(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Leanne Franson. When Aunt Janet comes to stay while Andy's mom is in the hospital having a baby, Andy worries that he will have to get rid of his many pets as part of baby-prep housecleaning. The story follows a predictable pattern in which Andy jumps to conclusions and slowly develops new understanding, but Andy's point of view is less well-developed than in earlier stories.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) PS When trying to catch a little butterfly, a kitten gets a big fright when the butterfly suddenly grows after flying behind a fish bowl. The intended audience may not grasp the water-as-magnifier concept, but they will appreciate mama cat's reassurances to kitten. Bold black-lined ink paintings make this action-packed game of chase fun to read aloud.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Christine Davenier. In their ninth adventure, best pals Iris and Walter venture forth from their familiar settings of home and school for a field trip to the aquarium. Guest drops in some foreshadowing, and readers can be certain that Walter will be lost, and eventually found. Davenier employs her minimal black line well to capture the excitement.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2005

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kyle M. Stone. Fifteen poems in many forms extol the wonders of reading, books, and words. Not all of the poems read smoothly or easily, but many of them display wit and humor. Stone's layers of paint and other media enhance the text without over-explaining, as so many pictures with poetry do.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(3) PS Illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev. It's hard to be small, but when a little bear cub pays attention, there are clues that he's growing after all. His pants are shorter, his bike helmet doesn't fit, and he can do things that he couldn't do before. Gently reassuring, this amiably illustrated story will remind even the smallest that they're growing slowly but surely.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(3) K-3 Beverly decides to bake a castle-shaped cake for her friend Oliver's birthday. Her dad helps her shop for ingredients, and her mom helps her prepare it. But when the cake is ruined (it sticks to the pan and must be cut free), Mrs. Billingsly encourages Beverly to improvise. Both the story and the bold-lined, pastel-colored illustrations are appealing.

Reviewer: Mark Adam

(2) 4-6 Comfort Snowberger, daughter of the undertaker in Snapfinger, Mississippi, knows all about dying. It's life that causes her problems because it's so danged unpredictable. Life gets truly messy when her great-great-aunt dies, and Comfort must look after her annoying, clinging cousin Peach. Wiles's writing vividly portrays the rural southern setting, using a leisurely pace to introduce Comfort and her colorful family.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2005

(4) PS Illustrated by Kay Chorao. While holding her granddaughter on her knee, Grandma tells the story of Maddy's birth. On the day when the baby was in a hurry to be born, parents hurried to the hospital and Grandma hurried to meet the baby. Illustrated with soft watercolors, this story, though a bit precious, turns anxious anticipation into loving appreciation of the excitement surrounding birth.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Christine Davenier. When Iris and Walter's beloved teacher is sick, Iris's grandpa steps in as a substitute. The illustrations emphasize character traits, reflect the action, and give visual clues for vocabulary words. The familiar classroom offers a comfortable setting, but it is the natural language, neither dumbed down nor manipulated, that provides the best support for beginning readers.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2004

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Christine Davenier. Iris borrows best friend Walter's precious harmonica (it was his grandma's), but when she looks for it the next day, it's gone. All ends happily when the harmonica is recovered and Walter is able to perform for his grandma. This sixth Iris and Walter story is well suited to new readers in both format and subject. Davenier's loose, curving watercolor and ink illustrations palpably convey Iris's distraught feelings.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by M. Sarah Klise. In this sequel to Regarding the Fountain, Sam N.'s sixth-grade class deal with the middle school cafeteria's clogged sink and write to their now-missing dear friend Flo Waters to come up with a design for a new one. The story is told with the author's usual zany mix of correspondence and is illustrated with a stream of black-and-white drawings and an outpouring of inventive layouts and typography.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2004

(3) YA Young Royals series. While many know about Catherine of Aragon and her infamous divorce from Henry VIII, few might know of the years of uncertainty she endured between the death of her first husband, Henry's brother, and her second marriage. Catherine details court life, her lack of money, and the events that finally secured her marriage in the believable voice of a frustrated, powerless teenager.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Leo Dillon & Diane Dillon. Norman has collected five bird tales from five living storytellers, but contrary to good modern folklore practice, he has apparently retold all the stories himself. The illustrations lack a range of feeling but are boldly designed and patterned and strive for compositional and stylistic variety. Whatever the book's shortcomings, the content of the stories--a varied and interesting bunch--is absorbing.

Reviewer: Barbara Barstow | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2004

(4) PS Illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Cutie LaRue refuses to go to bed, so her mother and father purchase Night Owl, a stuffed toy guaranteed to put any child to sleep. When Cutie shakes the owl, he comes to life and whisks her away to a "night" club where they dance until Cutie falls asleep onstage. The text is a bit forced, but jazzy illustrations convey Cutie's charm.

Reviewer: KaaVonia Hinton

(4) PS Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. As a young lamb goes about his day, he witnesses various anthropomorphized animal pairs exchanging different sorts of kisses until he finds himself on the receiving end: "A gotcha kiss surprises you / with tickles and some giggles, too." Sweet's sure hand and eye for detail (check out the animals' duds) go a long way toward moderating the book's syrup factor.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Kay Chorao. A little boy ponders all the animal homes that are well suited to their owners but don't work for humans. Chorao's childlike illustrations, of the boy tangled in the sticks of a beaver home and huddled on the branches of a sycamore tree, are quite humorous. The text nicely incorporates facts about nature, but with its awkward rhymes it is not as strong as the art.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Doug Cushman. Mr. Crocodile has planned every hour of his day, from awakening and swimming to cooking and eating pesky monkeys. When his "monkey-collecting mobile" breaks down and the monkeys come to his rescue, Mr. Crocodile realizes they make better friends than food. The acrylic illustrations are playful, but Mr. Crocodile's jump from seeing the monkeys as food to friends is a stretch.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Vivas. Woolf's imagination and Vivas's interpretation make a felicitous combination in this short tale--probably written in 1924 and first published in 1965--about the patterns on a curtain that come alive after Nurse Lugton, who is sewing it, falls asleep. Vivas's soft palette imaginatively reinforces the magical elements of the story in this slightly redesigned edition.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc. | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 1991

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Christine Davenier. In their sixth book, Iris and Walter have high hopes for Walter's favorite cousin Howie's upcoming visit. When Howie isn't very nice to Iris, the two best friends are distressed, but Iris's sympathetic family assures her Howie's behavior needn't affect her friendship with Walter. Guest's story rings true, and the illustrations deftly mirror the characters' changing emotions.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(2) K-3 Iris and Walter series. Illustrated by Christine Davenier. In previous adventures, Iris and Walter faced problems that could be solved; this time the situation can only be endured: Iris is sick the day of the school play. The story's language respects both the concerns and skills of beginning readers. Expressive watercolors suggest the constant movement of young children and capture character traits only implied in the narrative.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2003