(2) K-3 Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. When a rosy-cheeked "small-footed human" visits the park, he spies a gaggle of friends showing off their playground skills--they are sports stars, reading machines, and even adept backwards-counters. Small-footed human, however, is more...0human. Running to keep up with the pack, he trips over his shoelaces, forgets how to re-tie them, and totally loses his cool. His verbal frustrations summon an unlikely support team to his side: a Yeti and his close relations Sasquatch, Bigfoot, and the Abominable Snow Monster, all ready to help the protagonist back onto his feet with some friendly growth-mindset wisdom. With loosely drawn limbs and toothy grins, the fuzzy quartet bounds around the park demonstrating the punnily identified "Power of Yeti"--as in, when asked to high-five a Sasquatch, remind yourself that you're "not tall enough...YETi!" The ambling cryptids assure their small-footed friend that their own skills--in everything from basketball to ballet—developed with time, practice, and persistence. Van Slyke's bubbly narrative and Karas's ever-smiling figures paint the acquisition of social-emotional skills in a perhaps-too-rosy glow, but the straightforward presentation makes for a practicable introduction that will make even the biggest and hairiest challenges seem more approachable.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jessie Hartland. Lexie, an unusual rancher, keeps words in line until an upstart rustler causes trouble. This clever picture book plays with how words might manifest their meanings if physically altered: helpful Lexie turns a "pest" into "pets," whereas the bandit turns "bandanas" into "bananas." Alongside the puns, anagrams, and banter, Hartland adds a folksy touch with her loose gouache illustrations. Glos.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Priscilla Burris. In this companion to Mom School, a little boy is convinced that his dad went to Dad School, where dads learn "how to fix boo-boos, how to mend leaky faucets, / and how to make huge snacks." The art has a slapdash look but is nicely emotive, and those who aren't bothered by some stereotyping of "dad" behavior will enjoy the manly merrymaking.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Illustrated by Chris Robertson. In true toddler fashion, a multicultural bunch of kids experiment with putting clothing on the wrong body parts and are lovingly corrected. The structure of the text builds on itself with lots of repetition and provides many opportunities for audience participation: "Where does underwear go?... / On your head? No, no, NO!" Simple but engaging illustrations on brightly colored pages provide nice consistency throughout.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Priscilla Burris. A little girl imagines what her mom learned in Mom School: how to read stories, "pitch a ball slowly so kids can hit it," bait a fishing hook, do more than one thing at a time, and bake cupcakes. Bolstered by Burris's emotive pencil drawings with digital coloring, the story is slight but cute enough and refreshingly stereotype-free.

Reviewer: Kari Allen