(4) PS "Gleaming and sparkling, the coral sea / Is a place of magical mystery." Rhymes take readers on an ocean voyage led by a small fish who encounters sea creatures en route. The rhymes haven't the grace of Teckentrup's trademark cut-paper-like illustrations, whose die-cut engineering moors the fish to one spot on every right-hand page--until it's time to evade a shark.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 A giant red triangle-shaped boy wanders through a world of regularly proportioned human beings, desperate to fit in. Disconsolate, he strikes out in search of advice from other large bodies: the ocean, the sun, and, rewardingly, the moon. Illustrated in traffic-light colors applied by what resembles woodblocks, this tidy parable about being oneself comes in a suitably big-and-tall trim size.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Translated by Edward Gauvin. A boy describes the day when his party-loathing parents finally throw him a birthday bash. They enlist the help of neighborhood problem-solver Mr. Ponzio, who lets things get somewhat out of hand (think hippo in the bathtub). The book's narrative arc is overcrowded (like the Snipperpots' house), but the retro-flavored mixed-media art is enchanting.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 A narrating pink eraser is no fan of messes. When a yellow pencil creates visual havoc--its charcoal-gray lines and shadings are the book's only other color--the eraser hides in a pencil-sketched forest. The eraser feels trapped ("I'll never be able to fix all of this!") until it realizes a creative workaround. The book's lessons (accept imperfection, work collaboratively) are unsubtle but worthwhile.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Delphine Renon. Crocodile Fossil loves everything about the beach...except the part about swimming. Following some coaxing from his animal friends, the quiet croc faces his fear, creating a not-so-quiet "SPLASSSHHH." As in The Quiet Crocodile, there's not much story here; the book's calling card is the meticulous art in which critters use the croc's back as a climbing structure.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Translated by Olga Varshaver. Illustrated by Victoria Semykina. After a paper boat floating in a pond overhears a duck reminiscing about the ocean, it sails off to find the sea, interacting with various watercrafts along the way. Just as the journey is a long haul for the paper boat, the story (translated from the Russian) is a lengthy haul for the reader, although the dominantly blue mixed-media art couldn't be more scenic.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Colin Jack. In this Dragons from Mars follow-up, young Nathaniel informs the two mythical visitors to Earth that it's their first day of school, too. Once again, Aronson's rhymes are rock-solid ("Maybe they've never seen dragons before. / What if they're frightened and run for the door?"), and the dragons, given an appealingly cartoonish mien, can stand in for anyone with new-situation anxiety.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 After she meets a sheepdog, a none-too-bright sheep decides to school him in how to do his job because "everyone knows I'm an expert at watching sheep." She doesn't realize what readers do: she's so oblivious that Sheep Dog has to keep rescuing her from danger. This odd-couple pair recalls a Looney Tunes duo in a picturesque pastoral setting.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Illustrated by Nidhi Chanani. A girl wakes with a mission: "TODAY, I WILL BE FIERCE!" She proceeds to "put on my armor" (get dressed), "fill my treasure chest" (load her backpack), and go to school. This invigorating story's humor derives from the cartoon-style art, which interprets her feisty pronouncements: e.g., "I will charge the many-headed serpent" means facing the kids on the school bus.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 A girl longs for the courage to talk to some peers on their way to school, but something keeps preventing her: fear, represented as a crosshatched monster that dogs her on nearly every page. This marvelously attuned story is told with the help of comics-style panels but no words until the girl manages to utter the most necessary one: "Hi."

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Roland Garrigue. In this cheeky update--or maybe backdate?--of "The Gift of the Magi," Caveboy trades his beloved rocks to get a toolbox for his best friend Cavegirl's birthday; meanwhile, Cavegirl trades her tools to procure a rock box for Caveboy's birthday. The lively art, while not picturesque, features good gags, like presents wrapped not in paper but fur.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS A green Godzilla-like monster is so hungry that it's angry, or "hangry." When a bird snatches its hot dog, the monster becomes really hangry, wreaking havoc in the city. The portmanteau can't sustain a whole picture book, but the comics-style layouts in this mock horror story's mixed-media illustrations are ideal for showcasing the monster's size changing according to its, er, hanger.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Translated by Elisa Amado. Illustrated by Rafael Yockteng. After a lion agrees to spare him, a mouse pledges to return the favor and does. But when the lion does him another favor, the mouse wonders what's up. (Answer: friendship.) This winning update of Aesop's "The Lion and the Mouse" has tasteful art juxtaposed with amusing omniscient narration ("'Insignificant'...is the most insulting thing you could say about a mouse").

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 "What are you guys doing?" a caterpillar asks its fellow creatures. The reply: "We're going to metamorphosize." "Meta-WHAT-now?" The caterpillar's cluelessness prevails throughout this amusing Mo Willems–flavored tale of transformation ("'Am I a butterfly yet?' / 'No.' / 'How about now?' / 'No'"). Cartoon-style art shows the goggle-eyed caterpillar behaving wonderfully badly (e.g., it orders takeout from its chrysalis).

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Fiona Woodcock. "How do you budge an unbudgeable curmudgeon...?" Such is the challenge for a girl at home with her apparent brother (they're both redheads), who resembles the Muppets' Animal and won't relinquish her backpack. She tries politeness, food, and distraction, but an unlikely strategy yields his change of heart--and face. Assonance, unpredictability, slapstick-tinged art--it's a picture book triple play.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Claire Almon. It's 1895, and Mary Fields wants the stagecoach driver job she sees advertised around Cascade, Montana. Unfortunately, she has two strikes against her: she's black and female. (Driving a stagecoach, which can mean run-ins with thieves, is considered man's work.) Charles tells Fields's triumphant story with aplomb, and illustrator Almon captures the Wild West's earth tones and Fearless Mary's arms-akimbo determination.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Coat presents forty-plus large, simple, woodcut-like illustrations reminiscent of Matisse's cutouts: e.g., a big black circle, a neon-pink octopus, a witch's face in profile. The book is wordless except in four arbitrary-seeming instances, when an animal is given a name: a striped elephant is "ALEPH," a blue rhino is "CYRUS," etc. Individually, the illustrations are tasty; collectively, they're a feast.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Sara Infante. "I'm Max. I'm a bookmark who used to be SCARED TO DEATH of books. The pictures FREAKED me out!" What changed? Max earned a "Special Bookmark Badge" that required learning how to breathe correctly, make a plan, and think positively. This strategy may help nervous types, although the layouts, in which acrobatic fonts border feisty mixed-media art, may prove anxiety-provoking.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Junghwa Park. Before Gilbert's widowed grandfather begins his outdoor nap, he asks Gilbert to make sure the flies stay away; this means that Gilbert can't play with his also-visiting cousins ("Grandpa is counting on me"). Gilbert's narration is too mature for someone going into kindergarten, but this meditation on grandparent-grandchild devotion is touching, and the unpretentious art conveys a relaxed family vibe.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Lorraine Rocha. When her grandmother gifts her with not a computer but a lemon tree, the disappointed birthday girl decides to make lemonade. This how-to (recipe included) features the girl's bossy-spunky narration (when juicing lemons: "Come on--squeeze, squeeze, squeeze-a-roo!") and summer-kissed art that portrays the whole community pitching in to support the lemonade stand. The girl's profits go toward something surprising for the whole block.

Reviewer: Nell Beram