(4) PS Illustrated by Rashin. Little Tiger's temper, illustrated as a red flame-like entity, sticks close to Tiger, yelling and stomping right along with him during tantrums. When Mama says, "you had better hold your temper," Tiger wonders what that means. The wordplay (which goes unexplained) may be obtuse for preschoolers, but they should relate to stubborn Tiger's feelings of frustration. Dominated by red, Rashin's childlike art suits the story.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) PS Illustrated by Sean Julian. Waddling off to school for the first time, the ducklings from Five Little Ducklings Go to Bed are predictably sad about being away from Mama. The monotonously rhyming text trots out typical preschool activities--playing with new friends, painting, storytime--which inevitably ensure the ducklings are eager for day two. Cheery illustrations support this first-day-of-school story.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(3) PS Illustrated by Sean Julian. A rambunctious pillow fight at bedtime has Mama duck upset with her ducklings' behavior. Though her reprimands result in duckling tears, she reassures them: "There's nothing you could ever do / That would make me stop loving you." Cheery, full-spread paintings of cute ducklings and flying feathers, with the message of unconditional love, soften Mama's harsh tone.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev. Little Bunny, an only child, decides to avoid loneliness by spending the night with a friend. Unfortunately, all his friends keep him awake: Bear snores, Skunk sprays by mistake, and so on. Little Bunny goes home and--not surprisingly--finds his own bed much more satisfactory. Gorbachev uses watercolors and a fine black line to create engaging characters for this humorous if over-familiar story.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) PS Illustrated by Sean Julian. When Little Kitty awakens from her nap, her mother has disappeared. "Where’s my mommy?" Little Kitty asks the other baby barnyard animals--calf, piglet, duckling, and foal. She eventually learns that calling "Meow, Meow, Meow" brings Mommy running. Illustrations of cute, smiling animals are as gentle as the rhythm established by the nearly repetitive refrain in this slight story.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(4) PS Illustrated by Steve Lavis. Mommies and daddies commute to work via train and return home to their children at the end of the day. The alliterative refrain of the cumulative rhymed text ("Chug-a-chug-a-choo-choo-choo") adds rhythm to the humdrum, if reassuring, plot. Cartoon illustrations depict animals in various professional duds (e.g., Nifty Newt in a business suit and Dolly Duck in truck repair garb).

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(3) PS Illustrated by Pamela Paparone. Brightly colored paintings illustrate this rhyming text about a school bus and its animal passengers. Preschoolers will find lots of amusing details in the art: such as the "sly, sly fox" stealing the bright pink wig off of the "pretty pig." The refrain, "riding the bus to school, to school, / riding the bus to school," keeps the cumulative tale moving along.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(3) PS Illustrated by Pamela Paparone. In half of this split counting book, first one, then two, and up to ten dirty pigs climb into a tub and scrub until they're clean. Turn the book over, and "one clean pig gets out of the bath. / Two clean pigs drip water in their path" and so on. The stories work well together, and you can expect to be asked to flip it over and over so listeners can pore over the details in the illustrations.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev. Little Bunny, an only child, is lonely in the night, so he visits his friends, but is bothered by Squirrel's crunching, Skunk's smell, Porcupine's loose quills, Bear's snoring, and Owl's night-owl hours. Predictably, he ends up at home. The pen-and-ink illustrations, which use sketchy texture lines and are filled in with watercolor washes, add a touch of humor to this appealing, if slight, bedtime story.

Reviewer: Suzy Schmidt