(4) K-3 Illustrated by Sara Infante. "I'm Max. I'm a bookmark who used to be SCARED TO DEATH of books. The pictures FREAKED me out!" What changed? Max earned a "Special Bookmark Badge" that required learning how to breathe correctly, make a plan, and think positively. This strategy may help nervous types, although the layouts, in which acrobatic fonts border feisty mixed-media art, may prove anxiety-provoking.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Mark Beech. Forty-one short poems explore all the purposes of a school bathroom, including solitude, fish funerals, and...the obvious (non-graphically). The humorous poems tell basically the same joke, and the occasional serious ones feel out of place. Some of the pieces' rhymes and meter are forced. Frequent playful spot art finds variety in the single-scene setting.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) K-3 Illustrated by G. Brian Karas & G. Brian Karas. This collection of forty-nine poems celebrates humorous, poignant, and challenging events at school. The poems--about snow, the one-hundredth day, ghosts of former students--aptly reflect a child's view and a growing appreciation of a teacher who brings a special magic to her classroom. Karas's simple black-and-white illustrations add to the generally lighthearted mood.

Reviewer: Aishah Abdul-Musawwir

(3) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Illustrated by Mike Reed. Twenty-three brief poems reveal the school experiences from a variety of viewpoints. In "Good Morning," a school building anticipates the arrival of students; "Jack's Pencil" wants release from the dark confines of a desk; a cafeteria hot dog waits so long to be eaten it becomes a "Cold Dog on a Tray." The repetitive language and comic perspective will draw beginning readers in, as will the cheerful illustrations.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute