(3) PS "I've bean thinking of u." This diminutive book is a love letter spiked with produce puns (bean for been, berry for very, etc.); the featured fruit or vegetable, which Ehlert creates with her signature cut-paper technique, commands each spread. A fine touch: each spread, combining the produce illustration with letters, numbers, and hearts, doubles as a rebus.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Stephen Gilpin. When his teacher says it's time for show-and-tell, Jimmy says, "That stinks!" Turns out he's referring to his pet skunk, which he presents to the class. When Susie replies, "Aw, nuts!", she means the snacks she's brought from home. Amazingly, Katz sustains the clever-crude riff until the principal has the last laugh. Gilpin's semi-grotesque art has MAD Magazine–style swagger.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 In a set of twenty portmanteau puns ("Who is building Mr. Putney's hot tub? A boa constructor") we follow our hero through an event-filled day. The riddle pattern lends itself perfectly to page-turn suspense and wild guesses. Agee's pared-down cartoon style adds to the fun: "Who is snooping on Mr. Putney?" A spyena--in trench coat, shades, and a fedora.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2010

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by George Booth. Nonstop puns and other wordplay (sometimes funny) reinforced by comical pen-and-ink drawings depict a week in the life of young Ron Faster. His schoolmates include Viola Fuss and Izzy Normal, all supervised by school personnel such as Ms. Celia Seeyalater and Mr. Hugh da Mann. Ron's adventures play second fiddle to a tangle of hit-or-miss witticisms.

Reviewer: Sarah Novogrodsky

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by J. P. Sandy. Cleary presents a wide variety of language humor, ranging from anagrams and Tom Swifties to cartoons and mathematical poems. He also encourages readers to try writing their own humor. Illustrations add to the fun by exaggerating and providing extra details. Though the whole has a scattered, disjointed quality, there's much to challenge older-elementary readers. Reading list, websites.

Reviewer: Beth L. Meister

(4) K-3 "My supplies have a mind of their own!" declares Art. Paper throws a party at her "pad." Pencils, crayons, paint, ink, and more attend, creating a "mess-terpiece" of fun. Exuberant splashes of color reign, as cartoon art supplies cavort through frenetically busy pages, expressing themselves in art puns that some kids won't get (e.g., "2B or not 2B?").

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(2) K-3 Chicken dreams of a barn with all the corn any chicken could want. His friend George thinks Chicken is yolking, but decides to go along to look. This corny story will tickle many a funny bone, eggsactly its intention. Elegantly bucolic and ironically decorous pen and watercolor illustrations add to the lunacy; conversation balloons show the characters cracking jokes at will.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2008

(2) YA College-guy narrator Jake Jacobsen decides to take an extended break from speaking after unwisely blurting out to his best friend Sean that he has slept with three of Sean's previous girlfriends. "Writing feels safer somehow. I can catch myself before I say the wrong thing." The novel's engaging jumble of correspondence--notebooks, dry-erase boards, napkins, paper tablecloths--amounts to a study of vulnerability.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2004

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Henry Cole. In his third book, the marvelously mustachioed Moose organizes a reunion of moose kin from Moosachusetts to Moosissippi. Bad puns, silly wordplay, and a truly ridiculous climax full of unwelcome moosekitos may make some kids giggle, but the slapstick is too overwrought to be truly funny. Nevertheless, the illustrations of cavorting moose relatives in swimsuits and PJs are quite a hoot.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin

(4) 4-6 Published in Great Britain in 1954, this visual-puzzle book features twenty-nine uncaptioned comic illustrations representing famous adages and sayings; a key at book's end provides the answers (e.g., a smiling man hoisting a bear on his shoulders depicts "grin and bear it"). Adults may be the book's ideal audience, as kids will most likely be unfamiliar with sayings such as "it suits them down to the ground."

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Henry Cole. As the title suggests, this rhyming text reveals the punny truth about what animals are really saying and offers advice on how to respond. Young readers--especially beginners able to recognize the difference in spelling even when the word is a homonym--will enjoy both the puns and the playfully expressive cartoon illustrations.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Howard Fine. Before making it on the silver screen, mild-mannered King Kong peddled Ape-On cosmetics--according to this offbeat tale. Crisp narration and goofy puns help make the premise work. Fine's skillful use of perspective and rich pastels intensifies the future star's mammoth, yet amusingly dapper appearance. Readers will chuckle at the bespectacled, bow-tied behemoth hawking his Gorilla Mist perfume.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger