(4) K-3 Illustrated by Nicola Bayley. In slightly stiff prose, an adventure-seeking mouse sets off to find "the biggest creature in the world." She encounters creatures of increasing size (from a frog and bird to a tiger and polar bear), all of whom ask to come along. Finally the new friends witness "a wonderful thing": a breaching whale. Soft, highly detailed colored-pencil illustrations portray this peaceable kingdom.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Nicola Bayley. In this cumulative tale, a child invites a scarecrow and its mouse friend in out of the snow. Soon more and more animals fill the warm house. The animals in the gentle illustrations look soft, cuddly, and furry, and the snowy cottage is invitingly still, quiet, and serene.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) 4-6 Hunter Chronicles series. Illustrated by John Rocco. Sky Weathers's disappointing twelfth birthday--marked with a move and a missing uncle--turns eerie when monsters and a doppelgänger enter the scene. Sky must rescue his uncle and untangle his own identity to save everyone. There's ample humor, action, and world building in this series opener, but a serious overuse of similes drags the story down.

Reviewer: Bethany Templeton Klem

(4) K-3 Patten ponders the diverse bounty of Earth--from the hawkmoth and elephant to rainforests and oceans, even abstracts such as language, time, and "Utopias unattained"--in stanzas devoted to each letter of the alphabet. The verbose, often lofty free-verse poem will appeal more to adults than children, but the sophisticated illustrations, rendered by eleven different artists, present distinct interpretations of the text that will intrigue readers of all ages. Glos.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli