(4) PS Illustrated by Richard Smythe. After a busy day of road-building, it's time for the construction vehicles to sleep. While the rhyming text anthropomorphizes the big machines, the geometric images depict realistic construction scenes filled with brightly colored trucks and their human operators (a highlight: the foldout featuring all seven vehicles in action). Though the rhymes are slightly clunky, this bedtime book should appeal to fans of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Claudia Ranucci. A little girl finds a yeti under her bed, befriends him, and learns how to take care of him. The rhyming story about how--and how not--to care for an unusual pet is familiar but filled with fart- and burp jokes that will tickle storytime audiences. Ranucci's cartoonish art highlights both the adorable and the disgusting of Yeti's qualities.

Reviewer: Lauren Chambers

(4) PS Illustrated by Judi Abbot. This love letter in rhyme describes just how much a parent loves his or her child: e.g., "Hide-and-seek and peekaboo--we find fun in all our play. / If there are tiny tumbles, my love kisses them away!" The exclamation-point-laden text is cloying, though the colorful illustrations, depicting various smiling animal parents tenderly caring for their offspring, provide genuine warmth.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(4) PS Illustrated by Judi Abbot. "I'm off to Gran and Grandpa's, / with a big smile on my face." A zebra child describes the delights of visiting with Gran and Grandpa: reading books, building a rocket, riding the splish-splash ride at the fair. Though it's aimed more at doting grandparents than their grandchildren, bouncy rhymes and bright illustrations featuring boldly striped zebras make this a pleasant-enough book for sharing.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet. "The hairy green magician / makes frogspawn disappear. / Kapow! As if by magic, / frogs hop from Max's ear!" Monster Max's party is gross ("TA-DAH! It's DRAGON jelly time, / their scrumptious, sizzling treat") but not too gross, and the toe-tapping, onomatopoeia-filled rhymes ("SPLAT! SPLODGE!") are the perfect soundtrack for the ooey-gooey art featuring Muppetlike beasts in Smarties colors.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Ben Cort. In Freedman and Cort's newest Underpants book, pirates in search of treasure called Pants of Gold vanquish their rivals with swords to their elastic waistbands. The jaunty and usually well-metered rhyming text is packed with giggle-inducing moments of reverence toward underwear. The wide-faced pirates in the illustrations, shown at the end to be a child's toys, are never too scary.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Gail Yerrill. As each new silver-foil star appears in the sky, a different animal makes his or her Christmas wish. Their wishes--for snow, many presents, warm pie--are presented in pleasant, if uninspired, verse and accompanied by jubilant illustrations of the smiling woodland creatures playing together. The final star is for the reader to wish on.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Ben Cort. Finally, a sound explanation for dinosaurs' extinction: their obsession with cavemen's underpants led to "a great briefs tug-of-war," during which the dinos were done in. It's all so hilariously ridiculous that readers won't mind if Freedman's rhymes sometimes lose the beat. Cort employs some fierce colors in his amusing illustrations of underwear-clad men and beasts.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Simon Mendez. A kitten, lamb, calf, donkey, and some mice together follow a bright star to the nearby stable. There they find "a very special baby" sleeping in the hay. In this gentle, sentimental Nativity story, the baby animals are bathed in golden light in the pastel, watercolor-pencil, and mixed-media illustrations.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Ben Cort. The book's narrator explains that for aliens, the true allure of Earth is our undies (there are none in space), and that extraterrestrials are to blame for every pair that goes missing. Though some of the rhymes are wobbly, the book is giddy, silly fun. The illustrations don't skimp on color or activity but do maintain some level of decorum.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Rory Tyger. Bear Archie can't fall asleep, so his grandmother tries the routine she used when Archie's mother was just a cub. This soothing bedtime story is illustrated with soft, warm paintings. The book is comforting, but both art and story lack originality.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) PS Illustrated by John Bendall-Brunello & John Bendall-Brunello. Lily the rabbit is trying to sleep, but the barnyard is noisy, what with ducks singing duck lullabies, cows telling bedtime stories, and hens pecking in the straw. Each animal, however, does his or her best to help settle the little rabbit. Soothing "shhh"s help Lily finally fall asleep. Soft, appealing illustrations make this a comforting bedtime story.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) PS Illustrated by Sean Julian. Young Kyle Crocodile wakes up grouchy and goes looking for his lost smile. Various jungle animals try to help, making funny noises, pulling goofy faces, and blowing bubbles--all in vain. However, when Kyle uses the same tactics to cheer up a lost lion cub, he finds his smile at last. The vivid colors in the illustrations match the mood of this upbeat story.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert