(4) PS Illustrated by Jennifer Emery. No family squabbles or broken ornaments mar this super-traditional version of a family Christmas. Short rhyming sentences ("Tree is trimmed, / lights are dimmed") describe how five happy family members decorate, sing, attend church, open presents, bake cookies, and welcome guests to holiday dinner. Each detail is evoked by warmly glowing, unrepentantly sentimental watercolors surrounded by a country-quilt-style border.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke

(4) 4-6 Eighth-grader Bertie must guard two things from his "mortal enemy," Nick: his assigned flour-sack "baby" and his secret culinary ambitions. The gastronomic premise is not as developed as it could have been, but Bertie's zany parents contribute to the novel's over-the-top hilarity, while Bertie himself narrates the fast-paced comedy with plenty of zingy one-liners.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) YA From her hobby of attending strangers' funerals, new kid Allie Canarsie begins investigating a boy's drowning death. Meanwhile, her perspicacious English teacher looks past Alexandra's sarcastic mouth to try to rescue her from her destructive anger at her deadbeat dad. The book can't decide between being a problem novel or a murder mystery, but Allie's great voice and smart characters are a winning combination.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Hideko Takahashi. Acrylic artwork shows a mother, father, and grandmother helping a young boy and his baby sister get ready for bed, while the world outside settles down for the night. The quiet, rhyming bedtime prayer, which includes town, country, and home scenarios, describes farm and forest animals at rest, but contains a few awkward, confusing verses.

Reviewer: Anne St. John