(1) K-3 Illustrated by K. G. Campbell. The narrator longs for a puppy for her birthday--but instead gets a tortoise. At an appropriately slow-and-steady pace, owner and pet do begin to warm up to each other. When the tortoise gets lost, the girl realizes how much she cares. The narrator's initial petulance, revealed in the frank narrative and soft watercolor and colored-pencil pictures, is both entertaining and realistic.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2016

(4) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Norm is a normal human boy whose classmates are all monsters; here they help ease his homesickness at a school sleepover. The premise is self-consciously wacky, but while enjoying the gross-out descriptions readers may pick up on the lessons: being different is okay and helping friends is important. The illustrations follow the simple text closely with age-appropriate shock value.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(4) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Norm, a "regular kid," has trouble fitting in with the monstrous students and faculty at his new school. But after he correctly answers all of the questions on his spelling test, the only student to do so, the other students decide he's as odd as they are. The story isn't strong, but readers may giggle at the goofy-looking bug-eyed monsters.

Reviewer: Julie Bartynski

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Sue Ramá. The narrator's first baseball game is as much about what his (somewhat distracted) dad buys him--and what is spilled--as it is about watching the action. The boy's surprise at the stadium's enormity rings true; less convincing is the narrative voice, which strains to sound childlike. Watercolor and digital collage illustrations convey a child's pleasure at a day spent with Dad.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) K-3 Illustrated by David Clark. After Bobby (a boy with "energy to spare") falls down, his head cracks open and his brain escapes. The whole town tries to capture the elusive organ, but only Bobby himself can succeed. Spindly ink and watercolor illustrations propel the manic humor in this gratuitously weird story of a hollow-headed boy and his swift-footed brain.

Reviewer: Carrie Harasimowicz Sullivan

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Denise Brunkus. Following too much preamble, a plot finally kicks in: tired of being in trouble, a chronically messy kid decides to become "Neat Joe"--with untidy results (he gives the dog a shower, sets the table strangely, etc.). This one-note joke has heart (Joe's parents appreciate his good intentions), and the messy, caricaturish illustrations suit the story.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) 1-3 Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective series. Who switched a garden-variety butter lettuce for a priceless mummy's head? That's what Joe Sherlock (the PI with the weak stomach) wants to know, as he and his smarty-pants sister race to save a museum employee from the slammer. Keane's fast-paced narrative tries too hard for laughs, but his black-and-white drawings hit the funny bone spot on.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(4) 1-3 Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective series. Meet Joe Sherlock: a nine-year-old detective whose first case (Toolshed) involves a missing glass eye, disappearing bundt cakes, and a farting grandma. In Stink Sherlock's after a "mystery doo-doo dog" that's despoiling his neighbor's yard; Diamond finds the P.I. in hot pursuit of a lost heirloom. The books try too hard to be laugh-out-loud funny, but fans of poo-poo jokes won't mind. Review covers these Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective titles: The Haunted Toolshed, The Missing Monkey-Eye Diamond, and The Neighborhood Stink.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(4) 1-3 Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective series. Meet Joe Sherlock: a nine-year-old detective whose first case (Toolshed) involves a missing glass eye, disappearing bundt cakes, and a farting grandma. In Stink Sherlock's after a "mystery doo-doo dog" that's despoiling his neighbor's yard; Diamond finds the P.I. in hot pursuit of a lost heirloom. The books try too hard to be laugh-out-loud funny, but fans of poo-poo jokes won't mind. Review covers these Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective titles: The Haunted Toolshed, The Missing Monkey-Eye Diamond, and The Neighborhood Stink.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(4) 1-3 Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective series. Meet Joe Sherlock: a nine-year-old detective whose first case (Toolshed) involves a missing glass eye, disappearing bundt cakes, and a farting grandma. In Stink Sherlock's after a "mystery doo-doo dog" that's despoiling his neighbor's yard; Diamond finds the P.I. in hot pursuit of a lost heirloom. The books try too hard to be laugh-out-loud funny, but fans of poo-poo jokes won't mind. Review covers these Joe Sherlock, Kid Detective titles: The Haunted Toolshed, The Missing Monkey-Eye Diamond, and The Neighborhood Stink.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger