(2) PS While her father does yard work, Madeleine stands still, arms outstretched. She's pretending to be a tree, "because a tree gets to stay outside all day long!" When Dad agrees to join in the imaginative play ("only for a minute"), a baby owl falls asleep on his shoulder, a robin builds a nest in his hair, a spider spins a web in his armpit, a squirrel slides an acorn into his shirt pocket, and more. Then a kite flies into his face, rain starts to fall, and it gets dark. Dad insists that they go inside, but then the baby owl on his shoulder wakes up. It joins its mother in a real tree, and father and child bond over witnessing this moment in nature. Madeleine's goal has been achieved too: "We got to stay outside all day long!" Agee keeps the compositions and dialogue uncluttered and unfussy ("Dad, you are a very good tree!"), and children will delight in the visual hyperbole--the growing number of creatures who pile on Dad. This entertaining story expresses what children know so well: playing outside can be filled with surprises.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(1) 1-3 Idiosyncratic picture-book creator and consummate wordsmith Agee has crafted a graphic novel pulling together work from several past titles (including Go Hang a Salami! I’m a Lasagna Hog!; Sit on a Potato Pan, Otis!, rev. 3/99; and Palindromania!, rev. 9/02) along with new material to create an altogether original example of sequential storytelling--with a text written entirely in palindromes. Drawn into a daydream by some hypnotic soup, young protagonist Otto suddenly finds himself on a beach. When his dog, Pip, runs off after a human-sized rodent holding a boogie board ("Was it a rat I saw?"), the search begins. Non sequiturs abound, with one surreal scene transitioning to the next, such as when Otto leaves a costumed, ­cat-stacking adult ("Put a cat up!") to meander through a graveyard of cheeky ­gravestones ("So, Ida, Adios!"). Smartly, many of the pages adhere to a fast-moving nine-panel structure, while single pages and double-page spreads serve as visual transitions between scenarios. A muted color palette and thick, sketchy black lines result in an assured cartoon style. The book is immersive and impressively cogent, with Otto returning from his soup-induced reverie to find himself back at home, yet readers will be left wondering whether things are actually as they appear. Acknowledgments credit the creators of palindromes not composed by Agee while also citing his friendly rivalry with fellow palindromists as a source of inspiration for the book. Simply put...WOW!

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(2) K-3 A determined girl wants a dog; an animal shelter worker shows her everything but a dog. His offerings become increasingly absurd, and eventually he admits that he has no dog. There's abundant humor in the nonsensical pet options (a dead goldfish) and the man's suggestions (teach the lizard to say woof). This is signature Agee: the pictures, punch lines, and expert pacing carry the weight.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(2) PS A wall (i.e., the book's gutter) separates a knight from an ogre and his jungle-animal companions. Readers' ability to see both sides of the wall simultaneously provides the humor as floodwaters (filled with voracious sea creatures) rise on the oblivious hero, who's eventually rescued by the ogre. Lightly toned watercolor illustrations with plenty of white space keep things upbeat, emphasizing the dramatic and comic possibilities of a pair of eyes.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(1) K-3 A little astronaut brings chocolate cupcakes to Mars but realizes, "I don't think I'll find anybody to eat them." The story depends on a repeated visual joke--the astronaut keeps missing the Martian in the background--and the humor continues throughout. Agee's world is one in which the emotional life of the characters is clear with the slightest raise of an eyebrow.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2017

(2) K-3 Here are two welcome reissues from modern picture-book master Agee. Milo's Hat Trick (with a handful of revised illustrations)is about a bumbling magician who loses--then finds--his hat. Terrific is about a grouchy man stranded on a desert island who, characteristically, makes the worst of it. Both books are illustrated in understated pastel hues. Review covers these titles: Milo's Hat Trick and Terrific.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2001; May, 2018

(2) K-3 Here are two welcome reissues from modern picture-book master Agee. Milo's Hat Trick (with a handful of revised illustrations)is about a bumbling magician who loses--then finds--his hat. Terrific is about a grouchy man stranded on a desert island who, characteristically, makes the worst of it. Both books are illustrated in understated pastel hues. Review covers these titles: Milo's Hat Trick and Terrific.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2005; May, 2018

(1) K-3 A boy heads into a building offering "Lion Lessons." The instructor (a real lion) and the boy start with some stretches, but the lessons go downhill; the young lion-in-training is not very fierce, loud, or stealthy. Full of personality and wry details, the cartoon illustrations, with their bold, confident lines, work seamlessly with the text's well-timed humor and pacing.

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

(1) PS Dog Stanley's onomatopoeic disturbances ("HOWOOO!") interrupt--hilariously--not just the sleep but the perfectly cadenced rhyming account of his owners, the increasingly bothered Wimbledon family. As the night wears on, Stanley shows himself to be one clever beagle (and over-the-moon in love). The illustrations' thick lines and subdued colors bring out the story's considerable humor and focus attention on the ever-more-fantastical situations.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2015

(1) PS Little Santa's family, tired of the Arctic climate, has decided to move to Florida when a blizzard snows them in; Santa escapes by going up the chimney and bringing a reindeer and some elves to the rescue. When the Clauses move, Santa stays behind, "and you know the rest." Crisp storytelling, bold lines, and expert page turns are highlights of this original origin story.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2013

(2) K-3 A New York City cab driver grudgingly picks up a stranger who asks to be driven not to Bleecker Street downtown but to Schmeeker Street, on "the other side of town." On Schmeeker Street, everything is round and pink and green; pigs and flamingos roam free, and the landscape looks like dessert. Wordplay makes the offbeat pastel package a strong read-aloud.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2013

(2) K-3 A kid gets a rhinoceros as a pet. A rhinoceros expert tells him that rhinos only do two tricks: pop balloons and poke holes in kites. During a robbery, the rhino pops and pokes and saves the day. Cartoonist Agee's wry, understated paintings and a relaxed, spacious page design--along with the text's tough-as-rhino-hide structure--provide great durability for multiple retellings.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2011

(2) K-3 In a set of twenty portmanteau puns ("Who is building Mr. Putney's hot tub? A boa constructor") we follow our hero through an event-filled day. The riddle pattern lends itself perfectly to page-turn suspense and wild guesses. Agee's pared-down cartoon style adds to the fun: "Who is snooping on Mr. Putney?" A spyena--in trench coat, shades, and a fedora.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2010

(1) K-3 Ever-effervescent Agee fashions thirty-four comic verses, each featuring daft characters and a succinct scenario. Sometimes the payoff is a sayable terminal line, sometimes it's a tangler ("You can use Hugh's yo-yo too."). Either way, the effect is hilarious--especially with Agee's visual extensions of the absurdity in his deft cartoons. Made to be shared (aloud, of course).

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2009

(3) K-3 Brian, tired of working so hard as a busy eight-year-old, retires to Florida to swim and play golf. Not surprisingly, he gets bored with talk of hip replacements and goes back home to enjoy his childhood. The book features some very funny images (e.g., Brian tasting a prune juice smoothie) and manages to keep its kid-appeal despite the adult-focused subject matter.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) K-3 Otis is cleaning up his empty shop when rich Suzie Gump asks, "What's for sale?" "Uh, nothing," replies Otis. After Suzie pays Otis three hundred dollars for an armload of nothing, a frenzy for nothing spreads through the town. Good pacing and Agee's witty, energetic illustrations make the most of the pleasingly silly, over-the-top spoof on fashion and fads.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2007

(2) PS At the end of a day's service as part of the "City Zoo" sign, Z heads home; on the way, he has twenty-five encounters. After passing an alien and crossing a bridge, Z snacks on cake and a doughnut. Each alphabetical item takes the shape of its initial letter, while the word appears in big, bold type. The outsize illustrations and powerful line conjure the entries with grace and humor.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2003

(2) 4-6 In this collection of palindromes--words and phrases that read the same forward and backward--an owl in the desert is "too hot to hoot," while a heckler demonstrates how to sass-backward, taunting "Yo, bozo boy!" and "Yo, banana boy!" The clever wordplay and zany black-and-white drawings will have readers so amused they won't know whether they're coming or going.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2002

(1) K-3 Agee brings charm, empathy, and humor to this story of a magician whose boss gives him one last chance to "pull a rabbit out of your hat--or else." The deadpan delivery of the text expertly punches up the humor in the illustrations, and Milo's unlikely savior, an uncannily graceful bear, is a natural for situation comedy: popping out of a hat in a crowded restaurant, hiding in a mailbox, and so on.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2001

(2) 4-6 Agee pairs his urbane comic art with a collection of jumbled words and phrases. The anagrams generally make amazingly apt connections between each set of rearranged words, coupling the eyes with they see and astronomer with moonstarer. The deadpan black-and-white illustrations add fun to this good-natured introduction.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2000