(3) PS Illustrated by Mircea Catusanu. In Pearson's second mock how-to (How to Eat an Airplane), the omniscient narration plays it amusingly straight (e.g., "Everyone knows that dump trucks make the best pets"). Also supplying the yuks (and sometimes yucks) is collage-like digital art. See, for example, when the boy who gamely models truck ownership throughout the book must confront his pet's, er, deposits.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mircea Catusanu. In this lighthearted introduction to the lexicographer, readers see Webster first as a willful child and later a determined adult who helped promote and record American English as a unique language. The standout here is the collage art, which incorporates historical artifacts and includes humorous edits of the text (presumably from Webster himself). Timeline, websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Mircea Catusanu. "The Bad Idea Book Club" presents a self-consciously silly story with tongue-in-cheek "advice" about serving airplane to dinner-party guests. Eating- and plane-etiquette jokes may be over some young heads, but playful digital illustrations of children eating wheels and drinking jet fuel have child-appeal. An author's note explains that a Guinness World Records holder ate a Cessna 150; airplane facts follow.

Reviewer: Jack Forman