(4) PS Based on the song by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown. Lyrics to the 1952 musical's title song span pages showing kids in colorful rainwear enjoying the elements, sometimes airborne via umbrellas Mary Poppins–style. Unfortunately, when the lyrics repeat, they read like filler. Not every great song merits a picture book, although the mixed-media art in Hopgood's third lyrics-as-text outing (What a Wonderful World; Walking in a Winter Wonderland) elicits a glorious feeling.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Based on the song by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith. The lyrics to Peggy Lee's version ("Santa clown" instead of "Parson Brown") of the seasonal classic accompany a family as they walk through snowy woods amid woodland creatures. Unlike with Hopgood's previous lyrics-as-narrative effort, What a Wonderful World, there's slightly too much repetition here for the words to succeed without music, but the enchanting collage and digitally colored mixed-media art achieves maximum festiveness.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) PS Illustrated by Tim Hopgood. In this survey of frog species, the main text--"This frog is huge (for a frog)"--is supplemented by additional facts in smaller type ("It's a goliath frog, and it lives in western Africa") that invite readers to learn more. Hopgood's colorful, creative mixed-media illustrations are technically precise in representing each species' main features yet artistic in the rendering of textures and anatomical details. Ind.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2016

(3) PS Based on the song by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. The test of a successful picture-book adaptation of song lyrics: will the book work if the reader recites the words like a poem? In this case, yes. The lyrics to the 1967 classic are matched with scenes showing a calmly curious boy appreciating "trees of green," "clouds of white," and other familiar phrases that Louis Armstrong unforgettably sang.

Reviewer: Nell Beram