(1) K-3 Illustrated by Joaquin Camp. In this vibrant and absurdist Argentinian import, young Elisa cries so loudly that her narrator sibling says she sounds "like a fire truck instead of a baby," and all the neighbors in their apartment building are disrupted. As her wails grow throughout the night, the adults around her offer increasingly creative attempts at soothing (piggyback rides, flowers, stories, etc.) until the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur into whimsical chaos: e.g., a storybook character cries with her; Elisa is featured on a jumbo screen in a bustling city "on the other side of the planet." When her grandmother moves Elisa's legs "as if she were riding a bicycle in the air," the baby finally gets relief; her humongous fart blasts the apartment complex up like a rocketship and then back to Earth, where it lands upside-down. Relieved, Elisa (and everyone else) finally gets some sleep. The narrator remains unseen until the story's final pages, where they are depicted with the same bizarre playfulness, shown along with the rest of the cast dozing atop frozen desserts. The rich, humorous text is full of similes, and the illustrations appear to be rendered with markers, offering a layered and textured style. Blue nighttime hues contrast with brighter colors, centering action while exaggerated forms deepen the fantastical elements. Dazzling and dreamy.

Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(3) K-3 Translated by Shook. Illustrated by Azul López. In this evocative picture book originally published in Mexico, painterly illustrations and poetic text ponder the existence of a mysterious invisible giant. “He wasn’t hard to see,” the first page says of the giant, but the image -- an overhead view of dark, stormy sea -- reveals no giant; on the next pages, a huge footprint appears in the negative space within a flock of “seagulls like insects.” Suggestive images that vary in perspective continue to allude to the titular giant, while the text speaks of the story the author would tell “if” the giant came to shore. Perplexing? Yes, but curious readers will enjoy mining each spread of gorgeous, expansive art for meaning.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald