(4) K-3 Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. A wool-bodied woman marries a human male, then knits wool babies and clothes using yarn from her body. When her husband notices that she's become "nothing but a pillow," she must knit herself back into existence. Gauch's upbeat tone and Lavallee's cheery watercolors communicate a lightheartedness that undermines a strangely dark story about, it would seem, a mother's selflessness and ensuing unraveling.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. A grandmother tells her granddaughter the story of "a new girl-baby" named Beautiful born in Hawaii, which also becomes the story of love shared between grandmother and grandchild. Watercolor illustrations in tropical hues depict the idyllic island setting. Information about Hawaiian language and customs is appended. Glos.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. A Maasai father answers his son's persistent questions about the depth of the father's love for his son. The companion to Mama, Do You Love Me? is as sweet and reassuring as the earlier book. Joosse weaves information about Maasai culture throughout and Lavallee's handsome illustrations in rich reds, browns, and golds match the warmth of the text.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) PS Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. In this companion to All You Need for a Snowman, busy kids enjoy a summer's day. Again, Schertle's rhyming text bounces along with its list ("sun and shade, / buckets and balls and / lemonade"), while Lavallee's illustrations capture the joys of sand and sea. Preschoolers, however, are bound to notice the one crucial item nowhere to be seen: sunscreen.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. When Kristie's beloved cat, Groucho, who is white but for dramatic smudgelike eyebrows, gets lost in the snow, his distinguishing characteristic helps her find him after an agonizing search. Though the text is a bit long, Kristie and Groucho's mutual affection is palpable, and the soft, lucid images of snow-decked Alaska are alluring.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) PS Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. Schertle's neatly rhymed and cadenced text keeps this simple story rolling, while Lavallee clearly understands the serious joys of making snowmen in superabundant snow. Industrious tots, rotund in rainbow-hued snow gear, radiate vigor as they collaborate on their monumental project, enthusiastically shaping the snow. A wonderfully childlike and ebullient addition to the winter repertoire.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002

(3) PS Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. An Inuit girl asks her mother a series of questions, and the mother repeatedly answers that she will always love her daughter. The tenth anniversary edition of this comforting, attractively illustrated picture book is suitable for gift giving with a new cloth binding, a brief note about the Inuit masks portrayed in the art, and a print from the book.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1991

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. Jimmy Joe loves fishing, and when Fish Woman takes him on her boat, he catches his first Chinook--a huge salmon. But then they hear the "Pffffsst-HAH!" of killer whales exhaling through their blowholes, and Jimmy Joe throws his fish to one of the orcas, deciding that just seeing these whales is "better than catching a salmon." Vibrant oranges contrast with the subdued blues and greens of the ocean in the watercolor illustrations.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(4) 4-6 Imagine Living Here series. Cobb's descriptions of the land, animals, and people of Eastern Africa, though somewhat romanticized, emphasize the interdependence of living things with one another and their environment. Animals are the primary focus, and the text covers the usual lions, elephants, giraffes, and zebras but also describes other birds and mammals that inhabit wildlife parks. Uninspiring illustrations include enough detail to distinguish among the different species described. Ind.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.