(3) K-3 Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Sixteen brief poems record a day--sunrise to moonrise--in the life of a Hawaiian volcano. Told from shifting viewpoints (the volcano, two crickets, some ferns, the sun, a road, the moon), the verse imaginatively limns the explosive activity. Some brief facts follow the poems (there's no explanation of the actual mechanics of a volcano's eruption). Jenkins's appropriately atmospheric cut-paper collages fill the pages.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jennifer Taylor. In this counting book, cat Frankie ostensibly works at a hardware store at night ("He empties one wastebasket...He cleans two counters," and so on), but the quasi-photorealistic digital art tells the truth (he upends the trash can, knocks things off the counters, etc.). The book passes quite pleasantly but would have been better served by a sharper ending.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Jeff Mack. This first-person-plural narrative attempts to explain the world from some carrot-mad rabbits' perspective: "The gardener glares. / She doesn't want to share / any more of her food. / Our long ears droop. / We're just rabbits!" The rabbit's-eye view is original, and the acrylic spreads feature bunnies as boisterous as the text, but the story lacks much substance.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Cathie Felstead. Geodes, plate tectonics, and sedimentary layers are some of the subjects covered in this earth-science oriented collection of poetry. Many of the geological processes described in the verses will be difficult for the general reader to interpret without the informative endnotes. Whimsical collage illustrations lend a sense of humor to the poems.

Reviewer: Jim St. Claire

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Lauren Stringer. This book presents an accurate rendering of the fossil record of evolution in a cozy family-tree framework. From one-celled sea organisms through land lizards, early mammals, apes, and hominids to modern humans, understated language and soft-edged paintings in saturated acrylics combine to trace this "old, old family."

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(1) PS Illustrated by Sam Williams. Returning to her frozen pond early in the season, a little duck thinks, thinks, thinks of spring. Before she knows it, her warm thoughts spread spring all over. The poetic text, well served by expressive watercolors, is set in a large black typeface (inviting letter and word recognition); colorful and playful typefaces are used for the rhythmic three-word refrains.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2000