(3) PS In Baker's latest pea showcase, the wee legumes introduce readers to the work they do, from A to Z: "We're architects, authors, and actors, you and I. / We're botanists and bakers--how 'bout a berry pie?" With the teeny peas interfacing with skyscraper-high lowercase letters (e.g., the pea cleaners clean letter c), Baker keeps the rhymes snap-pea (get it?).

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS "Hap-pea January! Let's get going. / Grab your mittens--hooray, it's snowing!" This time, Baker's beloved all-pea cast (Little Green Peas, etc.) introduces the months of the year. In each detail-filled, digitally rendered spread, jumbo-size letters spell out the name of the featured month, while the diminutive performers humorously model appropriate behavior for that month. Veggies this sweet make the year fly by.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Green Light Readers series. Originally published in a previous Mr. and Mrs. Green story collection, this beginning reader features the affectionate alligator couple in a gumball-guessing contest. The episode reinforces the Greens' exuberance, employs simple and often repetitive sentences, and introduces related skills including counting and math. The illustrations match the playful tone and give the alligators personality.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) PS In a thoughtfully structured board book, two red birds explore a snowy landscape, while a rhyming text draws listeners into looking carefully at the pictures to find similarities and differences between things. The digitally rendered illustrations are in muted blues and greens, the bright birds and other animals lending their colors and providing more items for children to spot.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2012

(3) PS "Red fences, red trees, red kites, and... / little green peas." The peas are back (LMNO Peas; 1-2-3 Peas), and now kids will never eat them: they're too cute. In this concept book, the peas aren't illustrating the featured color but interacting with it (who did you expect to rake up those red leaves?). Baker is in fine form, injecting personality into each pencil-eraser-sized orb.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Octopus shares with Little Crab the many things he does with his eight arms. "My arms can knit a sweater, / write a letter, / bake a pie, / and wave good-bye." The gentle rhymes match the soothing ending: his arms give a big, satisfying hug. Digitally rendered illustrations depict the coral-colored octopus in a soft aqua sea, playfully enjoying his everyday activities.

Reviewer: Carrie Harasimowicz Sullivan

(3) PS In this inevitable follow-up to Baker's successful LMNO Peas, the little legumes cavort on or around giant numerals corresponding with their increasing-by-the-page numbers. Basic rhymes describe the jovial peas' activities ("Nine peas dancing--round, round, round, / Ten peas building--pound, pound, pound"); the illustrations are memorable and amusing (four bewigged "Peatles" rock out for "Seventy peas singing--la, la, la").

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Green Light Readers series. Each of these stories, originally published in previous Mr. and Mrs. Green story collections, feature the affectionate alligator couple camping in their backyard, baking and eating cookies, and fishing with special bait. The episodes reinforce the Greens' exuberance, employ simple and often repetitive sentences, and introduce related skills including counting and math. The illustrations match the playful tone and give the alligators personality.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) K-3 Green Light Readers series. Each of these stories, originally published in previous Mr. and Mrs. Green story collections, feature the affectionate alligator couple camping in their backyard, baking and eating cookies, and fishing with special bait. The episodes reinforce the Greens' exuberance, employ simple and often repetitive sentences, and introduce related skills including counting and math. The illustrations match the playful tone and give the alligators personality.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) K-3 Green Light Readers series. Each of these stories, originally published in previous Mr. and Mrs. Green story collections, feature the affectionate alligator couple camping in their backyard, baking and eating cookies, and fishing with special bait. The episodes reinforce the Greens' exuberance, employ simple and often repetitive sentences, and introduce related skills including counting and math. The illustrations match the playful tone and give the alligators personality.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(2) PS In a thoughtfully structured picture book, two little red birds explore a snowy landscape, while a rhyming text draws listeners into looking carefully at the pictures to find similarities and differences between things. The digitally rendered illustrations are in muted blues and greens, the bright birds and other animals lending their colors and providing more things for children to spot.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2012

(2) PS "We're acrobats, artists, and astronauts in space. / We're builders, bathers, and bikers in a race." In bouncy rhyming couplets, Baker goes through the alphabet and comes up with identities for peas. Visual and verbal jokes abound; this is a book for close examination rather than group sharing, rewarding attention with some clever ideas and many laughs.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2010

(2) PS Bird demonstrates for Little Ant the many uses of string: kite-flying, jump-roping, nest-weaving, etc. On the last page the string runs out--but there's just enough left to make the perfect ant-sized swing. The kid-friendliness of the brief rhyming text and spot-on childlike uses for the string are matched by the art, soft pastels of a benign, sunny world.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2009

(3) PS The vaunted tuberous root vegetable gets its due in this illustrated salute. Using the classic children's rhyme "One potato, two potato" as his springboard, layered with an improvisational rhythm, Baker incorporates other words that rhyme with potato ("tic-tac-toe," "big black crow"). The wonderfully cheeky spreads feature ten smiling potatoes bopping in the dirt, with cameos by fellow garden-grown friends.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Colección Luz Verde series. A charismatic alligator describes his feelings and personal attributes. The brief sentences such as "I like who I am" and "I like what I do" are easy to translate, and where appropriate, the translation takes liberties that preserve meaning ("Sometimes I am blue" becomes "Sometimes I am sad" in Spanish). Expressive jewel-toned illustrations show the alligator's many sides.

Reviewer: Tim Wadham

(3) PS When the mouse runs up the clock at one, "it's time for fun." Mouse entertains himself by watching a different animal go by as the hours tick away. New verses hold fast to the original rhythm and meter. Each cleanly designed, digitally illustrated double-page spread features an expansive blue sky, thin strip of green grass, and large-face grandfather clock.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(2) K-3 Beginning readers are treated to three stories with fully developed plots and characters and steady pacing, all of which are emphasized in the jaunty acrylic illustrations. The alligator duo (from Meet Mr. and Mrs. Green) engages in detective work, enters a contest, and performs in a talent show. Each story contains a refrain that allows new readers a respite from all that decoding.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2005

(3) K-3 Baker presents three amusing episodes in the lives of an affectionate alligator couple. They take a camping trip in their backyard; Mr. Green succeeds in eating one hundred pancakes; and they win two blue ribbons at the county fair. Skillful use of language makes the book fun to read. The illustrations match the playful tone and give the alligators personality.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) PS While a young boy paints, he watches a hummingbird dart around the garden just outside his window. The final spread shows the boy's artwork: a geometric, primary-color depiction of the patterns of the bird's flight. The short, energetic phrases of the simple rhymed text convey the fluttery nature of the hummingbird as it zigs and zags through a bright, vibrantly textured cut-paper collage flower bed.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) PS Jaunty rhyming couplets describe the actions of seven ducklings and the different ways to count to seven: "Slipping, sliding, having fun / 7 ducklings, 6 plus 1." Baker cleverly uses double-page spreads to demonstrate the concept of addition, featuring one group of ducklings on the left-hand page, the sum-completing remainder on the right. Playful, textured cut-paper illustrations seem to fly off the pages.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli