(2) K-3 Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark. In this riff on the jump rope chant, folklore characters burst through the protagonist's door; readers will notice that the guests, dressed to the nines (Chichester Clark clothes them in gorgeous fabrics), are carrying gifts and balloons. Author and illustrator capture the crazy joy of a surprise party while slyly acknowledging the anxiety that can come with being the center of attention.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2009

(3) K-3 This volume, reformatted and retitled (originally Here Come the Aliens!) is shaped like a planet and features a conga line of smiling extraterrestrials that wraps around the cover. Striking colors, rounded shapes, and bold lines characterize these "fearsome" creatures. Occasionally shaky rhymes and rhythms are forgiven in light of the fun of the text and its clever surprise ending.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) K-3 An author offers his newest title (literally, an attached smaller-format volume set inside the main book) to his family for review. The plot: a man rockets into space then meets and marries a space alien. The big reveal: it's autobiographical. Both volumes, decorated with McNaughton's zany ink and watercolor illustrations, will intrigue and amuse readers.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(4) K-3 "When I grow up, / I'd like to be / Married with / a family." For the school musical, children take turns enlisting glib rhymes to relay their future ambitions. Finally, one performer shouts "I don't wanna grow up!" The comical art is cheesy but features some good gags, including the mechanics behind the low-tech props used in the play.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura. In this parable of the awakening imagination, an "ordinary boy woke from his ordinary dreams...had an ordinary pee...and ate his ordinary breakfast." At school a colorful new teacher demands that the class listen to music and record what they imagine. While the art bursts into joyful color, the boy begins to write; "and he was lost, lost in...the storytelling game. And it was extraordinary."

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2005

(2) K-3 McNaughton brings a giddily paranoid dimension to an old superstition, pitting a bespectacled little boy against a God-like authorial voice warning him not to step on a crack because "it's really bad luck!" The voice then goes on, entertainingly, about all the possibilities: "You might suddenly turn into a pig!" "Maybe your dad might decide to become a hippy." The warnings of doom are amplified by the large-scale line and watercolor pictures.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2001

(4) K-3 Preston Pig Story series. When Preston Pig's family takes a seashore vacation, Mr. Wolf goes along as a stowaway. Unbeknownst to Preston, who encounters a girl pig and gets kissed on the nose, Mr. Wolf takes numerous pratfalls and fails, as always, to dine on pork. Portrayed in lively cartoon-style illustrations, the animals' antics are amusing, though the kissing joke is a bit repetitive.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) PS These two board books feature Preston Pig and Mr. Wolf, the characters from McNaughton's picture books. The hide-and-seek surprises of Little Boo! are just suspenseful enough, and Mr. Wolf's deserved comeuppance in Little Suddenly! will have listeners laughing. The big, bad wolf is a nonthreatening presence, and these humorous books are nicely attuned to their preschool audience.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(3) PS These two board books feature Preston Pig and Mr. Wolf, the characters from McNaughton's picture books. The hide-and-seek surprises of Little Boo! are just suspenseful enough, and Mr. Wolf's deserved comeuppance in Little Suddenly! will have listeners laughing. The big, bad wolf is a nonthreatening presence, and these humorous books are nicely attuned to their preschool audience.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(3) 4-6 McNaughton's poems call for a certain sense of humor, but those readers who can follow his allusions to such works as Treasure Island and "Waltzing Matilda" will have a fine time. Less sophisticated readers can still enjoy themselves as they reflect on their own experiences, mirrored in "Are We Nearly There Yet?" and "I Feel Sick!" Comical illustrations round out this generally amusing collection.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) PS Preston Pig and Mr. Wolf continue their adversarial relationship as Mr. Wolf hunts for the clever pig behind a series of flaps. Of course, Preston eludes him, and, of course, the wolf has a series of encounters with unfriendly animals. By the last page, when Mr. Wolf finally finds Preston, he's in no shape to catch him. There is little new here, but the lift-the-flap feature is amusing.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 The sometimes grisly humor of this collection of poems will delight lovers of monsters, ogres, and other scary creatures. From the Doom Merchant, who sits wrapped in a wet blanket, to the Scaremonger's cataloging of his wares, the poems cover a range of wacky situations in a number of styles. Pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations complete the comical mood of the book. Ind.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) K-3 Preston Pig and Mr. Wolf are back, and Mr. Wolf is hungry. When Preston says that he could buy food if he worked, Mr. Wolf imagines each job suggested as a way to fulfill his goals of "eating pigs and being full." While less satisfying than Preston's previous adventures, the book still contains McNaughton's trademark zany humor and suitably silly jokes in both pictures and text.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(3) K-3 Champion spitters, fish with legs, aliens, giant gorillas, and neighborhood bullies populate sixty-five plus poems brimful with irreverent, often subversive, silliness. In "It Must Be the Devil in Me" McNaughton unapologetically offers that he'd like to write nice poetry, "but I yam what I yam--I'm juvenile!" And kids will surely take to these poems for their sophomoric sense of humor. Lively watercolor pictures on every page add to the puerile fun. Ind.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Engrossed in his soccer playing and mock sportscaster commentary, Preston the pig is utterly oblivious to the havoc he wreaks--including trampling a neighbor's garden and bopping a bully on the behind--and to the danger of a predatory wolf. McNaughton's entertaining illustrations (including the endpapers) accentuate the humor of Preston's misdeeds--all of which are blamed on the wolf.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger