(4) K-3 Illustrated by Stacey Schuett. Poems (of varying quality) about space travel, astronauts, bodies in the solar system, and the universe combine scientific terminology and wonderment. Each is juxtaposed, some in creative graphic formats, on cartoonlike illustrations of the featured object. Black border margins contain more detailed facts and background information about such topics as weightlessness, the history of flight, and planetary surface conditions.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford

(3) PS Illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke. A lonely kazoo-playing duck heads south and makes new friends. When he gets homesick, the friends accompany him back, to the tune of the trusty kazoo. The simple, jaunty verse with a punctuating "zu zu" refrain beckons listener participation. The watercolor palette ranges from cool and pale to warm and vibrant, reflecting seasonal change and the shift from sadness to joy.

Reviewer: Sethany Rancier Alongi

(3) K-3 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. Illustrated by Pam Paparone. Sklansky takes young readers on a classic tour of the twenty-one-day chicken reproductive cycle, from fertilization through hatching. The story moves neatly between embryo development in the egg and the behavior of the mother chicken as she tends her nest. The friendly illustrations portray an idealized barnyard life as well as details of chicken anatomy. Reading list.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Karen Dismukes. Colorful, beaded canvas illustrations provide the spooky backdrop for this collection of poems about spiders, witches, haunted houses ("Two fireplaces. Eat-in kitchen. / Atmosphere you'll find bewitchin'"), and other Halloween totems. Using a variety of poetic forms and ranging in tone from humorous to scary, the verses are occasionally off meter, making them more successful on the printed page than as read-alouds.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) K-3 From romps in the park to nightmares about being a cat, these poems from various dogs' perspectives celebrate the canine nature. Some poems, like "Pesky Fleas," have lively rhythms, while others are more pedestrian, with predictable, flat rhymes. The remarkable beads-on-canvas illustrations, by four different dog-loving artists, are as humorous as they are intricate.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley