(3) K-3 Illustrated by Misa Saburi. Short tanka poems sympathetically tell of Japanese girl Sakura's love for Obaachan (grandmother) and for the cherry trees that shade their picnics. When Sakura moves to San Francisco because of her dad's job, both are sad. After Obaachan dies, a new friend finds a way to reconnect Sakura with her beloved home and grandmother. Digital illustrations recall Japanese woodblock prints. Includes a note on tanka.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) 4-6 Elliot, Leslie, and the DENKi-3000 Creature Department receive an urgent message asking for help from their friend Jean-Remy's missing sister: their old enemies, the Ghorks, have captured the creature employees of Heppleworth's Food Factory in a plot to turn humans into slaves. Absurd inventions, odd creatures, and a wacky food festival enhance the endearing misfit story. Illustrations by visual effects studio Framestore are included.

Reviewer: Russell Perry

(3) 4-6 Elliot and Leslie are invited to visit Elliot's uncle Archie at tech firm DENKi-3000's Research and Development facility. The children discover that the workers are bizarre yet friendly creatures who need help building a fantastic invention to save the department. The oddball creatures, madcap antics, gross-out humor, and animated black-and-white illustrations (by a visual effects studio) create a welcoming Saturday-morning-cartoon feel.

Reviewer: Russell Perry

(2) 4-6 Adventurous Katrina Katrell believes in "creatures of many remarkable shapes." She helps one such creature, Morty Yorgle (a zorgle), find the missing zorgles of Zorgamazoo. In rhymed anapestic tetrameter Weston brings readers to planet Graybalon-4 and back, telling a well-constructed story with fully realized characters and plenty of humor. Fancifully frightening spot illustrations and typographical trickery create an inviting visual package.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2008