(1) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Downing. Chess and a chessboard become defining features of a young Viennese Jewish girl’s life at the turn of the twentieth century. Elsa, age six, loves to watch her three brothers play the game, begging them to teach her. After one of them does, “Elsa thought about chess all the time.” For her tenth birthday, her brothers give her a portable chess set. She plays and grows, one day falling in love with a chess-playing librarian, who later flees with her and their daughter -- and her chessboard -- to the United States when Nazism threatens. Chess becomes a way for German-speaking Elsa to make friends with her polyglot coworkers in San Francisco. Basing her story on her grandmother’s experiences (with some coming “from my imagination”), Andrus pens an economical, heartfelt narrative. Downing likewise invests her watercolors with thoughtful details. Particularly effective are occasional four-panel grids that offer tiny montages, such as one depicting a white-haired Elsa with her granddaughters, playing “the games the girls loved”: cards, checkers, Twister, and, at Hanukkah, dreidel. She’s lost her chessboard during a move, a sorrow brought home by a double-page spread of Elsa in her darkened bedroom, tracing her late husband’s face in a framed photo. Readers will be as happy as Elsa when the chessboard is rediscovered, its longevity documented in one of the family snapshots that accompany an author’s note and recommended resources about chess.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(2) 4-6 It's June 1941 in West Branch, Iowa, and twelve-year-old Peggy's summer becomes marked by two secrets. The first is that she's fallen for Gunther, who is handsome, older (sixteen), and, most importantly, from away. A German Jew, Gunther is staying at a local refugee hostel run by Quakers. The second secret, involving Peggy's cousin and close friend, Delia, is more complicated. Delia has leukemia and has at most six months to live, but this reality is being withheld from the sick girl, who believes that she's simply anemic. The events of the summer and fall -- first love, revelations at the hostel against a background of war -- all play out within the context of Peggy's guilt, anger, resentment, confusion, preemptive grieving, and doomed determination to "fix" her cousin. By the end of six months, she has confronted the difficult truth that the distinctions among stories, lies, and history are not as clear as she had assumed. Bouwman's (Gossamer Summer, rev. 7/23) writing is crisp and specific, painting a convincing picture of rural life of the period, and she stays firmly in the consciousness of her spirited, questing, analytical, mathematically inclined heroine.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(1) K-3 The family from The Airport Book (rev. 5/16) and The Hospital Book (rev. 3/23) is back, here on the brink of moving—again. As always, there's plenty to take in, smile at, and relate to. Brother and younger sister, who is looking worried and apprehensive, sit on the front steps of their "sold" house while he reminisces about all the other places they've lived. From a tiny apartment she doesn't remember because she hadn't yet been born, to a "big apartment in [a] big building with three elevators" where they didn't even need to go outside to trick-or-treat, to their current house full of vivid memories, we are treated to an intimate portrait of a growing family and, in particular, these characters' childhoods. Lighthearted elements, especially regarding the unreliability of the brother's narration (he claims to be much more adventurous and uncomplaining than the art reveals), mix with more poignant ones (Grandpa, who will be living with them in the new house, now uses a walker). Brown's mixed-media illustrations feature their usual clear colors, clean lines, and wealth of detail. Sharp-eyed readers will note that this time the sister's beloved Monkey gets its own labeled box—no more getting lost!—and will be reassured to see that her smile has returned by book's end, as the family settles in happily to their new home.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(1) K-3 Hatteras Island off the coast of North Carolina is the scene for Chin’s latest: an examination of a hurricane (based on several real ones) brilliantly told in segments alternating between actions of island residents and those of scientists. After piquing readers’ interest with a dramatic cover depicting an angry sea and a line of evacuating cars, Chin defines a hurricane and describes early tracking measures by meteorologists who observe the storm. A dual countdown begins. On Monday, the storm forms off the coast of Africa and moves west across the Atlantic as residents warily continue with their daily activities. On Tuesday, scientists follow the storm’s path; residents begin discussing arrangements. And so on. The climax occurs when the storm makes landfall. Short narrative descriptions and spot art depict what is happening on shore: the rising surf, the destructive winds, the calm of the eye, and the hurricane’s return with its change in wind direction. And then it’s over. People return to their homes and help one another with the cleanup. Chin (The Universe in You, rev. 1/23) masterfully juxtaposes the experience of people affected by the hurricane with the larger scientific context; stunning illustrations in pen and ink, watercolor, and gouache bring life to massive weather phenomena and to smaller-scale scenes. Extensive back matter adds useful details about storm formation, meteorology, and forecasting; an author’s note addresses concerns about the importance of the meteorological community’s work and the effects of climate change. Suggested sources for further inquiry complete this outstanding book.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Sydney Smith. Caldecott winner Floca and Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Smith team up to create a magnificent, timeless tale of two young children on an adventure close to home. An intense storm is approaching. "Now take my hand / and we'll go see / the sea before the storm," begins Floca's rhythmic and expressive text. The children bundle up and head to the cove, where they witness the waves smashing and exploding on the shore and ask themselves, "Is this enough, or do we try for more?" The intrepid explorers continue, in what becomes the text's refrain: "You pull on me, I pull on you, and we decide to go on." They walk through town, "eerie and empty." A "BOOM" and pelting rain send them running through cold, dark woods for home. "Home! / Home to relief, and to love." The storm passes during the night, and the next day dawns. "Now the day is bright and blue, / and the view across the water is long. / And you and I go on." Floca's writing is pure poetry; Smith's expressionistic watercolor and gouache illustrations are utterly gorgeous; and themes of adventure and home, sibling closeness, and the majesty of nature are expertly conveyed.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(2) PS Bold, comical crayon illustrations set the tone for a boisterous game of pretend and its noisy cacophony of sounds. "Let's be bees," suggests the text on the opening page, while the accompanying illustration shows a grownup reading this very book to a child. "LET'S BUZZ," the adult encourages. When the page turns, the imaginative art steps up the energy, with the pair's heads now two buzzing bees. From there, they joyously make appropriate noises as they pretend to be birds ("CHIRP!") and then trees ("RUSTLE!"). The pace quickens (with a thunderstorm) and then quiets down briefly (with snow) -- but then comes an avalanche. Surprising with every page-turn, the visuals explode into a series of immersive double-page spreads with speech bubbles full of onomatopoeia. In a climactic feat, the grownup and child attempt to be Earth and make all the sounds at once. The art, with its call for noise, becomes calmer as the book approaches the end, but the final page picks up speed for an encore: "AGAIN!" Busy endpapers full of creatures and natural marvels make useful prompts to extend the story with a variety of sounds.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III. Narrated in the style of a personalized guidebook, the story unfolds as a series of maps, introducing a child to a new home and its environs within a vibrant community. Aerial and wide-angle shots highlight varied neighborhoods in the town -- from the elementary school and a little farm to its public library and park -- creating a sense of a thriving space and setting all the town's residents in their respective establishments. Vivid watercolors and hand-drawn images on double-page spreads encourage repeated viewings to absorb all the details. Deviating from a linear narrative sequence of events, similar to the panoramic style of cartoonist Chris Ware, this cartographic tour invites readers to engage their observational and spatial relational skills in an interactive format. At the same time, its welcoming tone (from a narrator who may just have personal experience with what the child is going through) delivers an uplifting message that beckons the newcomer, allaying the character's -- and maybe some readers' anxieties and mixed feelings about moving to a new home.

Reviewer: Jerry Dear | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Peachaloo Piccolozampa is staying with her beloved grandmother Omi in small-town Pennsylvania for the summer, as usual. This year their idyllic life, characterized by early-morning swims in the local pond, is threatened by villainous real estate developer Major Gasbag. (Gasbag speaks exclusively in hyperbole; timely parallel noted.) The story (which has a mysterious first-person narrator, eventually revealed) continues in this satirical vein as Peachaloo and Omi attempt to resist Gasbag's machinations. Entwining with this plot line is a historical story of two 1930s bank robbers who experienced a conversion from their life of crime due to an encounter with a local religious sect, a society that treated skipping as a spiritual practice. (The use of skipping as a form of social protest may be a sweet nod to Eleanor Farjeon's classic, Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep.) Peachaloo stars in the town's annual play devoted to this inspiring event. It all adds up to a rollicking, digressive, and (unsurprisingly given Raschka's work as an illustrator) highly visually descriptive novel. "Ship-like clouds were burnt a fiery scarlet on their undersides, with their fluffy topsides going lilac." In a dramatic conclusion, Gasbag is ejected from paradise, Peachaloo gains confidence, and order is restored in proper comic fashion.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Ishita Jain. On a sweltering monsoon-season evening, a mother begins a soothing tale to her child about using her "shimmering sari" as she "pulls down the night sky," enfolding them together in the comforting serenade of frogs and crickets. They then ride their motorbike out of their South Indian village toward the Bay of Bengal. Through lush landscapes of banyan trees and jungle, bustling cities, and silent temples, the two are enveloped in moonlight, their senses delighted by the aromas of "steaming silver-cupped chai, spicy potato-stuffed masala dosas, and the warm hay of an elephant's bed." As they travel, Mother connects the everyday actions of people to the permanence of the starry sky, the movement of ocean tides, and ancient stone-carved temple monkeys covered by the frangipani flowers of worshippers (e.g., an "old man braiding together jasmine blossoms is collecting stars on a garland"). Lulled to sleep by rhythms ancient and modern, the child is content knowing their place and connection, surrounded by love. Inspired by her own motorbike rides with her mother in Tamil Nadu, Tajsar's lyrical text, coupled with Jain's jewel-toned illustrations in gouache, crayons, and pencil (done with "paintbrushes, cut-up hair combs, a craft knife, dirty hands, and a whole lot of nostalgia"), weave an immersive, sensory-rich, and timelessly magical connection among mother and child, other people, and the larger world. Appended with author and illustrator notes.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by K-Fai Steele. Lone Wolf (Lone Wolf: Gets a Pet and Lone Wolf: Goes to School, both rev. 3/25) is back with two new misadventures. In the first, Wolf, whose energy is Oscar the Grouch meets Wile E. Coyote, wants to return a library book without running into the noisy kids at storytime. In the second, he goes on vacation hoping to evade social interaction. As in past installments, Wolf manifests everything he hopes to avoid, and his limited vocabulary ("Grrrr") leaves him helpless to communicate effectively. Fans of the first two series outings will appreciate the appearance of recurring characters such as the eager girl and the jolly hiker toting his goldfish in a plastic bag, but each book's dry, off-kilter situational humor stands on its own merits. Steele's watercolor and pencil illustrations have a classic cartoon appeal. Spreads establish setting, while close-ups and spot illustrations focus on character and action. A sequence of illustrations in which Wolf tries to avoid a "snotty little boy" whose mucus subsequently befouls the library's book return chute is LOL funny, as is the look of horror on Wolf's face when the driver of a nearly empty bus proposes a singalong. These transitional readers will appeal to kids who like their humor with a heavy dose of irony.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by K-Fai Steele. Lone Wolf (Lone Wolf: Gets a Pet and Lone Wolf: Goes to School, both rev. 3/25) is back with two new misadventures. In the first, Wolf, whose energy is Oscar the Grouch meets Wile E. Coyote, wants to return a library book without running into the noisy kids at storytime. In the second, he goes on vacation hoping to evade social interaction. As in past installments, Wolf manifests everything he hopes to avoid, and his limited vocabulary ("Grrrr") leaves him helpless to communicate effectively. Fans of the first two series outings will appreciate the appearance of recurring characters such as the eager girl and the jolly hiker toting his goldfish in a plastic bag, but each book's dry, off-kilter situational humor stands on its own merits. Steele's watercolor and pencil illustrations have a classic cartoon appeal. Spreads establish setting, while close-ups and spot illustrations focus on character and action. A sequence of illustrations in which Wolf tries to avoid a "snotty little boy" whose mucus subsequently befouls the library's book return chute is LOL funny, as is the look of horror on Wolf's face when the driver of a nearly empty bus proposes a singalong. These transitional readers will appeal to kids who like their humor with a heavy dose of irony.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Brooke Boynton-Hughes. Winding through thirty-two pages of enchanting illustrations, one long sentence with a “once upon a time” feel deftly takes readers through the life story of Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). Each word must earn its place to make this construction work: “He was a boy who lived with a mother who could not read, but remembered every fairy tale she’d been told…” The text juxtaposes the in-congruences of Andersen’s life: someone who cannot write as a child but wants to be a poet; later, a beloved author who is personally lonely. The soft watercolor, graphite, and pen-and-ink illustrations capitalize on these contrasts by bringing out details that invoke emotional response -- a lanky teenage Andersen crouching at a child-size desk among very young children while learning to read is comical, heartrending, and hopeful all at once. The illustrations are especially effective when they incorporate Andersen’s own fairy tales, whether through small visual references or more fully realized scenes springing from his work or daydreams. For those just starting to learn about Andersen’s stories and life, the details included are engaging, and the text leaves enough that is open-ended to encourage further exploration. Yolen’s long poetic sentence ultimately ends in tribute: “Hans Christian ­Andersen -- your own story more like a fairy tale than a life.” Back matter includes an extended biographical note and suggested additional reading.