(3) PS Illustrated by Sophie Allsopp. "Everybody has a teddy, / everyone but me." The narrator of this rhymed text describes his classmates' teddy bears, then makes an amusing revelation: "But I've got 'Muh,' / my monkey friend, / and that's just fine with me!" Illustrations featuring a wide array of patterns show the children and teddies--each one different from the next--going about their various classroom activities.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Philomena O'Neill. Everyone puts a list of things they're thankful for into Grandma's plastic Thanksgiving bowl. The bowl gets left outside and is carried off by the wind. The telling is awkward and the bowl-as-main-character premise doesn't sustain interest. Seasonal illustrations depicting the bowl's travels and uses (a snowman's hat, a goose's nest) before it reappears at Grandma's--in time for Thanksgiving--are nicely varied.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Philomena O'Neill. Two clever pet bunnies escape from their cage every night to clean the house so their young owners will have more playtime during the day. The soft watercolor and pencil illustrations depicting the rabbits doing such chores as folding laundry and washing dishes are a hoot. A chart of vocabulary words from the story is included.

Reviewer: Amanda Sullivan

(4) PS Illustrated by Loretta Lopez. "I say uno and you say one. / Our Christmas posada will be a lot of fun!" So begins this bilingual counting book about a traditional Spanish Christmas celebration in which guests "beg"--by singing--to be let into the party. This simple book introduces only a few Spanish words but is bolstered by the text's rhythm.

Reviewer: Amanda Sullivan

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa. "Boy, you're amazing," begins a series of rhymes extolling the virtues of the unnamed boys, who are athletic, imaginative, smart, generous, courageous, and helpful--just like girls, actually, so why draw a distinction? (Kroll is also the author of Girl, You're Amazing!) Meanwhile, the rhymes are peppy if purposive, and the illustrations are inventive and playful.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Tim Ladwig. It's 1962, and a classroom discussion about heroism hits home when white narrator Ginny's father defends a black neighbor after she's the victim of a hate crime. The prose contains clichés, but because Kroll takes her time introducing the cast, the story will resonate with children and adults alike. The large-scale illustrations, while created with care, feature characters with almost comically exaggerated facial expressions.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Illustrated by Fumi Kosaka. As a family goes through its busy day, from cooking breakfast to drawing and playing with blocks to finally getting ready for bed, a mouse, on a different schedule, eats supper, sleeps, and then has breakfast. The final illustrations show his busy night playing with the children's toys while the family sleeps. The simple rhyme describes the family's activities, while the lively drawings allow the reader to discover the mouse's activities.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Mélisande Potter. Kroll's rhyming text enumerates the many things girls do that they should be proud of--writing stories, playing musical instruments, standing up to a bully. The list never becomes more than just a lesson in self-esteem, but Mélisande Potter's lively, colorful paintings (strongly reminiscent of daughter Giselle Potter's) have pink-cheeked girls swooping all over the pages accomplishing great things.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by K. Dyble Thompson. This book awkwardly pairs bouncing, rhyming poems with informational sidebars on each page. Although the sidebars are interesting, they do not contain enough material to make the book a solid, organized overview of cat characteristics and breeds, and they interrupt the flow of the verse. However, the rough watercolors, featuring dozens of playful and reflective cats, will appeal to animal lovers.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(3) K-3 A young girl baby-sits her little sister while her mother works, and she draws comfort from pretending that the frightening sounds outside her apartment are made by the drums of her African ancestors or by the movements of various African animals. The hazy sepia-toned illustrations conjure up scenes from the girl's imagination without downplaying the reality of her situation.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.