(2) K-3 Illustrated by Felicita Sala. With a going-to-bed frame, this picture book in rhyme takes those still wide awake after dark on a frenzied tour through the nocturnal food chain. A silhouette of a cat stalking a rodent beneath the window of a wide-awake child's bedroom sets the stage. In a quiet, blue-hued town, bursts of color and light indicate unseen activity. "Outside nighttime is action time for some... / THE MINI GO BALLISTIC." Tiny dinoflagellates consuming bacteria make a meal for the copepods who will be eaten by the goby fish and so on, all the way up to jackals, owls, and finally tigers. "Tigers eat whatever they want." Gouache, watercolor, ink, colored-pencil, and oil pastel illustrations layer bright colors that pop off the dark nighttime backgrounds and make dramatic use of light and shadow. Attractive compositions of flowing, swirling lines and shapes create the movement necessary for this busy animal world. When the wide-awake child, wearing a tiger suit, needs "one more prowl around the room / one more jump from pillow to pillow," the whole family rallies for one last burst of play before the book comes to a quiet close. In a final, striking spread, an immense orange tiger winds through the sleeping town--one eye trained on an owl in the sky. Back matter provides more information on the creatures mentioned in this ecological bedtime story.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Felicita Sala. Emilia's beloved grandfather gives her a walnut and uses it to tell his immigration story. As a child, he emigrated with his family from Italy. They carried very few belongings, but the boy managed to take a walnut from the tree outside his window, which he planted in a pot upon arrival in his new country. He carried the growing tree with him, transplanting it as needed throughout the years, until, with his new wife, planting it in the backyard of their home. Now, many years later, Emilia, with her grandfather's help, plants and cares for her own walnut sapling, only putting it in the ground after her grandfather's death. The relatively simple text includes many layers--in addition to being an immigration story, it is a family history tale and a story about the passing of a beloved grandparent and the carrying on of that person's legacy. Paquette's emotive writing is strong and clear: "Emilia held her grandfather close for as long as she could. And then she said goodbye." Sala's paintings, in shades of green, gold, and sepia, are equally effective. In them, Emilia and her grandfather are visually connected, often overlapping or framed together by curving lines, bringing intimacy to the tale.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(1) PS Illustrated by Felicita Sala. "Gentle the evening. Sweeping the skies. / Dark the shadows as twilight arrives. / Rose the horizon, gleaming and bright. / Twilight and evening and dark on light." The author-illustrator team behind Green on Green (rev. 5/20) returns with another paean to benevolent nature. As the sun sets on a house surrounded by idyllic countryside, three children head outside into the deepening night--passing deer, smelling lavender, catching sight of an owl in flight--all the while (as observant viewers will have noted) searching for their errant dog. Happily reunited, all return home to be greeted by two loving adults who wrap them in warmth, read them stories, and tuck them in for the night. The text consists of a series of lyrical quatrains, almost mesmerizing in their effect, the last line of each always incorporating two words from the previous lines plus "and dark on light." Sala has outdone herself here, with her glorious watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil art lending both structure (the quest story) and atmosphere. Double-page spreads begin with apricots and roses and then deepen into dark blues and purples, with the white of the moonlight, the children's flashlight, and the silvered trees and the warm tones of the children's clothing providing contrast. An exemplary, revelatory bedtime book.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) PS Illustrated by Felicita Sala. A series of compelling arguments for readers to "be a tree" find root in a lyrical text told from a tree's perspective. Metaphors and analogies abound from the start, comparing the physiology of trees and humans ("Your skin is bark: dead on the outside, protecting what's within"). The narrator's focus then shifts away from human comparisons and toward trees' collective nature (regarding the fungal networks known to connect trees within a forest: "We talk, share food, store water, divide resources, alert each other to danger. A wood wide web of information"). Multiple examples of trees working together to benefit the entire ecosystem further highlight the species' collectivism. An impressive gatefold illustrates what this behavior looks like on a human level, featuring a large multiracial cast of people joyfully interacting in an idyllic park setting. From page to page, the richly colored watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil illustrations primarily feature various tree species within their native environments; however, a few spreads brilliantly show semi-abstract interpretations of complex networks of various proportions (fungi/roots; interlocking crowns). An encouraging nudge to look toward nature for guidance, and a valuable message that "together, we are a forest." Back matter includes an author's note, tree-conservation and community-building ideas, a diagram of tree anatomy, and further resources.

