(2) PS Illustrated by Christine Davenier. Fox (Where Is the Green Sheep?, rev. 5/04; Ducks Away!, rev. 1/18) delivers another impeccably paced book, hitting every beat and every page-turn perfectly. A little boy sets off from a farmhouse "in search of a couple of things for his breakfast." A jaunty chicken follows the boy's movement around the farm, looking very curious and sometimes even imitating his motions. Davenier uses pen-and-ink washes to inject movement and gentle humor into each illustration, as the boy investigates a gate, a truck, a tractor, a haystack, a cow, and more. At each investigation, the boy moves on ("He came to a gate...but gates don't lay them"; "He came to a truck...but trucks don't lay them"). Davenier surrounds her images with lots of white space, situating the various objects and animals in a soft-green hilly landscape. Fox never names what the boy is looking for, instead saying, in direct-address text, "Well, YOU knew all along," as he returns to the farmhouse with a brown egg in each hand. The final page shows him happily eating his breakfast at last. Fox and Davenier seem exactly in sync, creating a picture book that allows children to both enjoy and tell for themselves the warm and funny story.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh. In singsongy four-line rhyming stanzas, a diverse group of children explain why their families came to Australia. All speak enthusiastically, but the book's super-upbeat text can be simplistic: "My country was Afghanistan-- / we fled when I was small. / Our boat capsized, but we were saved-- / now we're Australians all." There is no explanatory material. The bright, naive-style illustrations show different Australian landscapes.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(1) PS Illustrated by Judy Horacek. When a mother duck waddles onto a bridge, her five ducklings follow her--until, one by one, they fall into the river below. She agonizes over the situation in a repeated refrain and eventually figures it out. Brief but dramatic text, with numbers highlighted in orange, reinforces arithmetical concepts. Bright primary-and-secondary-colors art is both minimal and hilarious. Preschoolers will hardly notice they're learning in this silly, cheerful counting book.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(4) PS Illustrated by Judy Horacek. Through stories, a big mouse and a small mouse have adventures in different settings (e.g., cave, colorful market, castle) and with various characters (giraffes, kings and queens, hens). In the end, it's bedtime "and I'll tell you a story of how I adore you." The vivid illustrations expand on the rhyming text, which is otherwise short on details, and the pictures encourage additional storytelling.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(4) PS Illustrated by Mike Austin. "Is it fun on the beach, Nellie Belle, Nellie Belle? / Is it fun on the beach, / Nellie Belle?" For this happy-go-lucky dog, the fun stops upon "seeing possums in the dark, / in the park in the park." It's a funny wrinkle in the merriment, enhanced by knockout cut-paper-like digital illustrations, but the book's repetition gets tedious, gets tedious.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) PS Illustrated by Emma Quay. "I could eat your little ears. / I could nibble on your nose. / I could munch your tiny fingers. / I could gobble up your toes." The easy rhythm of Fox's effortless-seeming opening lines leads up to a final kiss good-night. Quay's soft mixed-media art in pastel hues depicts the gentle, rounded forms of anthropomorphic parent-and-child elephants and exudes calming comfort.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(2) PS Illustrated by Judy Horacek. Skinny Doug is Bonnie and Ben's favorite sitter, a fount of traditional rhymes. In crisply outlined illustrations--as breezy and bouncy as the text--the kids hop into bed and take part in succinctly rendered visualizations of the rhymes. It's a clever way to introduce six old favorites--and to model how to engage with small charges and then settle them down.

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

(2) PS Illustrated by Laura Ljungkvist. Readers are invited to search for a smiling ladybug amidst a jumble of recurring objects in various settings. If children fail to find the insect in the festively cluttered tub or classroom, they get a close-up of her hiding spot on the next page. Sprightly digital illustrations teeming with patterned backgrounds allow Ms. L. to conceal herself behind teddy bears, chickens, toy rabbits, etc.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2013

(4) PS Translated by F. Isabel Campoy. Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. The Spanish text in this bilingual board-book edition is as enjoyable as the original English. Campoy's translation retains the wonderful rhythm and rhyme, making this a great read-aloud in both languages. Oxenbury's irresistible illustrations, featuring a multicultural cast, don't lose much in the smaller size, though the additional lines of text crowd the pages a bit.

Reviewer: Belinda Arrendondo

(3) PS Illustrated by Lauren Stringer. A young boy enjoys bedtime with his "friends"--three stuffed animals that recount their day with him. Answering the refrain, "the who, the what, the why, and the way..." reveals the day's thunderstorm drama before it all "turned out okay." Stringer's illustrative vignettes in soft nighttime colors with thoughtful design elements complement Fox's simple, lyrical text in this reassuring bedtime story.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(2) PS Illustrated by Jill Barton. Monkeys Cheeky and Chee are happily playing, but "something's prowling-- / what could it be?" The leopard below looks "Ooooooh....Scary!" to Cheeky and Chee, but the ground-level illustration of the big cat isn't very threatening. Fox's peppy rhyming text propels the story forward; similarly, Barton's art draws the eye across spreads, keeping pace with the narrative's infectious energy.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2012

(3) PS Illustrated by Jan Thomas. Lilting rhymes urge readers to count goats throughout this silly-for-silliness-sake book: "Here we see an airport goat looking for her cases. / But can we count the pilot goats with goggles on their faces?" Cartoonish bold-hued illustrations of the goats, boldly outlined in black line, reflect the story's carefree absurdity.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Leo Dillon & Diane Dillon. A goblin, solitary and lonely, encounters a family full of sorrow. He stealthily helps the farmer and the farmer's wife, then sits, soothingly, at the ill daughter's bedside. When his compassion is discovered, the family invites him into the household. With its rhythmic repetitions, the text has a cozy folktale feel; the illustrations tell a starker story of grief and loss.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2009

(3) PS Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. "Are you a lion / with dust / on its paws?" Fox's rhyming text invites little ones to act like twelve animals. Each of Jenkins's realistic collages can't be contained in a double-page spread; a small silhouette shows the whole creature. All the silhouettes gather at the end before Fox's parent-trap ending: "Are you my treasure? / The answer is... / Yes!"

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) PS Illustrated by Judy Horacek. This new edition of the charming tale about playful discovery (and sheep) is well suited to a board book format. Along with the story's hide-and-seek aspect, Fox's cheery rhyming text will appeal to young children. Although trim size is a little smaller than the original, Horacek's art is still clear and clean and easy for kids to interpret.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2004

(1) PS Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. With each repetition of the text's refrain, two babies join a multiethnic playgroup, reinforcing their commonalities: "And both of these babies, / as everyone knows, / had ten little fingers / and ten little toes." Fox's lilting verse just has to be read aloud, and Oxenbury's spacious illustrations, featuring her irresistible round-headed tots, will engage even the youngest listeners.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2009

(3) PS Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. "This is where the giant sleeps, / and here the fairy dozes." A gentle bedtime rhyme tells of a little boy's imagined night visits to the sleepy worlds of dragons, ogres, witches, and wizards. Each left-hand page shows a view through his telescope; right-hand pages depict the sleeping creatures beneath soft white clouds. Radunsky's gauzy gouache paintings are beautifully composed.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) PS Illustrated by Terry Denton. In this slight story, chaos rules after a pair of bloomers falls on a cow's head during her regular Saturday morning walk. A chase ensues, during which a wedding is disrupted and three sailors almost drown. Undaunted, the smiling cow goes along her merry way. The cartoonish black-ink and watercolor illustrations set the silly scene.

Reviewer: Amanda Sullivan

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Pamela Lofts. A bandicoot named Hunwick finds an egg and cares for it while waiting for it to hatch. The egg never does hatch--Hunwick discovers that it is really a stone--but Hunwick comes to love it as it is. The somewhat melancholy story is suitably paired with delicate, fine-lined illustrations.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(1) PS Illustrated by Judy Horacek. Here's a book one doesn't see every day: a narrative perfectly attuned to a toddler's sense of playful discovery. As listeners search for that elusive green sheep, they'll also be able to reinforce concepts along the way. The uncluttered watercolors counterbalance the straightforward text and provide opportunities for listeners to identify colors and animals and to count objects.

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