(3) PS Illustrated by Fred Willingham & Fred Willingham. Soft shadows and warm colors in realistic pastel illustrations provide a perfect background for the minimal, rhyming text describing children's finger activities. Some, such as finger painting and the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song, will be familiar to toddlers and preschoolers, while others, such as signing "I love you" in American Sign Language, will offer an opportunity for learning.

Reviewer: Christina Dorr

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Judy Love. This book consists of students' letters to Mrs. Hartwell, the new teacher introduced in First Day Jitters, who has set up an in-class "post office." Letter writers include Eddie, who apologizes for throwing up on her, and Andy, who claims not to know how the class snake got loose. The non-cumulative letters may tire some readers, but many will derive humor from the unflinchingly illustrated disasters.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS A mother bear offers a simple rhyming lullaby to her cub, describing the various bears that he may meet on his journey once he's grown. The illustrations are warm and inviting, but the rhymes feel forced at times ("There are shy bears, sticky bears, / and bears feeling lazy, / white bears, / black bears, / and bears sniffing daisies"). At book's end, Gabriel presents basic facts about the eight species of bear.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Pawel Pawlak & Pawel Pawlak. Herbert, a stray black cat, is lonely. Seeking refuge from the cold in the library, he finds a book about witches and is encouraged to learn they love black cats. After several missteps, Herbert finds not just one but a whole class of witches--and friends. Despite a flat resolution, this picture book is buoyed by friendly autumn-hued illustrations.

Reviewer: Amanda Sullivan

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Matt Faulkner & Matt Faulkner. Twenty-six clever parodies of classic poems by Shakespeare, Dickinson, and others ably retain the rhythm and meter of the originals: e.g., "Macaroni and Cheese," a riff on Poe's "Annabel Lee," begins, "It was many and many a week ago / that I and my sister Louise / first tried out a food that you might know / called macaroni and cheese." Faulkner's spirited illustrations suit the lighthearted transmogrifications.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Judy Love. Modern witch Bella longs to be a princess (she finds the clothes and the lifestyle appealing). She's confident that because she likes her unconventional looks, she will find and marry a prince who likes them, too. And she does--one who looks like Frankenstein's monster. The humorous story is told in a fresh, engaging voice; the equally humorous art is full of expression and movement.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(4) PS In this adaptation of the old folk song, Froggie proposes indiscriminately to females of different species but is spurned each time for being a frog. Finally, he meets a female frog who proposes to him. The song's rhymes are sometimes clunky; the watercolors lean too heavily on hearts and flowers but suit the story. The message--find happiness with your own kind--is for each reader to accept or reject.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(3) PS Illustrated by Marty Husted. A young boy enjoys a blizzard from inside the confines of his cozy house and then goes out to make a snow angel just before bed. The gray chill of the natural world contrasts with the golden glow of his warm country house depicted in the watercolor and colored pencil illustrations. Creating a quiet mood, the spare, poetic text is perfect for bedtime sharing.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Matt Faulkner. Our argyle-sweater-clad, bow-tie-wearing protagonist goes to the "widder woman" for some "glue stew" to stick his scattered brains together. Country diction in the riddle-rich narrative and Faulkner's crosshatched artwork (which throws plenty of winks to readers) combine for a great tall tale.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) K-3 Sidney tries hard to avoid his first swimming lesson, only admitting his fear after someone pushes him into the water. When his classmates build him a big floating contraption, he soon decides he likes swimming after all. Expressive illustrations convey Sidney's feelings about this familiar predicament, but the resolution, in which he plays a rather passive role, feels incomplete and not entirely satisfying.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Judy Love. In spite of Mr. Hartwell's entreaties, Sarah Jane Hartwell does not want to start her first day in a new school. Like all newcomers, she worries about having to begin again and wonders if there will be nice children in her class. But the ending reveals that Sarah is not a new student--she's the teacher! Lively line and watercolor illustrations bring Sarah's plight to life.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Marty Husted. "Firefly, guide my way to sleep / in the forest, green and deep." In this poem inspired by lines from Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, singsongy verse tells of a young Chippewa girl who meets and befriends forest and bog animals on her way to her village--and her bedtime. The text and sometimes awkwardly rendered watercolors convey the girl's respect for nature.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(4) PS Illustrated by Liza Woodruff. In another twist on the "new sibling" story, Mabel and her toys have a good life until little Noah arrives. Mabel's interactions with her stuffed animal friends, while serving no real role in the plot, are sweet, but her change of heart about the new baby is a little too quick to be believable. Soft ink-and-wash illustrations are effective at capturing the story's details.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tammie Lyon. Using language playfully, this rhyming story traces a day in the life of three rabbit siblings. The bunnies start the morning off grumpy, "slumping in their table places / frumpy faces / sulky heads." Once they get to school, though, things begin to improve. The bright watercolor illustrations show the bunnies becoming quite cheerful as the day goes on.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) PS Illustrated by Marty Husted. In this soothing, rhythmic free-verse poem, an Eskimo mother coaxes her child to sleep by calling forth images of the sights, sounds, and inhabitants of the Arctic tundra. The child imagines himself in every scene, kayaking among seabirds and frolicking with bears, before finally falling asleep. The watercolor illustrations aptly capture the landscape but are stiff, especially when depicting human characters.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli

(3) PS "...find a place that's dry / Scurry, scuttle, hide and huddle / Till the storm blows by." A family of life-jacketed bears on a river odyssey encounter rapids, beaver dams, a storm, and mooching lunch guests in these illustrated additional verses to the song. The new rhymes flow smoothly, and the watercolor illustrations develop and extend plot elements from page to page. Melody, guitar chords, and all nine verses appear on the last page.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Kim Howard. Pico the parrot sometimes helps his owner Rosa, who is hard of hearing, but he isn't above using her partial deafness to pull a prank. Rosa, however, loves him despite his naughtiness. The Spanish names and the brilliantly colored illustrations suggest a tropical Latin American setting. Some pages require extra scrutiny, because the objects aren't always immediately distinguishable from the background.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) PS Illustrated by Fred Willingham. A brief, playful rhyming text celebrates the many things little toes can do, from tickling and digging to dancing and cuddling. "Drawing toes / Digging toes / Hidden toes / Testing toes / Splashing toes / Squishing toes / And don't forget the fishing toes." Close-ups of the feet and faces of children from a variety of ethnic backgrounds are rendered in warmly realistic pastels.

Reviewer: Jackie C. Horne