(4) K-3 Illustrated by Michael Allen Austin. Kyle of Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the School Bus returns to face the school cafeteria, relying on an older kid's rules: "Don't hold up the line," "Don't forget to pay," etc. Readers will cheer Kyle's determination, but, as with this book's predecessor, the logorrheic text and the creepy illustrations (characters sometimes resemble airbrushed Plasticine insects) aren't for everyone.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Michael Allen Austin. Kyle's older brother gives him ten rules to endure the school bus ride (e.g., "Never make eye contact"). It turns out Kyle does just fine by (inadvertently) disobeying them. This spunky tale of self-reliance can be a little wordy. Austin's quasi-realistic, semi-grotesque style shows the theoretical bullies as ferocious beasts while the human characters have rubbery, blue-tinged faces.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) YA Grandits playfully channels a teenage girl's dreams, anxieties, and pet peeves in these concrete poems. Across the thirty or so poems, Jessie reveals she's a vegetarian, plays volleyball and cello, and can't stand cheerleaders. In turn feisty and insecure, Jesse leaps off the page. By book's end, she's removed some bricks from "The Wall" that divides her likes and dislikes.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2007

(4) K-3 Book designer Grandits takes his skill with type and layout to write concrete poetry with special appeal for boys. An eleven-year-old boy named Robert features in many of the poems, with topics such as farting, spewing, and missed lay-ups. Some girl-bashing is thrown in, too. The quality varies widely, some clever ("TyrannosaurBus Rex"; "My Sister Is Crazy"), some poems in name only.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke