(2) K-3 Illustrated by Todd Stewart. "Listen! / Lake Superior / sings a winter song." Getting all bundled up, two children set off early on a cold morning to go ice skating. Fog rises from mysterious Superior, and along the way they find wolf tracks, but the older sibling can tell that the tracks are old, a "story" written in the snow. Canadian author Pendziwol writes evocatively about the immense and imposing lake and the sounds the ice makes vibrating under the children's feet as they skate: "mysterious magical music / as old as the earth... / We join the song, / skating / on the wild ice / of a vast / inland sea." (She also makes sure to mention that the ice on the lake is very thick.) Illustrator Stewart uses a range of blues and greens, from the intense turquoise of the frozen lake to a chilly blue against the snowy whites. His technique of drawing digitally, editing in Photoshop, and adding textures with scanned screens gives the book a vibrant and often majestic feel, ending with a wolf looking straight at the reader.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Todd Stewart. This lyrical introduction to patterns found in nature eschews formal definitions (the term fractals, for example, is never used). Instead, Barss's focus is on encouraging children to explore and ask their own questions about branching river systems, spinning planets, and spiraling seashells. Eye-catching patterns abound in Stewart's texture-rich illustrations, rendered with silkscreen printing and digital media. Reading list.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Todd Stewart. On their annual vacation, a girl and her parents stay at the same beach in the same motel, following the same routine; this year, though, she makes a new friend. Simple, childlike observations about seagulls, life jackets, and burnt marshmallows proceed, day by day, until it's time to go home and await next year's return. Luminous drawings spread languidly across the wide pages.

Reviewer: Thom Barthelmess | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2015