(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. An Asian American teacher tells her diverse group of students about the items her immigrant great-grandmother brought to the U.S.; she invites each student to list the objects he or she would pack (and readers are invited to fill a pop-up suitcase at book's end). Curtis's sunny messages about immigration, identity, and familial roots buoy the unremarkable rhymes. Cornell's watercolors are filled with zany details.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) PS Illustrated by Laura Cornell. This seminal book about a little girl with lesbian moms has been newly illustrated in watercolor and gouache. The revised text (gone are details about Heather's conception and birth) focuses mainly on Heather's day at school--building block towers, playing dress-up, and drawing pictures of her family and comparing its make-up to that of her classmates'. The details are different, but the nontraditionalness remains.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2015

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. A girl describes a year's worth of firsts, both the good (first pony show, first successful rope-skipping) and the bad (first bee sting, first flu). Curtis's rhythm and diction can be faulty ("My sweet Auntie Cookie showed me choices to use"), but Cornell continues to do what she does best: put on paper the uncontainable jubilation of a proud child.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. From "a brief historical overview" to malfunction trouble-shooting, this guide offers tips, rules, and advice for the care and maintenance of a mom. Readers may get a kick out of the text, which equates mothers with pets or household appliances, but the whole thing likely holds more appeal for adults in the know. Pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations evoke the rigors of motherhood.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. Robinson retells her classic Christmas story for a picture book audience. The much shortened text focuses on the pageant itself, but the entertaining Herdman children manage to shine nevertheless. Cornell's sketchy ink and watercolor illustrations play up the lovable messiness and chaos of the church pageant. This is not a replacement for the original novel but a suitable addition to holiday collections.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. This compendium of all things Jamie Lee Curtis includes four of her picture books: When I Was Little, I'm Gonna Like Me, Where Do Balloons Go?, and Is There Really a Human Race? Some of the stories are stronger than others. Games, activities, and music, plus a CD of the songs and the stories read by Curtis, are also included.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. A rhyming text introduces readers to more than a dozen polysyllabic words (cooperate, different, disgusting). Curtis isn't at her best here: readers will already know most of the featured words, and several rhymes are grammatically mystifying ("Responsible people try not to forget / to water Mom's bonsai or the table to set"). Fortunately, Cornell's exuberant kid-celebrating art is up to snuff.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Illustrated by Laura Cornell. The nightly battle that is bedtime gets fresh treatment with a minimal, effective text and raucous illustrations of a city neighborhood. Parents' volleys ("Go to bed!") are printed in blue, while the kids' rejoinders ("You haven't read!") appear in red. Detailed watercolors reveal various families' individual styles and routines as glimpsed through their bedroom windows.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. "It's hard fun to be five" is the final consensus of the young narrator, having run through the pros (more independence, more self-control) and cons (lots of changes, grownups' expectations) of being his age. Though Curtis's rhyming text is choppy and unfocused at times, it's an upbeat and fairly astute synopsis of a five-year-old's behavior, complemented by Cornell's scrappy, humorous color cartoons.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. "I'm gonna like me when I'm sharing my lunch / 'cause just like bananas friends come in a bunch." In alternating voices, a young boy and girl proclaim that each likes him or herself when "I do the right thing" and when "I make a mistake." The rhyming text bounces along offering plenty of platitudes. The lively illustrations, while hectic, add substance to the self-esteem-boosting one-note premise.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. There's not one false note in our five-year-old narrator's rambunctious, petulant lament that her best friend, Annie Bananie, is moving away. The rhymes are fresh and tight ("Who will feed your porcupine? / Who will swing from your clothesline?"), and Cornell's images of the scampering friends are lively. Best, Komaiko honors the resentment, not just the sadness, that can be felt by those who experience loss.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. After letting go of his big purple balloon, a boy ponders, in snappy rhyme, the fate of all such airborne castaways: "Are they always alone? Do they meet up in pairs? / Do they ever get married and make balloon heirs?" The busy street scenes of Cornell's ink-and-watercolor illustrations match the ebullient whimsy of Curtis's hero.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2000

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Cornell. Curtis's rhyming text and Cornell's lively illustrations create a portrait of an exuberant and very real little girl who one moment feels joyful, excited, or happy and the next bad, sad, cranky, or confused. This humorous look at the subject of feelings and moods features a curly-haired heroine whose independent spirit is reminiscent of Thompson and Knight's Eloise.

Reviewer: Jennifer Polshek