(2) PS A story of perseverance and hospitality, Hall's (Red, rev. 1/15; Swing, rev. 5/20) latest follows a hardworking mouse and her home-building journey. It begins when she comes across a wild asparagus patch and finds a "warm and welcoming" flame, around which she builds a tall black stove ("bang bang bang"). An encounter with a hungry fox leads the mouse to lay a yellowy-green tile floor "to mark the spot where the fox wouldn't go"; then a big rainstorm prompts her to construct ("tap tap tap") a brown wooden frame and roof "to mark the spot where the rain wouldn't fall." After days of asparagus soup, she hears a persistent knocking and builds a door "to mark the spot where the knocking had been." Soon she welcomes two mouse travelers into her sheltering abode, where they all enjoy the warmth of vegetable soup and newfound friendship. Hall's use of onomatopoeia and geometric shapes (a triangle for the mouse's body; rectangles for the house's frame and floor) naturally emphasize and extend the construction theme. Vignettes highlighting the protagonist's industriousness are interwoven with double-page spreads depicting cutaway and interior views of her cozy home. Reminiscent of Leo Lionni's work, this tale of a mouse and her house is aglow with tenacity, generosity, and good cheer.

Reviewer: Emmie Stuart | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(2) PS The title spread introduces a school--a place of learning and growth--where outside the classroom window a swing set stands empty and waiting. A letter L sits alone on one of four swings as the story begins. When letter V approaches, wanting to play, L rejects V for being "different"--V lives near the end of the alphabet, not the middle like L. The same pattern repeats when first E and then O try to join the fun: V (who has hopped on a swing, invited or not) rejects E for being a vowel, then E rejects O for not being "made up of straight lines" like the rest of them. As small tussles break out, O suggests, "Let's just swing!" Their moods improve the higher they soar, and when they come back down, they're "different" again...having become a group of friends (whose order on the swings just happens to spell the word LOVE). The text's repetition and simple vocabulary are age-appropriate but also helpful in highlighting--along with the illustrations--the multiple facets of the story, with its focus not just on the alphabet but also on more abstract concepts such as kindness and acceptance of others. Minimal shapes for the face, arms, and legs of each letter add an impressive range of expression and emotion. Texture in the "digitally combined collages of painted and cut paper" stands out against the mainly white background; minimal details keep the focus for young viewers on the letters and their quintessentially childlike interactions.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

(3) PS "Wake up, Monkey! It's time to play." A little yellow dot with stick legs prods a tree-dwelling monkey to catch it, along with its dot friends, as they race clockwise around the branches. As the monkey's arms move like a clock's hands, readers will crack the code: the dots represent minutes! Young viewers will want to spend time with Hall's digitally-combined paper-collage art. Information about "Monkey's Rainforest Friends" is appended.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(1) K-3 In this cross between quest story and concept book, Little i boards a boat appropriately shaped like a question mark to find its missing dot. The protagonist lands on an island full of wonders (and punctuation) and eventually becomes Big I. Bright digitally compiled collages of painted- and cut paper create dramatic backgrounds. The roles of symbols and letters beautifully become part of the story's action.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(2) PS In this companion to Red: A Crayon's Story, three disappointed crayons and a pencil narrator describe how a giant red scribble disrupts plans for their production of...Frankencrayon. Chaos ensues; the picture book is canceled. Oblivious Frankencrayon makes the planned entrance onto the scribbled page, fixes the problem, and saves the play, er, day. The complex structure offers inspiration for thinking about theater, bookmaking, and storytelling.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2016

(2) PS After shapes (Perfect Square) and colors (Red), Hall turns to a season: autumn. Invented adjectives (beautifall, plentifall, wistfall, etc.) form the titles of short verses, narrated by an oak tree, that take readers through the season. Spreads include many animals, all of which are described further in back matter. Hall's exuberant style, with bright colors and crisp, digitally rendered shapes, is engaging.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2016

(2) PS Crayon Red is labeled red, but he colors blue, which creates frustration for the other crayons and thus Red himself. Red struggles until new friend Berry asks him to make a blue ocean. Once he lets go of his label, everything turns around, including the other crayons' minds. Smart design and sharp details keep the story effective and amusing.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2015

(3) K-3 A carpenter ant makes a hole from inside its tree stump; the colors it--and readers--see through the holes reinforce the (unfounded) fear that there's an aardvark on the other side ("an orange aardvark...wearing blue pajamas!"). The witty digital art, incorporating painted textures and torn paper, keeps pace with the ant's cumulatively wilder assumptions, which are swallowed by its gullible ant friends.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Hall plays with homonyms ("They flee a steer. / They steer a plane") in this witty rhyming story about three cats on silly adventures "from word to word." The text and antics start out simple--until "the words are jumbled! / They've lost their way"; the buildup is played out humorously in the textured, blocky illustrations in vivid colors on white backgrounds.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(2) PS The protagonist, a square, is "perfectly happy." On Monday it arranges itself into a fountain; on Tuesday it becomes a garden, etc. Bold acrylic monotype ink prints feature skillfully snipped, ripped, or crumpled papers, arrayed in collages made eloquent by a few deft lines. Just right for toddlers, but also for those ready for the abstract theme of inventive self-empowerment.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2011

(3) PS "My heart is like a zoo-- / eager as a beaver, / steady as a yak, / hopeful as a hungry heron fishing for a snack..." In this charming ode to the heart, Hall presents a series of crisp, silliness-spiked rhymes. The accompanying digitally rendered illustrations employ heart shapes to create the twenty featured animals.

Reviewer: Nell Beram