(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ethan Long. A rhyming text describes the monsters who patronize the title café, as discovered by the wide-eyed narrator and his dog. Silly-scary digitally colored ink-pen illustrations add humor to the grossness ("flesh wound on toast," anyone?). Each page's text ends with the name of the café (some rhymes more forced than others), and story-hour audiences will be eager to chime in.

Reviewer: Beth L. Meister

(3) PS Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand. A kid goat makes the rounds down on a farm bursting with activity and noise, from morning ("'Rooster, shoo!' Cock-a-doodle-doo") to evening ("Cats powwow-- / Meow. Meow. Meow"). Large humorous illustrations add playful story elements in addition to supporting a text that will have listeners cawing, neighing, and mooing along.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(4) K-3 Illustrated by John Manders. "Dracula rises in the night, searching for a neck to bite." From aliens to zombies, this spooky book features denizens of the dark for each letter of the alphabet. Although the rhyming text is occasionally inconsistent and Kutner fudges a bit with the letter Q, the moody illustrations are appropriately gruesome. Young horror fans will enjoy the creepy subject matter on a dark and stormy night.

Reviewer: Mark Adam