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(2) K-3 "Toto" isn't the young protagonist's name but rather what she calls the large birthmark on her forehead. Opening lines read, "Sometimes I wonder how I would look without Toto." Despite loving support from family who ascribe positive meaning to the birthmark -- it means she has superpowers, or that an angel kissed her, and it is her grandmother's favorite spot to kiss -- the girl can tell that "sometimes people only see Toto, not me." Yum's limited palette of sepia, gray, black, and white in the mixed-media illustrations effectively reflects this worry by contrasting with the pink of the birthmark, making it stand out. Before school starts, the girl's mother gives her a haircut with bangs, covering Toto. Once at school, she quickly befriends a girl named Niko, and all is well until she hangs upside down on the monkey bars and her bangs fall aside. At this vulnerable, climactic moment, Yum slows the story's pace to devote several spreads to the narrator's anguished embarrassment and Niko's kind response. "The birthmark on your face means that you have another life!" Niko exclaims, sharing something that her aunt (who "knows everything") told her. Niko's excitement and wonder allow the narrator to adjust her perspective, rightly concluding that Toto makes her "extraordinary" and that without it, "I might not look like ME at all."

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jason Griffin. This moving narrative centers on a simple wooden table and its role in the lives of two families whose members are shown in the powerful illustrations only by their hands. A child narrator introduces readers to the table, the heart of a rural white family's home, a gathering place for meals, holiday celebrations, and life's challenges. When Papa loses his coal mining job, the family is compelled to move, leaving the table by the roadside, a poignant symbol of their loss. The narrative is then picked up by a new unnamed child after their family comes across the abandoned table. This African American family welcomes it into their home, where it is again at the center of moments of connection and celebration, this time inspiring hope and renewal. Griffin's (illustrator of Ain't Burned All the Bright, rev. 3/22) illustrations, with their vivid colors and rich textures of acrylic on wood-grain paintings, breathe additional life into the story. The brief text skillfully weaves these parallel narratives, emphasizing love and tradition.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jason Chin. As a ninety-year-old blue whale dies, one story ends and another begins. Her body provides food for other creatures before it gradually descends to the depths of the ocean floor. But it doesn't stop there: her body will sustain life of one kind or another for the next few hundred years. Small marine animals, from fish to crabs to octopuses, pick the skeleton bare before another wave of animals moves in. Eventually, rich nutrients seep into the water, and that water is carried to the surface, where it nourishes krill, the major food source for blue whales. Brunelle's engaging voice strikes the right balance between narration and exposition, while the book design adroitly places her text judiciously across double-page spreads and into sidebar columns. Chin's (The Universe in You, rev. 1/23) always-exquisite watercolors thus dominate the layouts in a variety of double-page spreads, spot illustrations, and thumbnails -- even as supplemental maps, models, and cross-sections effortlessly convey complex visual information. Back matter includes more information about blue whales, marine ecosystems, and the four distinct phases of a whale fall. Recommended resources and a select bibliography are appended as well. Dedicated enthusiasts may also want to seek out Stewart and Dunlavey's Whale Fall (rev. 1/23).

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Raschka. The very definition of music is explored in this thoughtful look at Cage's (1912–1992) controversial musical composition, 4'33", a work that debuted with a pianist "performing" four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence in a barn in Woodstock, New York, in 1952. While there was no piano performance in the traditional sense, the absence of music amplified other sounds, such as whispers, coughs, chairs moving, and the noises of the outside world. Cage believed that "there is always something to hear inside the silence," and the book encourages readers to listen even when it feels like there is nothing to hear. It also emphasizes the art of doing nothing. Twice, the word nothing is scrawled in cursive on a double-page spread featuring just that word, giving readers space to pause and absorb the concept. Raschka's stunning illustrations further these heady concepts: staff lines, disembodied notes, accidentals, and oddly placed clefs visually capture Cage's spirit. Watercolor, pencil, and ink lend themselves well to the task of representing audiences, musicians, and experimental sound art, offering details at times and at other times just suggesting things through outlines and splotches of color. The book deftly pivots in time between Cage's childhood, the Woodstock performance, and his impact on music broadly. Extended back matter on Cage's life and work round out the book. Pair this introduction to the experimental musician with Rogers and Na's Beautiful Noise7 (rev. 11/23).

