Weekend Reviews (II)

Reviews are showing up early this weekend. There are a number of reviews of children's books in this weekend's New York Times Book Review section, for example. Here's what's available online now:

• Robert Sullivan reviews Into the West: From Reconstruction to the Final Days of the American Frontier, by James M. McPherson ("Like good newspaper stories, McPherson’s chapters convey big ideas with the details of people’s lives, national trends with local notes")
• Julie Just interviews James M. McPherson
• Karla Kuskin reviews The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven ("This tale needs the fanciful turns the author and artist bring to it.")
• Jessica Bruder considers Once Upon a Banana, by Jennifer Armstrong and illustrated by David Small ("This rambunctious tale...is almost wordless but packed with physical comedy")
• Holiday books for children are the subject of this week's Bookshelf