(3) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Little Blue Truck (Little Blue Truck; Little Blue Truck Leads the Way) and his toad friend are going to a Halloween party. Along the way, they pick up other costumed animal pals. Schertle's bouncy rhymes set up each encounter; lift-the-flaps on the board book's facing pages give the answers. McElmurry's folksy, detailed illustrations provide some foreshadowing for the Little Blue Truck–centered reveal at the party.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2016

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Cardell, a young coyote, enjoys a "mostly wonderful life" despite his daddy living with a "perfectly nice" stepfamily. When Otis comes courting Mama, Cardell resists embracing Mama's new admirer. Cardell ultimately cares for Otis, too, as he experiences the evolving family dynamics. Warm earth-tone illustrations paired with occasional Spanish words (adiós, hombre, jalapeño) capture the Southwest desert environment.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Everyone in this industrious nineteenth-century family takes part in preparing for the feast. The little-boy narrator, meanwhile, checks in on all the preparations until the family is finally seated around the table. McElmurry's gouache illustrations are imbued with quiet energy. Miller's patterned rhyming text has the cadence of a folk song and captures just how joyful (and exhausting) Thanksgiving feasts can be.

Reviewer: J. Alex Mazariegos | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2015

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Kate Sessions, the first woman to graduate from Berkeley with a science degree, was responsible for populating San Diego's Balboa Park with lush, green trees, just in time for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915. Hopkins's text succinctly captures the highlights of his subject's life, and McElmurry's gouache illustrations document the gradually changing landscape from barren desert to verdant garden.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2013

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Pirate-infatuated Princess Bea abandons her throne when she spots a pirate ship. Having failed to pass the crew's tests, she finds herself walking the plank when her royal sense of smell saves her: "A princess knows her treasure!" Like the right-on-the-beat rhymes, the illustrations capture the high-seas hijinks, including what is perhaps children's literature's first vomiting princess.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. In this history, presented as autobiography, the painted Mona Lisa recounts her story, spicing it with touches of humor. Decorative gouache art shows the portrait expressing emotion, from demure affection for her creator to tearful grief while in a thief's custody. An entertaining introduction to the world of art history as well as to this particular painting. An author's note is appended.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2010

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. In these four tartly funny interconnected stories, stubborn monkey Marigold fights about clothing with her mom and also with her best friend, Maxine, about hurt feelings. Marigold is a refreshingly unsentimental kids'-book protagonist, with equal parts soft spots and hard edges. The matter-of-factly anthropomorphized world (Marigold considers herself a "very loyal person") is rendered in precise gouache.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. While visiting the city, Little Blue Truck lands in a traffic jam with a crowd of scowling, pushy vehicles. After Blue wisely admonishes them to go "one at a time," the mayor picks the little truck to lead everyone in a polite parade. The vehicles reform rather too quickly, but the sprightly rhyme is entertaining, as is the portrayal of the city, with its many-windowed skyscrapers.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Featuring trucks, farm animals, and animal sounds, this story is right on target for a board book audience. Little Blue and his friends drive home the story's gentle message (some days, nice guys finish first) as effectively as before. Schertle's bouncy rhyming text and McElmurry's amiable old-fashioned-looking illustrations fare well in the smaller format.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(2) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Schertle's rhyming text bounces along as Little Blue Truck, on a leisurely country drive, beeps hello to his animal friends. The calm is shattered when an obnoxious dump truck barrels past--then gets stuck in the mud. McElmurry's amiable illustrations give Little Blue a vintage look, and this old-fashioned book has a timeless message: some days, nice guys finish first.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Miss Mary Lynn MacIntosh lives a tidy life, but something is missing. Mary is lonely. When she adopts Blue, an untrained basset with uncanny canine magnetism, Mary ends up with a whole lot more than she bargained for. Short lines and familiar vocabulary make this a treat to read and hear. Rich gouache illustrations capture the book's old-fashioned feel.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2008

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. "Snuggled in bed, / You're all safe and warm, / Like a bird in a nest in a tree." In an increasing circle from child nested in bed to Earth nestled in the universe, this comforting rhythmic lullaby confirms the place of all things in life. The folk-art style illustrations lend simplicity to the concept of the interrelatedness of nature.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(4) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. On laundry day the family searches through the house for dachshund Stretch, who needs a bath. Readers can search along with the family under the sturdy flaps that divert attention from Stretch's true hiding place: the laundry basket. The ending is flat, but the old-fashioned setting in McElmurry's illustrations contains lots of striking detail.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Each night of the eight-day-long Hanukkah celebration an irrepressible grandma tells her grandson a story about a different family member. A jaunty text combines with richly colored illustrations to create a memorable book that seamlessly and happily combines holiday and family rituals. Includes a historical orientation and the ritual blessings. Glos.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. The Kettles, a family of sensibly dressed dogs, find their favorite clothing shop has gone upscale. As sales-hound Monsieur Pip festoons them in paisley, stripes, and checks, the strait-laced dogs become increasingly dissatisfied. Only Baby perks up in the lively outfits, and style mavericks will cheer her self-expressive fashion statement. Rhythm and repetition are used to good effect; the retro-style illustrations give the story panache.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2003

(2) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. This well-conceived and well-executed collection features a luxuriously spacious page layout, with only one or two poems per double-page spread. The spreads always give the child reader a focus--and that focus is usually another child. Eighteen poems in twenty-four pages may seem scant, but anyone who shares this just-right collection with a child will discover that, indeed, less is Moore.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2001