(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. What a joy to read aloud verse that scans, rhymes, and brims with repetition--while continually surprising with twists of sound and sequence. In this rollicking cumulative tale, a boy's mother "bought him a hat"--but she doesn't stop there. Hawkes's new illustrations get into the tall-tale spirit with exuberant views of the wide-eyed boy--an apt setting for Kuskin's comical hijinks.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: December, 1976; March, 2010

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Melissa Iwai. "If you could be green..." or soft, or fierce, what would you be? A leaf, a breeze, or a dragon? The lilting verse encourages readers to imagine a variety of answers. Cheerful illustrations expand on these ideas and add a humorous dimension to the final stanza that brings the child back to being him- or herself.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Betsy Lewin. A boy, notebook and pencil in hand, installs a cat in a director's chair and asks, "So, what's it like to be a cat?" The cat replies: "I'm very glad you asked me that." Lewin pictures Kuskin's appealing rhyming dialogue as an interview between inquisitive child and responsive yet independent cat. Large white pages afford space to capture the cat's many moods.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(2) PS Illustrated by Fumi Kosaka. "Under my hood / I have a hat / and under that / my hair is flat." Hat hair aside, Kuskin's cheery poem, which originally appeared in her collection The Rose on My Cake, captures the simple pleasures of bundling up for a snowy day. The text skips rhythmically along, while Kosaka's spare, primary-color pictures focus on the two characters in unfussy images that don't overwhelm the words.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2005

(2) PS Kuskin's first book is now back in all its red-and-yellow splendor. Kuskin wrote, illustrated, designed, and typeset this lively collection of poems about animals and the noises they make, and it remains an inspired choice for preschool story hours.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: December, 1956

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier. The celebrated poet has published more than thirty-five books for children, and this handsome volume collects many of her previously published poems in one pleasantly hefty tome. Ruzzier's deceptively simple line drawings are a perfect complement to these child-centered poems. Ind.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(2) PS Illustrated by Michael Grejniec. This newly illustrated picture book, with its galloping rhythm and carefree take on familiar events, is as fresh as a report on this week's kindergarten trip. In the watercolor illustrations, rendered in bright colors on textured paper for a bold, collage-like effect, the animals arrive in a creatively mixed flurry that's nicely matched to the precisely cadenced text. The art is at once sophisticated and childlike.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2002

(3) PS Illustrated by Dyanna Wolcott. During a day at the beach with her family, a young girl lists what parts of her body are from which relatives: "My feet are Dad's, except my funny little toe, which is a lot more like Aunt Jen's." But she's also an individual, and in the end she proudly shouts this out. Kuskin's light verse is buoyed by the lush watercolor and gouache illustrations in tropical colors.

Reviewer: Amanda Sullivan

(3) K-3 Thirty-six poems drawn from Kuskin's previous collections of verse compose this bright volume. Full of playfulness, verve, and humor, the poems and likable drawings perfectly suit their young audience: "One jay / two jay / kitty got a blue jay. / Three jay / four jay / there isn't any more / jay." Vibrant backgrounds of orange, green, pink, blue, and other cheerful hues call to mind pads of multicolored construction paper.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.