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Felicita Sala. This delightful introduction to the problem-solving abilities of one of the most intelligent animals on our planet follows the adventures of a bright-orange cephalopod on his travels from under the ocean, to an aquarium full of curious visitors, and back to his ocean cave again. One day the little octopus comes across a mysterious object--a human's glove--and gets trapped inside. He's taken to an aquarium full of sad sea creatures and food that always comes at the same time and tastes the same. While the text is in the third person, the story is told from the octopus's perspective, with a poignant focus on the sensory experiences he misses from his ocean life. Sala's (Be a Tree!, rev. 5/21) vibrant illustrations bring this small creature to life, with expressive eyes and a plenitude of limbs that sometimes look like they're about to escape the pages of the book itself. No back matter is included, which may disappoint readers who are curious about the real-life escapes that inspired this story. But they'll cheer as the octopus, bright and bold against the gray backdrop of the nighttime aquarium, climbs out of his tank, slips off a pier, and makes his way back to the lively ocean home he's missed so much.

Reviewer: Laura Koenig | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(1) PS Illustrated by Felicita Sala. Do we need another picture book about the seasons? When it's this good, the answer is an emphatic yes. White's text is written in eminently readable verse that employs repetition, spot-on cadence, slant rhymes grounded in assonance, and inventive word choices. Early lines about summertime are representative: "Lemonade petals. / Sunflakes between. / Lemonade, sunflakes, and yellow on green." Meanwhile, Sala's art provides all narrative content, interpreting the poetic text with lush illustrations that follow a family--a child and two parents (all dark-skinned and blue-eyed)--through the seasons in their rural coastal community. One marker of the passage of time is the mother's growing belly. Another is Sala's shifting palette to visually depict the changing seasons: green dominates early scenes set in spring; then summertime blue skies and ocean waters take hold; followed by warm autumnal golds and browns; then snowy winter whites. (Endpapers feature portraits of the same tree in four different seasons.) Green returns again in closing pages, which also introduce a new baby into the family. Cozy and calming, familiar and fresh, Green on Green is great.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Felicita Sala. Like a scary campfire story, Fulton's short, descriptive passages and occasional fictionalized dialogue set the mood and drive her focused retelling of the night author Shelley supposedly first conceived of her mad scientist and his creation. Nicely complementing the tale are Sala's striking watercolor, ink, and colored-pencil illustrations, which display a Gothic sensibility, with angular features and a dark color palette containing shocks of white for dramatic effect. Bib.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(3) 1-3 Big Foot and Little Foot series. Illustrated by Felicita Sala. Young Sasquatch Hugo, who lives in a cavern in the North Woods, accidentally meets a nine-year-old human named Boone. The two strike a fast friendship and together enjoy looking for "mysterious creatures"--when not attending school or working to overcome their cultural differences. Lively adventures for young cryptozoologists, with short chapters and copious drawings that make for nonintimidating page layouts. Review covers these Big Foot and Little Foot titles: Big Foot and Little Foot and The Monster Detector.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(3) 1-3 Big Foot and Little Foot series. Illustrated by Felicita Sala. Young Sasquatch Hugo, who lives in a cavern in the North Woods, accidentally meets a nine-year-old human named Boone. The two strike a fast friendship and together enjoy looking for "mysterious creatures"--when not attending school or working to overcome their cultural differences. Lively adventures for young cryptozoologists, with short chapters and copious drawings that make for nonintimidating page layouts. Review covers these Big Foot and Little Foot titles: Big Foot and Little Foot and The Monster Detector.

Reviewer: Jeannie Coutant

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Felicita Sala. Valdez presents an affirming picture-book biography of herpetologist, researcher, and zoo-exhibit designer Joan Procter (1897–1931). Readers are immersed in Procter's world, from her childhood bedroom (where she developed her obsession with lizards) to the museums and zoos of early-twentieth-century London. Sala's illustrations portray a stylish woman of the 1920s--with a variety of small lizards present on her shoulders and wrists. Bib.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2018

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Felicita Sala. Rather than being discouraged or intimidated by other students with greater drawing skills, a child realizes that coloring can convey just as much as, if not more than, drawing. Sala's illustrations demonstrate how varying color, line thickness, and intensity can indicate different emotions. Lehrhaupt ends the book on an open-ended invitation to explore the color wheel and look past self-perceived artistic limitations.

Reviewer: Minh Lê | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2017

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Felicita Sala. A talented chef creates delectable dishes at his fancy restaurant. When a fussy diner repeatedly returns his plate for thinner potatoes, the first potato chip is born. Told in offbeat-flowery prose and with old-timey illustrations, this origin story is based on some truth (detailed in an author's note): George Crum was a real chef who's credited with developing potato chips, called "Saratoga Chips," in 1853. Bib.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(3) K-3 CitizenKid series. Illustrated by Felicita Sala. This historical picture book introduces activist "Mother" Jones, who in 1903 led an over-one-hundred-mile march to President Theodore Roosevelt's summer home to protest child labor. Focusing on fictional eight-year-old Aidan, a cotton mill worker, the long days of walking, camping out, and rallying are portrayed as an adventurous undertaking that shed light on children's rights. Old-timey paintings capture grandmotherly Jones's feistiness. Author's note appended. Websites.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan