(2) PS Illustrated by Bruce Ingman. In this tale of humorously escalating adventure and silliness, Elsie discovers a series of animals under the family dining table, an extravagant catalog that includes an elephant, kangaroo, and penguin. What to do with such a zoo? In each case the visitor finds a useful role in the family (e.g., car-washing, unloading groceries). The form and tone of the narrative beautifully capture the experience of an adult co-creating a story with a young child on the spot. The pleasures of pattern; the back-and-forth of improvisation; delicious, suspenseful page-turns; and the loopy energy of a plot twist coming in from left field -- all add up to a warm and jokey conversation happening in the immediate present. "There was once a girl. Elsie, her name was -- yes, Elsie Cannon." Ingman's naive-style paintings in primary colors, reminiscent of Ludwig Bemelmans, are perfectly suited to the flavor of the tale as they pursue and develop their own subplots. An anthropomorphic boiled egg, piano stool, saltshaker, and cutlery add an obbligato of animation, comedy, and naughtiness. What happened to Mildred the family cat? Oh, there she is, sipping lemonade at the picnic. And what about Bertie, that boiled egg who appears on almost every spread? Is he possibly our unidentified narrator? Ahlberg, a veteran of almost fifty years of picture book writing, pulls yet another irresistible rabbit out of his storyteller's hat.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(4) PS Illustrated by Bruce Ingman. This book's narrator recounts a loaf of bread's (shelf)life. After the baker's family has its fill, neighborhood animals are treated to slices and/or crumbs, with a cheery refrain adapted for each species: "HOORAY--QUACK, QUACK--FOR BREAD!" The rhyming text doesn't quite rise to the occasion, but the pen and watercolor illustrations in subdued colors are satisfying as a good slice of bread.

Reviewer: Sophie Williamson

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg. With six tongue-in-cheek variants, the Ahlbergs (father and daughter) progress from simple changes in the canonical tale's details and repartee to a version with thirty-three bears. The verbal wit, the delicately limned pen and watercolor art with its plenitude of intriguing detail, and clever touches of paper engineering add up to a barrel of fun. Re-reading will ensue.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2013

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Bruce Ingman. This collection of short poems, some new, some recycled, is unified by Ingman's creation of a friendly little town of row-houses where children and witches, dancing sausages and animated bathtubs live in (mostly) genial coexistence. Ahlberg's naughtiness and pinches of melancholy pair with Ingman's homely line drawings to keep the whole thing safely on the wry side of cute.

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

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Bruce Ingman. The pencil starts to draw, and everything comes into being. Annihilation looms, though, as a thuggish eraser threatens to erase the whole world. The pencil first re-draws it all, then has an extremely good idea that keeps order. Ahlberg's wry, madcap, loving story provides a thought-provoking model of conflict resolution. Ingman's free-wheeling faux-childlike illustrations demonstrate the power of artistic expression.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2008

(2) K-3 Illustrated by André Amstutz. With a winsome lilt, Ahlberg describes a boy who "caught a Baby / In his Hat" as she was falling from a window. After years of adventures at sea, he comes home to London to find that same baby--now a pretty face, and soon to be his bride. The story is handsomely visualized and intriguingly extended by Amstutz's sweeping gouache illustrations.

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

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Bruce Ingman. This story connects characters from many different nursery stories: for example, before Jack got his magic beans, he fell down a hill with his sister. Children familiar with the tales will have fun guessing the sequence of events and exploring the acrylic illustrations, which show several happenings on each spread.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Bruce Ingman. When a sausage named Melvin dashes out the door (followed by cutlery, furniture, and pets) at dinnertime, the chase is on. After a lengthy detour through the park, Banjo, the sausage's owner, is forbidden from eating his captured dinner because it's been on the ground. Lyrical text and guileless illustrations capture the fun of this nonsensical hunt.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(2) PS Illustrated by Andre Amstutz. Amstutz's acrylic illustrations hold center stage here with their lush swatches of color, energetically manipulated perspectives, and clever details. In Ahlberg's minimal story, Mom sets out to do some marketing, accompanied by baby Harry, the family dog, and the young narrator, whose realistic account of the trip segues quickly into fantasy. Familiar formulas abound, but they're well integrated.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg. A pig named Esmeralda gets caught in a custody battle between the divorced Harbottles, and two child-heroes help save the pig's bacon. Colored-pencil drawings aid readers in following the twists and turns of the pignapping and subsequent rescue-and-chase scenes. Everywhere is evidence of the rousing good fun of the printed word along with helpfulness in apprehending it.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2004

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Fritz Wegner. A couple goes to the Baby Shop and selects not a human but a cat baby that they grow to adore. Set in an earlier (and weirder) time, this small-scale book offers big rewards, including its winking narration, surreal details (the Baby Shop features a robot baby), and meticulous illustrations suggesting a cross between Beatrix Potter and Edward Gorey.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Peter Bailey. David is horrified when a kitten moves into his home and transforms into a huge feline spirit-beast who seduces the family into abandoning their normal lives and doing only its will--mainly, petting and feeding it. The ending leaves important questions unanswered, but the illustrated novella will find an audience among readers looking for a quick and scary read.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Katharine McEwen. Various animals end up in a baby carriage belonging to a band of pet thieves; a substitute teacher has the Gaskitt twins running around town; and Mr. and Mrs. Gaskitt head off to the hospital. In this third book about the Gaskitts, these unrelated events come together in a grand climax. Readers will appreciate the broad humor, the cartoonlike drawings scattered across the pages, and the silly story's hint of mystery.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) PS Illustrated by Gillian Tyler. A toddler named Tilly "loves treasure hunting," and her parents make her day into a continuous game of search-and-find. Someone is always looking for something in this delicately and attentively drawn household. Ahlberg's unhurried text reflects the comfortable rhythm of Tilly's life. Readers have the dual pleasure of hunting along with Tilly and basking in the warmth of her parents' love for her.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2002

(1) PS Illustrated by Raymond Briggs. Bert is back, with six more chapters detailing his hapless but oddly satisfying adventures. Ahlberg metaphorically grabs us by the lapels and hauls us into the book: in the funniest and most subversive example, he orders us to give Bert a haircut that quickly turns into a disaster ("Careful...not too much. Oh no!"). Briggs's illustrations are sublime, with Bert evoked in all his cherry-nosed, red-haired affability.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2002

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Katharine McEwen. In this follow-up to The Man Who Wore All His Clothes, Mrs. Gaskitt starts winning contests and the children get a cheerful substitute teacher who steals things. Alhberg uses his accomplished storytelling to tie these events together in a satisfying tale. The art, with its shallow perspective and childlike shapes, is as funny and offbeat as the chapter-book text.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) 4-6 From a distance of forty years, Frances looks back at the events that followed the accidental death of her older brother, Tom. As the narrator endures life with inhospitable Aunt Marge, Tom's ghost makes periodic appearances, ultimately helping to save Frances from drowning. This quietly effective novella, and its depiction of a lost and bewildered ghost boy, recalls the work of Robert Westall.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(1) PS Illustrated by Raymond Briggs. Meet Bert, a classic noodlehead hero, hapless and lovable. Bert's adventures, told and shown with economy and verve, and chock full of slapstick humor, will score a direct hit on five-year-old funnybones. Readers will feel hurtled through the book by the energy of Brigg's vivid, mostly colored-pencil illustrations and Ahlberg's no-nonsense text.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2001

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Gillian Tyler. Grandma tells Michael and Hannah a story about children just like them. The story children "all of a sudden got so very, very small" that they lived in the shell of a garden snail. Their adventures are suggested by Grandma's own lush garden, where the fall of an apple is an earthquake. The exquisite pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations capture the fascination of the miniature. This is a book to pore over again and again for its entrancing details.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2001

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Katharine McEwen. When there is a burglary at the local bank, Mrs. Gaskitt the taxi driver, her husband the department store Santa, and their twins become heroes by outwitting and capturing the thief. Ahlberg's tale starts out disjointedly but eventually builds to a satisfying and dramatic conclusion. Talking appliances and other humorous touches add appeal. The illustrations are bright, breezy, and well suited to the text.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin