(2) K-3 Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader series. Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. After finding an old photo album, Ralph visits his family. His mother treats him well, but the other relatives heap humiliation on him. Ralph realizes the reason he is so rotten is that his own family was rotten to him. The longer format serves Ralph well, allowing a more sophisticated story line to emerge. Lively tongue-in-cheek illustrations extend the action.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(3) K-3 Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader series. Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. Ralph spends more time dreaming of glory than practicing, so instead of earning a spot on the baseball team, he's given the job of "cat boy." In true Rotten Ralph spirit, the story's message never gets too message-y, thanks largely to impish embellishments--as when Ralph spits in all the players' new gloves to soften them--in both art and text.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. Ralph awakens with the kitty equivalent of a hangover after a night of carousing. The vet's dire diagnosis: "Your cat has used up eight of his nine lives." Rubel's sly caricatures recount how each life got starved, shaken, and snowballed away in previous books. Will Ralph now adhere to Sarah's prescription of an extra-cautious ninth life? His fans already know the answer.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2009

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. After a night of foraging in the neighborhood trash cans, Rotten Ralph wakes up with a tummy ache in this cautionary tale about eating junk food. Four short chapters give beginning readers appropriate starting and stopping places, and the illustrations not only parallel the text but also help define a few phrases ("furry fish") not often found in first-grade workbooks.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2004

(2) K-3 Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader series. Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. Ralph is unwilling to work to win prizes at the carnival, and he scoffs at perfect cousin Percy's constant practicing. Naturally, Ralph shames himself. Percy wins a slew of prizes, which prompts Ralph to devise a scheme, a dangerous proposition. Ralph's misbehavior is as entertaining as it is reprehensible. Illustrated with Rubel's deadpan pictures, this is a prize for newly independent readers, for whom "practice makes perfect" indeed.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2002

(3) K-3 Dial Easy-to-Read series. Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. Each page contains an amusing color cartoon and a single riddle about the prehistoric creatures. Some of the puns are groaners ("Who always has change for a dollar?" "A Dime-o-saur"), but many early readers will find this mix of a popular subject and easy-to-read humor a dino-mite combination.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) K-3 Rotten Ralph Rotten Reader series. Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. Youngsters who enjoyed Rotten Ralph in his picture book outings can now encounter the fractious feline in a beginning reader. Sarah, Ralph's long-suffering owner, has to do a project on ancient Egypt, and Ralph's "help" is of little value. The narrative unobtrusively includes many facts about Egypt. Rubel's illustrations parallel the story and also reflect its underlying frenzy.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2001

(4) PS Harper Growing Tree series. Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. In this rhyming verse, a little girl recounts how her various features are like those of members of her family--she's got Dad's feet, Mom's hair, and Gramps's eyes--but they all add up to one unique person. "Completely, uniquely, definitely, specially, the one and only ME!" The message is one youngsters will identify with, but the unrelenting rhythm of the text and stiff cartoon illustrations make this a less than stellar effort.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. The devil-red cat is in rare form at Sarah's aunt's wedding, where he knocks hats off guests, trips the ring-bearer, dangles a mouse between bride and groom as they lean in for the kiss, and performs other obnoxious stunts. Once again, Gantos's sly text and Rubel's psychedelically colored line drawings indulge readers with Ralph's naughty idea of fun.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. Ralph experiences the ugly but familiar feelings of jealousy and selfishness when he fears he may have to share Sarah with new school friends. Gantos's skillful examination of the child's world is once again evident as the author probes a common negative emotion and suggests, but never preaches, a positive outcome. Rubel's illustrations depict a consistently naughty feline, yet manage to make him believable whether worried and abandoned or loved and purring.

Reviewer: Elizabeth S. Watson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1998