(2) K-3 Illustrated by Sophie Corrigan. Tommy aspires to be a pterodactyl when he grows up. Easy, right? When he announces his dream to the class, however, he is met with laughter from his classmates and dismissiveness from his killjoy teacher. The titular refrain is lobbed at Tommy throughout the day. He has answers to everyone's objections (to "There's no money in being a pterodactyl," he rejoins, "People will pay me to pick them up and fly them places"), but the teasing takes its toll. Luckily, Dad knows how to comfort and encourage his imaginative child. Corrigan's bouncy, cartoonlike illustrations feature simply drawn characters, with color and shading providing depth. After an evening of soaring around the backyard together with blankets as wings, Tommy's dad encourages him to follow his inner-pterodactyl dreams. Whether it be dino lovers or fans of prehistoric flying reptiles (as Tommy reminds us, pterodactyls are not dinosaurs), this story speaks to anyone who dreams of the seemingly impossible.

Reviewer: Hill Saxton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by Theodore, III Taylor. "Why can't he put those books down, play football or basketball?" Garvey's father wants to turn him into an athlete, like his sister Angie, but Garvey would rather get lost in a book, listen to music, or dream about galaxies. In addition to pressure at home, he faces endless taunting at school for his weight. When Garvey meets the "skim-milk boy" Manny, who has albinism, he asks how Manny stands the teasing. "I look strange. No changing that. / Is there more to me? / Sure. Kids yell 'albino boy.' / I don't turn around. / Choose the name you answer to. / No one can do that but you." Per Grimes's author's note, this graphic-novel adaptation leaves two-thirds of the original book's (Garvey's Choice, rev. 9/16) tanka poems intact, with only small changes to the rest of them. The verses are given a new visual life with excellent page designs and clever illustrations, including the closing spread showing Garvey singing into a mic and his father playing the guitar, with floating musical notes uniting them in song. An unusually effective use of the graphic-novel format to bring poetry alive.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2016; May, 2023

(1) K-3 As Harrison writes in her author's note, "In childhood, big is good. Big is impressive, aspirational. But somewhere along the way, the world begins to tell us something different: That big is bad. That being big is undesirable." Words matter, as a beautiful little Black girl learns. The girl, a dancer who wears a leotard and tutu throughout the book, "grew and learned and laughed...and grew and grew and grew. And it was good...until it wasn't." When she accidentally gets stuck in the baby swing on the school playground, her classmates and even her teacher hurl hurtful words and laughter, which begin to affect the youngster's self-esteem and self-perception. The text is spare but pointed; Harrison's emotionally powerful, pink-hued illustrations focus on her protagonist's inner experience. The girl looks like a giant in school and at dance class, "exposed, judged, yet invisible." The openness of the illustrations gives way to more cramped and overwhelming compositions as the girl, now in blue-gray, feels increasingly hemmed in by others' judgments--a visible statement about the impact of fatphobia and the adultification of Black children. This girl's story ends triumphantly; she takes her teacher's and classmates' hateful words and hands them back, saying, "These are yours. They hurt me." This book offers readers an opportunity to remember that we all deserve love and respect--no matter what size we are.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Dave Valeza. Color by Ash Szymanik. Rex is looking forward to starting middle school, but his sixth-grade year starts off poorly when he realizes he needs glasses. He's seen other kids being bullied for wearing glasses, and when he goes to school wearing them, Rex is, indeed, made fun of. Victor and his friends are unrelenting, calling him geek, nerd, weirdo, and, of course, four eyes. Victor is the cool guy, and his band of bullies gains popularity by association with him. Even Rex's best friend, Drew, abandons him in favor of Victor, who goes even further and makes fun of Rex's mother for being a waitress. However, after a long depiction of the ways and means of middle-school meanness, Ogle (Free Lunch) and Valeza give the story a positive turn. Rex's abuela tells him the story of the truly hard times of her childhood in Mexico, a few kids from his class who share his "nerdy" interests in comic books and Star Wars become friends, and even Drew returns to the fold. The graphic-novel format is used effectively in this story loosely based on Ogle's life. Sharply defined images become blurry to show readers how Rex sees things; when Abuela relates her childhood story, the colorful palette shifts to gray backgrounds to suggest the family's struggles; and several panels portray the verbal abuse Victor is subjected to by his father, implying why Victor himself has taken to bullying. Rex's glasses help him see more clearly, but listening to his parents, Abuela, and his friends helps him understand what's truly important.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(2) 4-6 This contemporary immigrant tale follows a Beijing girl as she reunites with her parents and younger sister in California after five years of separation. Lina Gao, ten, thinks that her father is a successful microbiologist who owns a big house. Reality kicks in when the fifth grader discovers that her father is a farm worker, the family lives in a cramped apartment, and her mother sells bath bombs online in hopes of covering the back rent. Yang does a skillful job in portraying Lina's multitude of emotions. There's the sadness of leaving her grandmother behind in a Chinese nursing home and the isolation and loneliness stemming from language barriers. Issues of racism and class come up when her parents struggle to be paid fairly and to get updates on their green card applications, Lina is teased at school, and a graphic novel with an Asian American protagonist is targeted for censorship. The most poignant scenes occur as Lina slowly removes the "invisible thread" that prevents her from freely expressing herself, especially when ESL teacher Mrs. Ortiz tells her that even though immigrants are "burdened with a lot of guilt," it is important to remember that "your dreams matter. You matter. Never forget that."

Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) 4-6 Translated by Julia Marshall. Illustrated by Ester Eriksson. Eleven-year-old Cricket keeps a journal describing her turmoil after a bout of chicken pox that kept her home from school for two weeks. During that time her best friend deserts her for "the horse girls," a cliquish set of mean girls who ride horses after school and tease her mercilessly. Additionally, her beloved aunt is hospitalized; she discovers letters from a man her mother loved before Cricket's father; and the only classmate who is kind to her suffers from an unrequited crush. Cricket's voice is strong, sometimes funny, often filled with pain: "When I think about the fun Noa and I used to have my chest hurts as if my heart is an overcooked potato about to become mash." Eriksson's ­prolific art, with strong black lines and distorted images, extends the sense of discomfort and anxiety that permeates the protagonist's writing. The horse girls, for example, are pictured with actual horse heads digging up Cricket's secrets from a graveyard. Originally published in Swedish, the novel successfully conveys the challenges both of navigating school and friendships and of making sense of a perplexing adult world.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) YA Illustrated by Joanna Cacao. Color by Amanda Lafrenais. Soontornvat shares an intimate glimpse into her youth in this coming-of-age graphic memoir. As one of the only Asian American students in her small-town Texas middle school, she endures the typical experiences of children of immigrants in a white, homogenous town: mispronunciation of a "foreign" name; teasing and disgust around "smelly" packed lunches; the reduction of one's identity to "rice girl." Fortunately, Christina has a best friend in fellow outsider Megan, whose father is from Iran. Christina and Megan both want desperately to be chosen for the school's cheerleading squad, and Soontornvat immerses readers in their months of intense practice, shown in the dynamic cartoony illustrations. Both girls ace the tryout, but neither makes it; as a heartbroken Christina muses, maybe everyone saw them as just "too different." By pushing herself to try new activities such as Impromptu Speaking (and with support from family, friends, and the "uncles" at her parents' Thai restaurant), she begins to grow more confident, deriving strength from her community. Here, she shares her story: a "story that needed to be told" for a "young person who needed to read it."

Reviewer: Gabi K. Huesca | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Bonnie Lui. Timid Chinese American ghost Mimi wishes she looked like all the other ghosts. On the first day haunting a new school, she is ridiculed by the popular ghouls because of the "old-fashioned," traditional Chinese garb her relatives insist she wear. But when clique leader Lisette steals Mimi's look, Mimi stops being a "good Chinese girl ghost" and behaves like a very scary ghoul indeed--all ending with an apology from Lisette that leads to new friendships. The text of this caught-between-two-cultures ghost story contains much wordplay ("It isn't long before Mimi and her ghoulmates model all kinds of haunt couture"), and the illustrations capture Mimi's early misery and later empowerment.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(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 Illustrated by Christopher Weyant. Pencil and her friends give Eraser no respect: they taunt her for not being "creative." Tired of playing "Pencil's pooper-scooper," Eraser splits the scene and unexpectedly encounters some discarded papers that remind her of her importance: she gives second chances. Set inside a school bereft of humans, the story delivers ticklish wordplay against ink and watercolor art starring comically anthropomorphized desk mainstays.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Nathan Reed. Sam Wu is out to prove he's brave like his TV heroes on Space Blasters. He even gets a pet snake (though Fang is pretty scary...). But, hopefully, ridding his home of a ghost should make everyone forget the unfortunate (pants-peeing) "incident" for good. This well-written story about courage and maturation weaves in details about growing up in a multi-generational Chinese family and is illustrated with bold, expressive cartoons.

Reviewer: Kari Allen

(2) 4-6 Sixth grader Alec, forced by the afterschool program to either join or create a club, comes up with the "Losers Club," whose name is intended to ensure solitary reading bliss. But as the club increases its members, Alec's expectations change. The story easily works in themes of evolving friendships, bullying and teasing, and how reading is the best thing ever. Reading list.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2017

(3) 4-6 Rachel Brooks had been looking forward to seventh grade until her doctor prescribed a back brace for scoliosis. The rigid brace makes shopping for clothes terrible, threatens her role on the soccer team, and elicits cruel teasing (including the unfortunate name "Robo-Beast"); even her mother (who also had scoliosis) doesn't seem understanding. Rachel's struggle to fit in despite looking different is poignant and believable.

Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum

(3) 1-3 Fix-It Friends series. Illustrated by Tracy Dockray. "The Fix-It Friends," a group that works together to help their peers solve problems, forms in Fear; they help a friend learn lines for a play (Show), another friend to stand up when teased (Sticks), and one of their own to process losing a pet (Wish). Narrated by spunky seven-year-old Veronica and emotively illustrated, these kid-empowering books' lessons go down easily. Back matter includes resources for dealing with each story's concern. Review covers these Fix-It Friends titles: Have No Fear!, The Show Must Go On, Sticks and Stones, and Wish You Were Here.

Reviewer: Kari Allen

(3) K-3 Because he's unusually small, a lion is taunted mercilessly by a leopard, hippopotamus, and crocodile. Then, prompted by a helpful raven, the little lion uses a clever trick of perspective to show everyone he's big enough to touch the moon, leaving the bullies satisfyingly speechless. Thick, skillfully applied black outlines add texture to the expressive digital illustrations in this German import.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 This simplified, generalized picture-book version of Palacio's popular novel allows protagonist Auggie--who has a severe facial difference--to narrate his experience for a younger audience: "All [people] see is how different I look... It hurts my feelings." Digital illustrations play with lines and shading for a luminous effect that underscores the book's theme, but that theme loses power absent the original's richer context.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross

(3) 4-6 Middle School Story series. Illustrated by Stephen Gilpin. Michael and David first bonded in preschool. The nicknames Pottymouth and Stoopid, respectively, follow the boys to middle school. After years of taunting from mean kids and clueless adults, vindication finally comes--but not before a TV show based on them makes things worse. With lots to say about bullying, this comedy, illustrated with Gilpin's caricatures, is more serious than it first appears.

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jeff Mack. One-eyed extraterrestrial Dewey is getting used to Earth, except that a bully makes fun of his speech. When Dewey can't pronounce love on Valentine's Day, the teasing intensifies until Dewey teaches classmates to say "I love you" in his alien language. As in Time for (Earth) School, Dewey Dew, issues of diversity and inclusion are explored lightly and with humor; Mack's cartoons communicate emotions fluently.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(1) K-3 Peter is ridiculed when he attends a costume party as Robinson Crusoe rather than as a pirate like his friends. Later, asleep at home, Peter sails "in and out of hours" until he arrives at a desert island, where our hero--reminiscent of another picture-book voyager--thrives. Fantasy blurs back into reality as "pirates" become his friends and invite him to play. A visually stunning and empowering tale inspired by Sís's childhood.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2017

(4) K-3 Translated by Anthea Bell. Illustrated by Robert Ingpen. In this handsome edition (here reissued in inexpensive paper-over-board) of one of Andersen's best-known stories, the familiar text about the shunned duckling who becomes a beautiful swan has been smoothly translated, and Ingpen's rich illustrations are full of texture and show unusual insight into the animal world. Unfortunately, on some pages the narrow-margin text is a bit difficult to read against the illustrations.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt