(3) K-3 Illustrated by Isabelle Follath. When Fern learns that "joy is what makes your heart happy and your eyes twinkle," she realizes Nanna has lost her joy (a.k.a. "her whoosh!"). A bleak, dark-hued illustration reveals a wheelchair, suggesting Nanna's recent limited mobility as the reason. Loving heroine Fern is determined to recapture joy for Nanna, a challenging but unexpectedly successful endeavor depicted in a series of gloriously colorful illustrations.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Fiona Woodcock. Snow-loving polar bear Miki finds a playmate--a girl who first appears to him as "a dot in the snow" (because of her red parka). When the snow obscures their path, a "Mommy Dot" rescues the girl, and Miki goes home to his own mother on the ice. The book's appeal isn't the story, which is rather slight, but the cross-species friendship and Woodcock's lovely, gauzy-white-surfaced illustrations.

Reviewer: Nell Beram