(4) K-3 Illustrated by Renée Kurilla. A canine city family heads to the shore for a picnic. They drive their "1 pickup" toward the bridge, as do "2 blue scooters," "3 squeaky jeeps," and so on until "10 troopers' cruisers" block everyone's path ("Road closed"). The spontaneous communal picnic has the esprit de corps of a Richard Scarry composition, but the story slumps after the bridge reopens.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) PS Illustrated by Greg Pizzoli. When little monster Melly gets invited to her cousin's house on the scariest night of the year, she boldly decides to walk there. With each page turn, Pizzoli's uncluttered spreads begin to fill up with various creepy (but benignly illustrated) creatures until this cumulative Halloween tale is bursting at the seams with things that go bump in the night.

Reviewer: Shara Hardeson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(3) YA Fourteen-year-old Cece Maloney will do anything to be a radio star, so she charms her way into a typing job at CBS studios and awaits her chance. Her secrets and those of her friends and family come to a head on the eve of Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast. Cece's innocence is fetching, as is Brendler's 1938 New York setting.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Ard Hoyt. Worm-lover Winnie Finn inquires whether there's a prize for "best worms" at the Quincy County Fair. There isn't; instead she uses her worm farm to help other contest entrants. The writing is impressively economical for a plot so layered, and the illustrations are lively but not distracting: Hoyt knows that the no-nonsense Winnie doesn't have time for frills. Bib.

Reviewer: Nell Beram