(3) K-3 Adventures of Trim series. Illustrated by Kristy Caldwell. Ship’s cat Trim (Trim Sets Sail) is frightened when he hears there’s a storm approaching, but his friends on the ship teach him how to prepare. Trim learns how to, for example, “reef the sails,” “batten down the hatches,” and “help someone else stay safe”; once everything is done, Trim and a new friend weather the storm safely. The gentle text and friendly mixed-media illustrations show the urgency of the storm but keep it from feeling scary; an endnote explains that Trim is based on a real cat from the early 1800s.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Kerns

(2) K-3 I Like to Read: Comics series. Cepeda, creator of many excellent first-step beginning readers (I Hop; I Help; I Dig), offers a comic for more experienced readers. "What could go wrong?" a father asks his son while packing the car for a camping trip. Well, for starters, the campground is full, but the pair makes the best of a less-comfortable campsite down the road. When it turns out -- "Uh-oh" -- that Dad forgot the tent poles, they take the opportunity to sleep under the stars. Mostly minor setbacks (skunks, rain) force them to enjoy the experience they're having instead of the one they'd expected. Digital illustrations in aquas, greens, and browns have an ink-and-watercolor feel that suits the low-stakes outdoor adventure. Readers will need some fluency to navigate multiple word bubbles per page, multiple speakers, and compound and multisyllabic words with a number of sound blends and linguistic quirks. Most of the language is likely to be familiar, though, and the illustrations provide support for less common words, such as the night sky full of stars around "Venus...and the Big Dipper...and Capella...and Polaris." When father and son get home, Mom asks how the trip went, and the child shouts, "Everything went wrong...It was great!" A solid lesson for all of us on how to navigate life's little disappointments.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Ready to Read: Monster Og series. Illustrated by Elio. Picture book author Dyckman (Wolfie the Bunny, rev. 3/15; How Dinosaurs Went Extinct, rev. 3/23) steps into the beginning reader market with this book for the earliest readers. Og is a turquoise monster with puffy hair, blunt horns, and one tooth -- not even a little frightening. The book uses simple words, short sentences, and a lot of repetition ("This is Og. Og is nice") to ease children just starting to sound out words into this story about the day some sort of creature appears stuck in a block of ice. Og is scared but also determined to get the creature out. Og tries bonking the ice with a log, and when that doesn't work, it's time for a new strategy: "Og can think and make a plan!" For its simplicity, the text has a gentle rhyme scheme and pleasing sense of rhythm that reward the work of decoding. Elio's cartoon-style illustrations are bright, cheerful, expressive, and clearly composed, creating a path for readers who may be struggling with early phonics skills to follow the story. Once Og finally releases the creature from the ice, a new friendship is formed, and readers get a setup for future adventures with this duo.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Ready to Read: Monster Og series. Illustrated by Elio. In their entertaining second outing (Og Meets Mog!, rev. 3/24), Og (a gentle turquoise monster) and sidekick Mog (a large, round, catlike creature) are using a tool to "make something cool." Feeling left out, Dog snatches the last cog and drops it into a bog. "Og yells once. Og yells again." In some books, the repetition of sounds can become tedious, but Dyckman's agile deployment comes off as charming and allows children who are just beginning to decode print the opportunity to practice and build confidence in service of a cheerful, relatable story. The strong lines and bold, vaguely retro hues in Elio's images add to the appeal. Characters pop off pages that alternate between double-page spreads and spot illustrations, which controls the pace and gives this straightforward, low-stakes friendship story a feeling of movement and drama. The character design rides the line between cute and weird in a way that will encourage young readers to pick the book off the shelf. In the end, Og executes a plan to get the cog out of the bog, Dog makes amends, and then Og, Mog, and Dog create their "something cool" together. Three cheers for this unique and enjoyable story and friendship team.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(3) K-3 In this early reader comic with a simple but effective rhyming text, Fox plays tricks on Pig during a day of digging on the beach, but gets his comeuppance each time. Helpfully for new readers, each speaker’s speech bubbles are a different shape and color. The thick-lined digital-looking illustrations’ palette, with plenty of yellows and blues, is appropriate to the beach setting.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(1) K-3 I Like to Read: Comics series. Pickle (a dog) and a bird friend decide to drive to Clover Farm to get some strawberries and fresh cream, but soon after they set out, the car breaks down. Instead of listening to the bird's advice ("check the engine"), Pickle exclaims, "This car is junk!" and starts a quest to purchase a new car. This beginning reader in comics format has two to six panels and multiple lines of dialogue per page, so it's best for readers who are building independence; short words and ample repetition support practice. The digital illustrations are in restful shades of blue and green that are a fine match for the story's gentle tone. The use of patterns -- particularly polka dots -- adds a sense of whimsy and visual interest as Pickle goes through the trials and tribulations of car shopping. He wants the fast car until he gets pulled over on his test drive; then he knocks over a bin of oranges while trying out an oversized SUV. And let's not even talk about the price of the fancy car. Eventually, Pickle's mechanic suggests that perhaps filling the old car's gas tank and getting a tune-up might be a better solution. Amusing and highly entertaining.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(3) K-3 In this early reader, an unlikely pair finds friendship. At first, Dog rebuffs Rat’s attempt to play out of fear, but once Dog sees how much fun Rat is having, the canine joins in. The use of one-syllable words such as fast and new along with lots of repetition make this a good choice for children who are relatively new to reading but comfortable with sight words. Meisel’s colorful watercolor, acrylic, and pencil illustrations add humor.

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(1) K-3 In three illustrated stories translated from Japanese, Miyakoshi introduces readers to the delightfully mundane life of the titular Little Shrew, a rodent with a daily schedule, a steady paycheck, and a Rubik's Cube. Illustrated front-matter depicts close-up views of twee interior decor (push-pinned memorabilia, a tiny notebook with a shrew-sized pencil), drawing readers into the cozy world of the protagonist. The first chapter begins with Little Shrew's daily alarm clock and ends with his reasonable bedtime; straightforward, matter-of-fact language and soft, hazy illustrations paint a day in the shrew's life, one ordinary moment at a time. The following chapters, wherein Little Shrew makes a big purchase, discovers a new dream, and hosts guests for soup and singing, feature more story, but only very slightly; the one true moment of tension arrives when a page-turn reveals that -- spoiler alert -- Little Shrew solved his Rubik's Cube. Miyakoshi's heavily textured pencil, charcoal, and gouache art is atmospheric and full of eye-catching detail that provides a rich counterpoint to the spare text. Skillfully composed images capture the oddness of the tiny rodent's existence in a human-sized world, while frequent soft-edged, rounded vignette scenes feel intimate and dreamy. Little Shrew himself is fuzzy, measured, and prone to staring (somewhat unnervingly) at readers as they look back. Equally uncanny and endearing, this is a strange slice of an extraordinary and fascinating tiny life.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(1) K-3 I Like to Read series. "Bear has fast legs. Turtle has a fast mind. Who will win the race?" An elder, Tota, tells a trickster story in a beginning reader that succeeds both as a learning tool for new readers and as a layered tale to appreciate over repeat readings. When we meet Turtle, he's standing in a power pose surveying the racecourse on a frozen lake, while on the opposite page, Bear executes an impressive warm-up routine. The digitally created art, in a cartoon style with an edge of realism, is appealing and supports the minimal text, which uses repetition and sight words without overwhelming new readers. Bear bounds over the ice while tricky Turtle swims below, popping up to periodically exclaim, "Here I am!" Bear's evolving facial expressions will be familiar to anyone who's run a tough race, and astute observers will notice that the markings on Turtle's shell are different each time he surfaces. All is revealed in the end, and wily but good-natured Turtle shares his prize. Author David, a member of the Haudenosaunee Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) people, includes words from the Kanienkeha language for added interest and context. There is a notable lack of beginning reader books from an Indigenous perspective, and this book is most welcome.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(1) K-3 I Like to Read: Comics series. Emberley's crew of critters (I Did It!, rev. 9/22) returns for another exciting early-reader comic. This fast-paced story begins before its title page with a caped reptile launching a paper airplane. The plane's circuitous flight crosses two pages and multiple panels and ends at our friendly monster, toy elephant, masked raccoon, shimmery robot, and tiny penguin. It's a party invitation, inspiring the friends to immediately take off for the bash with a collective "LET'S GO!" A series of setbacks (from fatigue to snow to large bodies of water) impedes the crew's progress; however, cooperation and creative problem-solving prevail. The creatures use scraps of paper torn from the very pages of the book they are in to create skis, boats, and more and continue their journey. Emberley's cartooning is complex and compelling, while the dialogue-only text is intentionally repetitive and charismatic. Energetic pencil illustrations convey a strong sense of animation between fluctuating panel configurations and page layouts. The digital coloring is expressive, shifting between modeled realism and completely flat blocks of color--signaling shifts in tone, time, and/or setting. Imaginative, playful, and deceptively unassuming, this comic for early readers serves as a respectful (and exceedingly entertaining) introduction to the comics format.

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) K-3 Medina (Juana & Lucas[cfc1], rev. 11/16) gives new readers an inviting, cheerful take on the developmental milestone of learning to ride a bike. Elena, an elephant, straps on her helmet and, with the encouragement of her small bird friend, attempts to ride a ­two-wheeler. "KA-BANG!" ends one ride. "KA-PLUNK!" ends another. The illustrations use thick lines and bold solid colors to focus readers' attention on Elena, the bird, and the bike. The text is minimal, to the point, and appropriate for a new reader, but it's also musical, playful, and fun to read aloud. Elena "readies" and "steadies," and she "wobbles" and "bobbles." Repetition of words and sound blends serves the needs of children who are building confidence sounding words out, without bogging the story down. The illustrations and sometimes even text placement support decoding. On one page Elena "goes up and down and all around," and we see the corresponding images and text slope up and down the page. After a few tries and some tears, Elena gets the hang of the bike, an apt metaphor for the challenge of learning to read. There are plenty of books about learning to ride a bike, but this one's approachability for its intended audience, bright imagery, and good humor place it near the front of the peloton. Concurrently published in Spanish as Elena monta en bici, as well as in a bilingual (English/Spanish) edition.