(3) K-3 Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series. Illustrated by Brendan Kearney. In Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast's third outing, they and their fellow fridge denizens--a cartoony collection of refrigerator mainstays--find their home unusually frosty. With the help of Baron von Waffle, the brunch-basics duo foils Empress Asparagus. The story is driven by humorous, detailed illustrations and rhymes and punning wordplay ("We've caught you bread-handed") that couldn't be--wait for it--crisper.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Stevie Lewis. Stone lions Patience and Fortitude stand guard at the New York Public Library. One morning Fortitude wakes up to find Patience missing. He searches the library, encountering other artworks, and finally finds Patience in the children's room. In this NYPL-tour masquerading as a story, Funk's rhyming text occasionally stumbles, but Lewis's brown-and-tan-hued digital illustrations have cool retro flair. Information about the library is appended.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sara Palacios. This addition to the Girls Who Code book franchise introduces younger kids to coding fundamentals in an unusual setting: the beach. Young vacationer Pearl enlists robot Pascal to help build a sandcastle with basic concepts of sequences, loops, and if-then-else. The child-friendly text couples well with the simple, sunny art, rendered digitally in combination with gouache and acrylic paintings. A final guide reinforces the programming lessons.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ester Garay. Child-genius Albie hopes to impress new classmates with a special invention, but his destructive single-mindedness in creating it causes classroom mayhem; observant Shirley gets everyone to see Albie's good intentions (and cool invention!). Rhyming couplets and bright, goofy digital illustrations keep the tone light in this (superficial) celebration of STEAM concepts. With no adult presence in the story, Albie's diverse group of classmates prove an accepting, tolerant bunch.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Edwardian Taylor. In this metafictional fairy-tale retelling, the narrator pushes reluctant hero Jack to follow the prescribed story line, but young Jack--via speech balloons--keeps highlighting the plot's ridiculousness. Their playful banter ends with Jack refusing to follow the narrator's ending and instead opening up a beans restaurant with the giant. Taylor's cartoony digital illustrations enhance the humor and feature lots of recognizable fairy-tale characters.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Brendan Kearney. Following their eponymous literary debut Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast, the two refrigerator dwellers investigate the source of a terrible odor. There seems to be no end to Funk's knack for clever food-related rhymes ("Peppers lay slumping and apples were dented. / Plums shrank to prunes and the beans had fermented"). Kearney's droll illustrations conjure a produce-infiltrated Candy Land game board.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Illustrated by Michael Slack. This goofy rhyming book relates the adventures of a little dinosaur trying to make his mark among the big, fierce dino crew aboard a pirate ship. He winds up a hero, discovering buried treasure. The story embraces swords, fights, and gross-out humor, and it references both pirates and dinosaurs freely. The sprawling, angular illustrations contain lots of pirate-related visual gags.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Rodolfo Montalvo. George Slair, a boy, writes to his assigned pen pal, Blaise Dragomir, a dragon, in rhyme. They learn about commonalities (neither likes writing) and differences (Blaise doesn't like sweets). The class writing project humorously (if not subtly) models how different groups can become friends. Watercolor, acrylic-ink, and graphite illustrations in lush green hues add to the drollery.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Brendan Kearney. There's little syrup left, so refrigerator leftovers Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast race "through Broccoli Forest, past Orange Juice Fountain," and on to get the last drop, only to be bested by Baron von Waffle. This silly offering is deceptively clever, from its near-faultless rhymes to its resourceful illustrations (who knew a lettuce leaf can double as a mini parachute?).

Reviewer: Nell Beram