vol. 2, no. 1, page 2
NOBODY RIDES THE UNICORN by Adrian Mitchell, ill. by Stephen Lambert.  Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic Press), 1999.  Ages 5 to 9.
This book does not purport to be folklore, but it certainly has that aura.  And it borrows the image of the unicorn laying its head in the virgin's lap, which any college medieval literature professor will tell you is fraught with sexual symbolism.
In any case, this story concerns the king of "Joppardy", who is so paranoid that he trusts no one.  He does, however, consult with cunning Doctor Slythe, who tells him that the only way to avoid being poisoned is to eat and drink from utensils made from a unicorn's horn.
He further advises the king that a unicorn can only be trapped by a quiet young girl with a gentle voice.  That girl turns out to be Zoe, the beggar girl, who has no parents and lives alone.  She is told that if she sits by herself in the forest, singing softly, perhaps a unicorn will come by and lay its head in her lap.
Scared but excited, she agrees to do this, because she wants to see the shy beast.  It works, and only after the unicorn has been wounded by huntsmen, captured and chained to a tree at the palace does she realize that she has been tricked.
This makes her angry, and she gets even more angry when she learns that the king and the doctor are planning to kill the unicorn and make eating utensils from it's horn.  She sneaks into the garden, cleans the animal's wounds and sets him free.  When the king finds out what Zoe has done, he calls her "a nobody" and banishes her from the kingdom. 
Having nowhere else to go, she seeks out the unicorn and finds him dancing with others of his kind in a secret valley beyond a cave hidden by a waterfall.  She is so happy to see the animals that she starts singing.  Her unicorn hears and trots over to her.  The tender beast takes her on his back--for she is Nobody. . .and Nobody rides the unicorn--and carries her down into the secret valley.
I've misplaced my notes on whom I read the book to, but my husband, upon proof- reading the present review, commented that this sounded like a sweet little story.  I think it has themes that resonate with us all.  Who hasn't had feelings of abandonment, moral outrage, a longing for heroism and belonging?
YARD SALE by Mitra Modarressi, Dorling Kindersley, 2000.  Ages 3 to 10.  (Actually, I'm tempted to put the age range at "3 to adult", but maybe I'm showing my bias as an inveterate garage sale buff.)
Spudville is a quiet town, where nothing unusual ever happens.  Until Mr. Flotsam has a yard sale, that is.  Everyone who comes finds something to buy, but the next morning peculiar things start to happen.  A rug purchased at the sale flies out the door with the new owner's young son as a passenger.  A typewriter starts writing on its own.  A telephone carries a call from a long-dead relative of the purchaser.  And so it goes.
The whole town is in an uproar and they show up at Mr. Flotsam's door to demand their money back. . .only to discover a note saying he'll be gone for  week.  The townspeople start comparing notes and invite each other over to see the disasters that have resulted from their purchases.  Perceptions change, however, when they start appreciating the virtues of each other's acquisitions.
All these marvels not only turn out to be boons for their owners, but they bring together a community whose members had always kept to themselves.  As for Mr. Flotsam. . .the next time spring rolls around, he decides to have another yard sale.
I misplaced my notes on this one, too, but it's a fun read and I guarantee your kids will like it.
WHEN SOPHIE GETS ANGRY--REALLY, REALLY ANGRY. . . by Molly Bang.  The Blue Sky Press (Scholastic Inc.), 1999.  Ages 3 to 8.  This book won the Caldecott Honor for its illustrations, and also the Charlotte Zolotow Award.  It tells how young Sophie reacts to an altercation with her sister which doesn't go her way.
At first she explodes like a volcano and roars with rage.  Then she slams out of the house and runs as far away as she can go.  Tears come, followed by quiet, as Sophie begins to let in the natural world around her, and finally draws comfort from it.  When she feels better, she returns home, where she is welcomed by her family.
The bold, primitive, sometimes electric drawings reflect Sophie's mood changes, from violent to peaceful.  The kindergartners I read this to liked it very much and it stimulated good discussion about what coping mechanisms the children use when they get angry.

COMES A WIND by Linda Arms White, ill. by Tom Curry.  Dorling Kindersley Publishing Co., 2000.  Ages 4 to 12.
When it comes to sibling rivalry, that last story is nothing.  The competitiveness between Clyde and Clement in this tale has continued from their early years into adulthood, and it knows no bounds.  When one of them first learned to roast a hot dog nice and even over a campfire, the other one served up a 5-course meal, complete with apple pie cooked on a stick.  When one of them managed to rope a bucking bronco, the other one rode it bareback.
Now their mother sends them each a note saying that the only present she would like from them for her birthday is for the two of them to get along together for one day without their squabbling and trying to outdo each other.  They determine to try, but old habits die hard.
As they sit on the porch of their mother's ranch house, while she is inside making lemonade, a wind comes up.   One of them comments on the wind, and then says it's nothing compared to another wind he experienced. . .and they're off and running, as one tall tale follows another.  "Why, one day it was so windy, it churned a mess of trout right out of the crick.  Plopped them on the grate I had ready for barbecuin", then blew the other way five minutes and flipped them over.  Cooked to perfection, they was."
"One day it was so windy, it whooshed through the high school marching band, caught the bell of my boy's tuba, and screwed him twelve feet into the ground.  Took the whole football team and the water boy to pull him back out."
Meanwhile, the wind around them keeps rising, until animals, trees and outbuildings are flying past.  The brothers are whipped out of their seats and have to hold onto the porch railing for dear life, in order to keep from being blown away.
When their mother comes out of the house with a cake she has baked for the occasion, they are unable to warn her in time, and she and the cake are blown up into the sky, as her skirt bellows out like a sail.  The wind then dies down, depositing her on the weather vane on top of the barn, and the two brothers forget their differences as they cooperate to rescue her.  When it's all over, they agree that "that was a wind!"
Brothers Connor, 5 and Nicholas, 3 both said they liked this book, but I think it was actually a little beyond Nicholas.  His interest clearly flagged as the story progressed.  (But it was a hit with the 77-year-old I tried it on!)
ALOHA DOLORES by Barbara Samuels.  Dorling Kindersley Publishing Co., 2000.  Ages 4 to 10.  This is one of a series of books about audacious Dolores, her older sister Faye, and her cat Duncan.  The present adventure begins when Dolores decides to enter a contest sponsored by a cat food manufacturer, with a luxury cruise to Hawaii as the prize.
She informs her classmates she is going to win, and gives a short hula demonstration.  Everywhere she goes, she wears a grass skirt and a lei, greeting people with "Aloha!" and announcing her forthcoming trip.  Faye tries to introduce a note of reality, but Dolores will not be deterred.  She plays the ukulele, she goes snorkeling in the bathtub, she gives herself a farewell luau consisting of 25¢ glasses of pineapple juice at a no-host bar.
In order to enter, she has to complete the sentence "My cat deserves the best because...", and include a photo of the cat, along with three Meow Muchies box tops.  Her wording is prosaic, her photos awful, but Dolores is so convinced she will win that she immediately goes out and starts shopping for her trip.
The day the winner is to be announced, she packs her bags and sits waiting by the phone.  With the hours ticking by, she calls the phone company to report a phone that isn't ringing, and eventually decides the contest sponsors will send a telegram instead.
That night, the winning cat is announced on the radio: a Siamese named Fifi from Southpaw, Indiana.  Dolores retreats to her room to lick her wounds.  She seems inconsolable, until Faye points out that she has already done all the things she was planning to do in Hawaii.  Faye helps her get photos of all her activities so she can fill her scrapbook for Show and Tell.  The class agrees it must have been quite a trip.
When Faye observes that Dolores has put away her grass skirt, Dolores reveals that she and Duncan have other plans.  In the last scene, she is posing as a flamenco dancer, rose between her teeth, matador poster on the wall.  "Olé!"
The second-graders I read this to enjoyed it, and seemed to grasp everything that was going on.  One even correctly identified Dolores's next obsession as Spain.

A minor technical flaw: as a calico, it's extremely unlikely that Duncan could be a male.