(2) K-3 Illustrated by Benjamin Chaud. The narrator of this picture book had a dear friend and reminisces about the ordinary things they used to do together--until the "dear friend" found a "different friend." Zolotow's gentle, introspective text, honest about the narrator's anger and sadness, is now accompanied by new but vintage-feeling illustrations from Chaud, which carefully adhere to the speaker's point of view, giving only limited information about the "different friend." In particular, illustrations of a dream sequence imaginatively depict a nighttime-subconscious version of the woods where the children played and of a "new friend" for the speaker. A hopeful but not too neat story of a situation likely to be relatable to many.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Wendell Minor. When a boy asks his mother what the seashore is like, she responds with a poetically descriptive series of impressions of the beach from dawn until dusk. Minor's lovely paintings heighten the serene nature of the book, which reads almost like a guided meditation. This new edition features a new, more enticing cover and a cleaner, easier-to-read typeface.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Charlotte Voake. A little girl and her mother enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of an autumn walk as the child playfully insists that her mother declare her love. The affection between mother and daughter is evident in Voake's large, loose watercolor paintings for this newly illustrated edition of Zolotow's text.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) PS Illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke. The collection includes twenty-eight poems by Zolotow, published in the year of what would have been her one-hundredth birthday. The brief poems capture small seasonal moments, providing an approachable start for first-time poetry readers: "A moment in summer / belongs to me / and one particular / honey bee." The theme of seasonal change is echoed throughout the colorful digitally created illustrations of nature and people celebrating it.

Reviewer: Carrie Harasimowicz Sullivan

(3) K-3 Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. A boy describes what his father would be like if he were around. The original edition's illustrations showed a middle-class suburban family with a stay-at-home mother; this new edition instead includes vibrant paintings of an African American family in an urban setting. It's a tribute to the universality of Zolotow's words that both interpretations convey the same longing and hope.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(4) K-3 Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. A big sister lists all the ways her life would be better without her younger sister. This edition is cheerfully updated with Karas's expressive paintings. There is one misstep in the text, however: since the advent of air bags, young children no longer "sit in the front" of the family car.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Linda Bronson. Bright, swirling new illustrations decorate the story of a little girl who relies on imaginary friends to keep her company when her family moves. The story is cheerful and predictable: the child finds she no longer needs her imaginary friends when she makes a friend of her own. Featuring decorative flourishes, the art is much less emotionally engaging than the text.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: August, 1961

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Diana Cain Bluthenthal. After moving to a new neighborhood, Thomas has a hard time fitting in, taking it into his head that no one will like him. "So he never left his stoop" despite his mother's reassurances that everybody wants to meet him. It takes the supposed anonymity of his Halloween tiger costume to help him see how welcoming his neighbors really are. This edition features appealing new illustrations.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(4) PS Illustrated by Carol Thompson. Four stories and one poem are collected in this omnibus edition. The stories include "But Not Billy," "Big Brother," and "Timothy Too!" and each focuses on an important family relationship: between a mother and child, a father and his daughter, and the sometimes rocky, sometimes loving relationship between siblings. Zolotow's soft, rhythmic prose is more successful than Thompson's less distinctive, somewhat bland watercolors.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Illustrated by Erik Blegvad. Forty poems in this easy reader cover familiar, albeit sentimental, childhood experiences. Some are season specific, while others address less cyclic childhood reflections. Frequent nonstandard punctuation creates obstacles for beginning readers, but Zolotow's brief poems use familiar vocabulary, and Blegvad's illustrations provide visual clues.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Valerie Coursen. A little poodle barks at everything--"she barked at the telephone when it rang and the wind when it blew and the rain when it rained"--but only when her family is home, and she is feeling "protective and brave and bold." Coursen's exuberant illustrations for this edition contain wonderful images of the lonely poodle staring out the window at the rain, and then dashing madly about the house when the family returns.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Stefano Vitale. This gentle book begins with the question of a young girl whose father has been away for a long time: "How do you know if someone far away is loving you?" Her mother explains how to listen inside yourself: "If you listen hard you'll feel someone far away sending love to you." This edition has glowing illustrations and is a welcome addition to the shelf of books dealing with loss and separation.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(3) PS Illustrated by Stefano Vitale. This reillustrated edition of a bedtime book pairs Zolotow's evocative word pictures with Vitale's luxuriously colored illustrations to explore the different ways animals sleep ("the snowy / crane / sleeps / standing / on one long / leg / like / a flower / on its / stem"). Preschoolers will be entranced by the simple yet informative text and by Vitale's glowing paintings on wood.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin | Horn Book Magazine Issue: April, 1959

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. "Do you know what I'll do at the seashore? I'll bring you a shell to hold the sound of the sea. . . . Do you know what I'll do at the movies? I'll remember the song and sing it to you." An African-American girl relays her devotion to her younger brother through a series of playful questions and answers. This exuberant revised text has also been reillustrated with bold mixed-media collage illustrations that practically jump off the pages.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Amanda Harvey. What does it mean to be best friends? In this simple description of friendship, the narrator begins, "I know everything about John and he knows everything about me." The boys know what is in each others' drawers and closets, what frightens each of them, and who they especially like. Quiet watercolors depict the many activities that make this friendship special.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Hilary Knight. Two books have been combined into one "flip-flop" volume, and Knight has hand-colored the original drawings with watercolor and pencil. Zolotow's girl and boy muse about the things their own children will be allowed to do (such as have new crayons even if the old ones are "still good and just not pointed anymore").

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz

(3) PS Harper Growing Tree series. Illustrated by Ashley Wolff. Pairs of related images, such as "Peace with dove / Home with love" and "Mountains with high / Birds with fly," are sweetly depicted in Wolff's sturdy, old-fashioned-looking illustrations. The cozy atmosphere is further reinforced by the repetition of how well "you" goes with "me" (and vice versa), accompanied by loving portraits of adults and children together.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Yan Nascimbene. In handsome depictions of the urban setting, Nascimbene's delicate watercolors convey the emotional warmth of Zolotow's testament to a simple man's faith and love.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Helen Craig. Published spring 1998. When an owl tells a lonely bunny "there are always rabbits at Easter," the bunny searches throughout the year for a place called Easter. In the end he finds a friend and learns that Easter is "a time when everything lovely begins once again." Zolotow's warm, comforting text has been re-illustrated with Craig's expressively detailed artwork.

Reviewer: Sheryl Lee Saunders | Horn Book Magazine Issue: April, 1959

(4) Preschool Harper Growing Tree series. Two short poems are featured in four spreads each, requiring a flip of the book to switch from one to the next. The illustrations are filled with details and activities relevant to each subject, in a palette appropriate to its time of day: warm yellows and oranges for 'Wake Up' and cool blues and purples for 'Goodnight'. Somewhat gimmicky, but effective in conveying two important toddler times.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.