(3) K-3 Ready-to-Read series. Illustrated by Mike Lester. Regina is enjoying princess school now that everyone knows she's rotten. In this outing, the princesses need to learn how to bake (to land princes), and Regina's cupcakes are surprisingly perfect. But when the princesses sell the cupcakes at a wizards' convention, Regina adds a special ingredient to prove she's truly rotten. An accessible, silly twist on the typical princess story.

Reviewer: Kari Allen

(4) K-3 Ready-to-Read series. Illustrated by Mike Lester. Regina Recalcitrant is not your typical princess: she is rotten and rude. When her oblivious parents send her to princess school, Regina decides to have some fun and wreak havoc. Lester's comic-like illustrations inject additional humor (facial expressions are especially effective). The story lacks resolution, but readers will be amused by the jabs taken at some well-known fairy tales.

Reviewer: Kari Allen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mike Lester. The tale begins with a flea-flustered stray dog and ends with a friendship. The action/reaction rhyming scenario follows the itchy pup who lands "THUD! 'OH CRUD!'" on a man who later notices, "Now I see. / A bite from a flea made you land on me." Energetic sketchlike cartoons capture the story's frenetic itch and the bumbling--yet ultimately satisfying--mess that ensues.

Reviewer: Carrie Harasimowicz Sullivan

(2) PS Illustrated by Mike Lester. In this good-natured hymn of praise, matter-of-fact rhyming couplets cover butt synonyms, characteristics, and raison d'être, as watercolor and scratchboard illustrations place us in scenes from art galleries to ancient Egypt to a fair. The text includes a few nods to natural history or international terms, but the major point seems to be that butts make the whole world one.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2010

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mike Lester. Cool Daddy Rat, the heppest cat on the New York jazz scene, heads out to play some gigs. After going "an odd way / down Broadway," the daddy discovers a stowaway in his bass case: his son, Ace. The text revels in its jazzy improvisational rhythms without losing sight of the story. Lester's pencil, watercolor, and digital illustrations capture the heavy scene.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mike Lester. When the narrator's teacher asks, "How many live with you?", he recounts all ninety-two family members (ninety-three, including him): his mom, dad, two sisters, and an assortment of domestic and exotic pets. He proceeds (in rhyme) to describe the chaos of meals, car trips, bath time, and sleeping arrangements. The funny, dynamic illustrations and the curly typeface echo the story's silliness.

Reviewer: Mark Adam

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mike Lester. A storm knocks out the power in computer-game-addicted Charlie McButton's house, forcing him to take a battery from his sister Isabel Jane's dolly. This causes Isabel Jane understandable anguish mitigated only when Charlie realizes that sisters, like computer games, are interactive, and he plays with her. On-meter Seussian rhymes and antic art combine to create an original, funny, and timely tale.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Mike Lester. When a frenzied mob of students stampede into their classroom, a chain reaction of mishaps begins: a spilled ant farm lures a show-and-tell pet snake from its box, making a girl shriek, causing a boy to spill birthday cupcakes, which the janitor then slips on..., etc. The book is long, but Greene wisely breaks up the cumulative repetition. Lester's bustling, sketchy, bold-outlined illustrations add deadpan humor.

Reviewer: Mark Adam

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Mike Lester. In this cumulative tale, a bird falls into the house through the chimney and creates havoc by flying around, scattering ashes, and being chased by pets and family members who make even more mess. Although the refrain gets longer and longer with little payoff, the text is rhythmic, and the distorted cartoons done in pencil and watercolor suit the frenetic mode up to the rather abrupt ending.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian