(2) 1-3 Best friends Hammy and Gerbee (hamster and gerbil, respectively) break from their class during a science museum visit to create mischief involving toilet paper, mummy role-playing, and slapstick humor. The entertaining characters are rendered via thick, relaxed lines in this graphic novel. Nine short, fast-paced sections will engage new readers; easy-to-follow sequences, simple speech-bubble dialogue, uncomplicated wordplay, and visual punch lines should draw in reluctant readers.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2018

(2) PS A young girl (Tracks in the Snow; Who Likes Rain?; Summer Days and Nights) roams her yard with backpack and camera. In a rhyming text, she identifies specimens (cicada, woodpecker, dogwood, etc.), takes pictures, collects acorns and leaves, then makes a scrapbook--to look at when winter comes. Yee's illustrations vary (full-page, spot art, and everything in between), giving viewers lots to look at.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015

(2) K-3 The seventh Mouse and Mole book celebrates Valentine's Day in four chapters. As the friends prepare for the holiday, they start feeling fluttery and awkward around each other. Cozy scenes in litho pencil and gouache add extra warmth and expressiveness to the simple sentences, while the picture clues help new readers follow along. The book concludes with step-by-step instructions for making a valentine.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2014

(2) PS The same Asian American girl who explored winter in Tracks in the Snow and spring in Who Likes Rain? here celebrates summertime. She tries to catch a butterfly, drinks lemonade, jumps into a pool, picnics with her parents, then takes a walk before bed. The colored-pencil art's meticulously layered and blended colors convey both the warmth of sunshine and the coolness of tree shade.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2012

(3) K-3 In their sixth book, friends Mouse and Mole have rather different feelings about Halloween. Gung-ho Mouse enjoys scaring nervous Mole, but when Mole is too afraid to go trick-or-treating, Mouse realizes it's time to change tactics. The four chapters also include a silly story about a pumpkin contest. Yee's appropriately challenging text and amusing illustrations continue to engage new readers.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(3) K-3 In their fifth quiet adventure, Mouse wants to play in the newly fallen snow; Mole doesn't. Mouse lures Mole out of his oak tree by creating a snowman in his likeness. The story is tender and carefully worded. The pencil and gouache vignettes are as old-fashioned as the text: visually quiet and untouched by modernity.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Mouse and Mole love bird-watching, though they're not very successful at it. When they dress like birds and make their own nest, however, the birds come to them. Afterward, Mole's drawings and Mouse's poems combine to make the perfect birding book. The creatures' affable friendship and gentle adventures come to life through Yee's warm pencil and gouache illustrations.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(3) K-3 In their third outing, Mouse and Mole contend with moths (Mole discovers that the draft he feels is not coming from the door but from holes in his clothes), followed by some clothes-shopping. Four easy-reader chapters about what's new and what's old will keep fans and newcomers entertained. Yee's pencil and gouache illustrations are as cozy and lighthearted as ever.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(2) K-3 After Mole (Upstairs Mouse, Downstairs Mole) is disappointed to learn that magic tricks are more trick than magic, Mouse tries to show him the "real" magic that takes place all around them in nature. Plentiful charcoal-pencil and gouache illustrations help readers follow the story with ease and imbue the moonlit nighttime scenes with mystery and wonder.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2007

(3) K-3 In this procedural mystery for the primary set, the Case of the Missing Bananas has the police stumped, so they call in private investigator Detective Small. Readers will be tickled by the rhyming text that details Small's search for evidence and, after a false start, apprehending of the criminal. Uncluttered watercolor illustrations alert observant readers to crucial details Small initially misses.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(2) PS A little girl plays a guessing game about who likes rain. The rhyming text (and often the illustrations) provides clues, so young listeners can easily guess the answers. Yee's soft colored-pencil drawings gently capture a preschooler's love affair with such mundane items as rain gutters, worms, and umbrellas. The book's final picture shows kids' very favorite thing about rain: puddles.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2007

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Ovresat. In this slight easy reader, Kim and her dad make some new friends when their dog, Chip, gets lost in their new urban neighborhood. The benign illustrations and word repetition give beginning readers clues to decoding the text. Back matter includes questions based on the story, a step-by-step "Make a Friend" art activity, and tips to help a child read.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(2) PS Fireman Small to the rescue again! When Santa tumbles into the coal box at the fire station, Small tosses his soot-covered suit into the wash. The outfit shrinks, but, fortunately, it fits the pint-sized fireman perfectly, which comes in handy when an exhausted Santa falls fast asleep. Yee's rhyming text bounces along effortlessly, while amusing details in the cheery watercolors add to the holiday fun.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2004

(2) PS "Just outside my window, / There are tracks in the snow. / Who made the tracks? / Where do they go?" A young girl heads out into the woods by her home to follow the tracks, only realizing upon returning home that the footprints are her own, made the day before. The simple rhyming text encourages chanting along; Yee's colored-pencil illustrations are meticulously drawn.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2003

(2) PS Staying at the Pink Hotel, Fireman Small smells smoke. After evacuating the building in the pouring rain, he chops holes in the roof, creating a giant drain--a brilliant idea that will appeal to preschoolers and their unremitting fascination with drains of all kinds. The rhyming text and comical illustrations of various animal characters keep the tone light, as our barely bigger-than-a-hydrant hero neatly averts disaster.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2001

(3) K-3 Pinky Pig works after school at Hamburger Heaven. When business slows and her job is threatened, it is Pinky's ingenuity that saves the day. Kids will appreciate the menu of burgers served with assorted bugs and leaves to beavers, porcupines, and possums. Action-filled watercolors accompany this funny culinary adventure told in rhyme.

Reviewer: Jennifer Polshek