(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rogério Coelho. Young Nora awakens one day to find an octopus on the roof of her apartment building. Her anxious neighbors finally relax when their visitor helps wash a car, weeds some flower boxes, etc. But will the octopus come through with its promise to be Nora's show-and-tell guest at school? The off-kilter, no-wiggle-room illustrations are just right for a story so entertainingly askew.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Rogério Coelho. This sumptuously illustrated picture book illuminates the fantastical, magical, and worldly journeys one can take through reading. The rhythmic rhyming text suggests--in an opaque and roundabout way--the pleasures words on a page can offer with help from one's imagination. Whimsical paintings of steampunk-esque scenes in an assortment of blue hues invite readers to achieve their imaginative traveling.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan