(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tim Jessell. An unnamed hunter sips coffee in the chill of the pre-dawn morning. As the sun rises, he goes out into the forest. But when he finds his prey, he is mesmerized by its beauty and chooses not to shoot. The spare text is complemented by large, realistic illustrations tinged with blue or black (night scenes) or orange hues (daytime), which create a tone of reverence.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Sheban. After a trip to the Museum of Natural History, a girl starts to see dinosaurs everywhere she looks, though her parents tell her she's just imagining things. Wahl's text, which often struggles to maintain its meter, is almost beside the point; the real draw is the quietly humorous pastel illustrations of lifelike dinosaurs in everyday settings. Brief information about the ten featured dinosaurs is appended.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Laurent Gapaillard. This delightful tale--the real-life story of the giraffe sent to France in 1825 as a gift for King Charles X from the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt--is narrated unexpectedly by the giraffe himself. The various settings, including Sudan, the sea voyage, and the walk across France, are richly imagined in digital artwork resembling oil paintings. Explanatory afterword included.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Edward Gorey. Greengrocer and fairy-tale connoisseur Flemming Flinders heads off wearing "his best suit" in search of "fame and fortune." This quirky reissue--"one of...Gorey's original works in color" (according to the publisher)--will be appreciated by collectors.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rosalinde Bonnet. Oscar discovers he's not skilled at creating art, but he develops a passion for collecting it. As he grows up, his collection expands until a museum is built to house it. Wahl promotes art appreciation for young children without didacticism (technical vocabulary--etching, woodcut--may need explanation). Bonnet's illustrations mimic an array of stylistic movements within Oscar's framed pictures.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. Animals gather to decorate a fir tree and celebrate Christmas together. Wahl's quiet, reverent text is extended by Weisgard's art in which the lines of the animals' fur connect them visually with the fir tree's needles, unifying the pages. This new edition, though essentially unchanged, has a slightly different format than the original.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Monique Felix. Alone in his beloved woods, Bear dances joyfully for his own pleasure. Men capture him, forcing him to dance for the entertainment of crowds. Clever Bear is eventually able to escape and return home. The theme, that all creatures deserve respect, is conveyed in simple, poetic prose. The powerful illustrations effectively play with scale to display Bear's personality and predicament.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Nicole Wong. After Daniel, a boy pretending to be a cowboy, and his aunt come upon offensive graffiti directed at the local candy shop's Taiwanese-American owner, he takes action that seems befitting to a cowboy. Daniel's voice isn't always convincing, but the story, featuring Wong's warm, secondary-color-heavy images, is well paced, rich with details, and wholly original.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma. Lonely little witch Ella is quietly spinning when, first some feet come through her door, then some legs, and so on until a scowling giant stands before her ready to...keep her company. Set in Scotland, this tale of loneliness features wonderfully bizarre mixed-media illustrations, as of the giant's two round, hairy knees perched atop some argyle socks.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Peter Weevers. A boy slips outside at night to catch a glimpse of elves cavorting in the moonlight. The verses create a sense of urgency: "You forgot your slippers. / Never never mind. / Magic is calling. / Look ahead, look behind." Despite a somewhat tedious design, illustrations in shades of blue and gray enhance the mysterious atmosphere; the elves, with their flowing, fluttering garments, are diminutive without being overly cute.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) PS Illustrated by Naava. Three panda siblings decide to leave the bamboo forest and move to the city where they imagine the food and leisure activities will be more interesting. They find jobs in the city but eventually return home when winter sets in. Solidly painted illustrations contrast the rich colors of the city with the bold black and white of the pandas, but a legend of how pandas got their coloring feels artificially inserted into the slight story.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Bob Doucet. Published in collaboration with Chicago's Field Museum, this picture book offers a contrived story about a mouse who accompanies the bones of the largest T. rex ever found from South Dakota to Chicago. Field Mouse, who is searching for the bone that was the roof of his burrow, finally remakes his home in the exhibition hall. Illustrations from a mouse's-eye view give varied perspective to the illustrations.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) PS Illustrated by Liza Woodruff. In another twist on the "new sibling" story, Mabel and her toys have a good life until little Noah arrives. Mabel's interactions with her stuffed animal friends, while serving no real role in the plot, are sweet, but her change of heart about the new baby is a little too quick to be believable. Soft ink-and-wash illustrations are effective at capturing the story's details.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Kim Howard. Pico the parrot sometimes helps his owner Rosa, who is hard of hearing, but he isn't above using her partial deafness to pull a prank. Rosa, however, loves him despite his naughtiness. The Spanish names and the brilliantly colored illustrations suggest a tropical Latin American setting. Some pages require extra scrutiny, because the objects aren't always immediately distinguishable from the background.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jennifer Mazzucco. Collected by the author from an oral source in England, this tale has a predictable structure that makes it easy for children to retell. A witch keeps trying to steal Johnny's buttermilk, but he flees each time after playing a trick on her. The stylized paintings have some amusing details, but the tale ultimately loses tension as the witch invariably forgets something in town and leaves Johnny free to escape.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt