded in the Oklahoma Territory in 1907. The character of Dixie’s father is based on Hurmence’s paternal grandfather, a “revenuer” who spent much of each year traveling for the Internal Revenue Service. He kept a meticulous diary which the author used, along with the memories of other family members, to create this book. The story presents an authentic look at this period in our nation’s history and of the plight of Indians in general. Dixie is a strong, likable character undergoing much of the soul-searching common in every generation’s adolescents. There is much in this story to like.

Judy Eyerer is a free-lance writer who lives in Bangor.