(2) PS Peeking out of a top hat are two pointy white ears: "What do we have here?" A page-turn reveals a rabbit popping out of the hat, and as the rabbit emerges further, it's clear that this is not a magician's rabbit but a rabbit who is a magician--"It's Hattie the Magician and this is her hat!" The narrator encourages listeners to say some magic words ("Abracadabra, katakurico") and another pair of pointy ears appears in the hat, this time turning out to be a startled-looking orange cat. Even very young children can guess the next animal to emerge (a squirrel, because of its bushy tail), but the octopus (first indicated by a single salmon-colored tentacle) is a funny surprise. Kitamura uses a combination of watercolor, gouache, and pen-and-ink to create bold and lively pictures, with thick black lines giving each animal outsize reactions to every development. His use of color is especially striking, with the blue hat set against the warm yellows, pinks, and reds of the animals. When an elephant tries to pop out of the hat, it requires all the rest of the animals to help pull it out, but even then, there's one more surprise to come. Magician Hattie takes a well-deserved bow at the end, but preschoolers are going to want to start the story all over again, chanting, "Abracadabra, katakurico."

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

(4) PS Lion Lionel is going to a party, so his giraffe barber attempts some envelope-pushing styles: "Dandelion hair," a spaceship look (it's "out of this world"), etc. This fairly bland book has a gimmick: on page after page, oval cutouts reveal Lionel's single stock expression of perplexity, and at book's end, readers can insert their own faces into the action.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 A boy falls through time, landing in the Stone Age. The boy's first-person observations make Stone Age society come alive. Sentences are concise and easy to read, with a poetic lilt. The well-designed pages make effective use of white space, particularly in a double-page spread of small illustrations that demonstrate everyday tasks. An author's note is appended. Timeline. Ind.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2008

(4) K-3 In this outsize book with a comic-strip format, readers meet Boots, a cat who thinks that he's more clever than he really is. In each of three fairly mundane adventures, Boots tries to outwit or get along with his fellow creatures, only to be humbled in the end. The stories, complete with wisecracks from Boots's peers, are too wordy, but Boots is an original character and Kitamura's drawings are appealingly blithe.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson

(2) K-3 This farcical comedy begins when "an old lady in a pointed hat" climbs through Nicholas's bedroom window, waves her broom, and incants. The next morning, the boy finds himself in the body of his cat, Leonardo; Leonardo-in-Nicholas's-body has been dragged off to school. Kitamura's oddball sense of humor finds a perfect outlet here, and readers will find a fresh and lively diversion in this uncommon adventure.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2000

(4) PS A stylized, round-eyed cat looks for a place to hide from his bath and tries to find a friend among toys that befuddle him by not answering his greeting. Although the action is repetitive enough for very young children, the humor and sophisticated look of the illustrations in these board books will be best appreciated by older toddlers.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(4) PS A stylized, round-eyed cat looks for a place to hide from his bath and tries to find a friend among toys that befuddle him by not answering his greeting. Although the action is repetitive enough for very young children, the humor and sophisticated look of the illustrations in these board books will be best appreciated by older toddlers.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.