(2) K-3 "It's hard to knit a sweater with your hooves." The opening line of this animal fable sounds like a piece of gnomic wisdom, but in fact it simply refers to protagonist Hakim, a friendly-looking donkey who is knitting a sweater for his friend Daisy, who lives on the top of a mountain. "Hard" it may be, but obviously not impossible, because one page-turn later we see Hakim tucking the completed blue sweater into his colorful tapestry saddlebag before heading off to deliver his gift. The first character he meets on the narrow, foggy mountain path is a doom-predicting goat who warns against the mountain's monsters. Hakim is unflappable when he sees monstrous silhouettes appearing in the mist and, sure enough, they all turn out to be benign, if odd. Every encounter is a witty and wacky visual joke. The creatures join Hakim on his journey and are present for the final big reveal, a surprise that turns the tale inside out and undercuts an overly neat moral. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are dramatically composed, full of humor, and punctuated with mysterious glowing fog. A book that is perfect for storytime and, with its clean design and accessible text, also for new readers.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022

(2) K-3 Wallowing in his pit of mud, Bobo the boar receives a surprising piece of mail: an invitation from the palace to meet the queen for dinner! A night of tossing and turning precedes the big day, and Bobo's mind spins with questions: "How would he know which fork to use? Could he pick up his glass with his hooves?" Bobo wakes up late for his limousine ride (with humans) to visit the royal. His next mistake--arriving "underdressed," or, rather, not dressed at all. A series of accidental mishaps ensues, leaving the palace in near-ruins. Well-timed page-turns move readers from one wild disaster to the next, before an amusing reveal of the queen's identity leads to understanding. Our protagonist lets loose, no longer constrained from boar-ish behavior, and the accompanying illustration's decorative frame cannot even contain the messy festivities. Bahrampour's detailed and cartoonish watercolors pair with simple, understated text to set the tone for a silly tale about being yourself. Readers will snort with laughter alongside Bobo's romp through the palace.

Reviewer: Grace McKinney | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(2) K-3 In this delightfully absurd tale, Otto, a hat store mirror, is dissatisfied and turns himself into a funhouse mirror, upsetting customers and his boss. He flees the store and is at last able to indulge his wanderlust. He meets the mirror of his dreams, and it is a fitting--and touching--end to the antics that of the "many wonderful things" the mirrors reflect, none is more satisfying than "look[ing] at each other, reflecting back and forth...forever and ever and ever."

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2003