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) PS In this companion to Hello, Moon (rev. 7/21), Downing records the activities of a group of woodland animals, including rabbits, bears, butterflies, and a hawk, as they engage in their daytime routines. The book sets a gentle tone: "Hello, sun! / Goodbye, night. / Sunrise chill, pale dawn light." Similar quatrains ("Morning shines, / ferns unfurl. / Acorns crack. / Hungry squirrel") detail the action, which includes frolicking, nest building, and even napping. A hawk flies overhead ("Feathers flash / all around"), interrupting the bucolic scenes, but the rabbits: "Hide away, / safe and sound." Although yellow predominates the palette of the watercolors and liquid acrylics, Downing employs soft blues and greens in the flora and fauna to create a pastoral tableau that beautifully complements the rhythmic text.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 From a red cabin in a forest, the young protagonist calls for her dog. "Peppermint! Where is that pesky pup? I'm going out to look for Peppermint! You come too." In the panel-style illustrations that follow, the girl takes readers on a tour of her favorite features of the forest, while the cagey Peppermint comments from a circle inset on each spread. When there are reminiscences (about the time, for instance, when Peppermint came home with a snout full of porcupine quills), the action appears as childlike drawings in the girl's sketchbook (Peppermint: "Maybe not my finest hour"). A mix of the informative and the homey, the narration encompasses elements of history and geology (how millennia earlier, glaciers dropped erratic boulders), botany, zoology (the time a coyote chased them home and they later returned to find its den), and folk wisdom (how to make a whistle out of an acorn cupule), in a visually inviting and intellectually stimulating way. When the naughty Peppermint is at last reunited with her owner, they're rewarded with one of the girl's life-list ambitions: the sight of an elusive fisher regarding them silently from high in a tree. The back matter includes a note from the author about his home and a map showing the Adirondack Mountains, sidebars about porcupines and fishers, and a list of "a few good forest books."

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Renata Liwska. Bunny has been lying awake in bed -- when he should be sleeping -- waiting for Dad to check on him. The youngster's expressive body language and his impatience ("Come on, Dad! Check on me, check on me, check on me!") convey relatable child behaviors. But "sometimes a bunny simply can't wait. He just needs his dad!" Bunny gathers supplies (water, blanket, cookie, "their special favorite book") and heads to Dad's room. In this reversal of what's clearly their regular routine, Bunny discovers his father asleep, and Dad continues to sleep through Bunny's offering of each item, which Bunny then enjoys himself. Finally, after letting out a "great big sigh," Bunny stands on tiptoe to wake his father up with a "tap, tap!" on the nose. As Dad carries Bunny back to Bunny's bed, he reassures his son that "sometimes a dad just needs his little bunny." This idyllic episode in a cozy home speaks to the love and dependability at the heart of their relationship. Hest's rhythmic text has a soothing, lulling cadence. The soft hues and textures awash in moonlight in Liwska's digital illustrations convey the perfect mood for this warmhearted bedtime story, which features a refreshing portrayal of what appears to be a single dad caring for his son and vice versa.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Erin Stead. Big Bear and Little Bear enjoy a summer idyll. It starts with a joyous declaration from Big Bear -- "I'm just in the mood for fishing" -- that [cf2just encapsulates a child's immersive enthusiasm. The two bears get dressed, find their poles, bake blueberry scones (of course; as Big Bear observes, "Fishermen need nice, warm blueberry scones"), and pack a storybook. These preparations traverse several beautifully orchestrated page-turns, each new necessity building listeners' anticipation. Big Bear's warm confidence coaxes Little Bear past some apprehension at the dock; in the boat at last, they "dip their poles" and wait, nibbling scones and reading stories until a fish finally appears, then swims away, leaving Big Bear and Little Bear to retreat contentedly to their hammock. Stead's delicate pencil and watercolor paintings depict beguiling details -- Big Bear's bunny slippers, the honeybees on the wallpaper, the echinacea in bloom -- without ever distracting from the total delight these bears have in each other. In their gently hairy bulk and the tender tilts of their heads, they recall Sendak's Little Bear and his mother. The text is equally gentle in its phrasing. Dialogue is set in italics rather than enclosed in quotation marks; pre-readers may not notice, but the unusual typographical choice will draw the attention of adults and older children to the warm, brown letters and the creamy negative space. It's hard to imagine a nicer day than this.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024