(3) K-3 Translated by Mara Lethem. Illustrated by Chiara Carrer. The lives of seven disadvantaged children who share the same name and live throughout the Americas are highlighted in short, almost poetic snippets translated from the Spanish. Each Pablo has his own unique struggles and sources of hope. The evocative colored- and graphite-pencil illustrations underscore a somber mood and evoke readers' empathy for the boys.

Reviewer: Katie Darrin

(4) PS Translated by John Oliver Simon. Illustrated by Mandana Sadat. Whimsical but uneven rhyming text, translated from Spanish, describes the relationship between baby animals and their mothers. The black-and-gray illustrations, accented with splashes of color, depict patterns and textured prints that invite repeated perusals. One illustration of a stern-looking mother owl with an oversize head and stark features may be off-putting, but most of the animals are depicted with friendly expressions.

Reviewer: Renée Wheeler

(4) K-3 Translated by Elisa Amado. Illustrated by Mandana Sadat. A young girl moves her hand and enters a surreal fantasy world that is subtly composed of items in her living room. Sadat's richly textured and brightly colored illustrations (in pencil, crayon, and digital techniques) atop ink-black backgrounds are visually compelling, but unfortunately the spare poem is not as fluid in English as it is in Spanish.

Reviewer: Siena Leslie

(3) PS Translated by Susan Ouriou. Illustrated by Isol. An absurdist zero-to-ten counting book plays with the shapes of numerals some of the time ("4 for a chair hanging by its legs"); other entries are more obscure ("6 for musketeers alongside their reflection"). Isol's scratchy, gestural pen lines and blocks of solid color work well in this intriguing addition to the growing list of concept books with an arty flair.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson

(4) K-3 Translated by Janet Glass. Illustrated by Morteza Zahedi. Presented in both Spanish and English, short free-verse poems detail such small, memorable moments as feet in a lake or a walk alone. The best of the English translations preserve rhythmic flow despite the language shift, but some fall flat. Recurring imagery of suns and celestial objects is mirrored by Zahedi's stylized mixed-media illustrations and by the yellow or blue page colors.

Reviewer: Siena Leslie

(3) K-3 Translated by Elisa Amado. Illustrated by Chiara Carrer. When Stephen finds a beetle in the garden, his first impulse is to crush it. But then he considers the implications of such an act and changes his mind. As Stephen bends down to observe the small creature, the art's perspective shifts and the beetle assumes visual dominance. The simplicity of Carrer's mixed-media illustrations sweetly underscores the story's message about life's fragility.

Reviewer: Shara Hardeson

(4) K-3 Translated by Elisa Amado. Illustrated by Isol. Each of these twelve blank verse poems describes a pet: a monkey, a marmot, Hurricane the dog who pops soap bubbles with her tail, a "tiny, / very tiny, / teeny tiny" hamster, etc. Unfussy line drawings with splashes of color perfectly match the poems, which were created in collaboration with children from Latin America and occasionally strain for a childlike voice.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) YA Translated by Hugh Hazelton. Illustrated by Linda Wolfsgruber. With drypoint and monoprint illustrations washed in muted but emotive colors, this is a free-verse, present-tense retelling of the librettos of Wagner's great Ring Cycle. Although there is nothing that marks this particularly as a book for young people, it would be an accessible and dramatic introduction for newcomers to the operas.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(4) K-3 Translated by John Oliver Simon. Illustrated by Piet Grobler. Each of the volume's eleven poems focuses on one color. Sometimes using free verse and other times rhyme, the verse (in both English and Spanish) loosely follows the progression of color as day turns into night. Some of the poems are easily accessible while others are more abstruse. The accompanying illustrations, heavy on the subject color, also effectively use white space.

Reviewer: Antonio Trujillo