(3) K-3 Illustrated by Robert Neubecker. Four little monsters work at a construction site, breaking for lunch, a story, and a nap. With its kid-friendly milieu, creepy cast, and thoughtful nods to a kindergartner's schedule, readers will lap this up. The digitally colored India ink illustrations are feisty and funny, especially the building the monsters create: a majestic, animal-head-bedecked mansion ("The colors all clash. The design is divine!").

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Hiroe Nakata. A girl asks her mother to tell her the story of her birth, which, based on her interjections ("And then there was a snowstorm"), she has clearly heard before. Illustrated in a muted palette, the book is notable for the specifity of Mama's account and for the final revelation that Mama is pregnant: as Mama notes, the baby will have "its own story."

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Howard Fine. Six dinosaurs set sail with great bravado but have trouble when a storm hits. "They dinosault like Ping-Pong balls, / Bumping dinorumps and walls." After becoming spectacularly seasick, they decide to forsake sailing and become train enthusiasts instead. Lund may overuse the "dino" prefix, but her bouncy rhyme will elicit chuckles, and the in-your-face illustrations are well suited to their preposterous subject.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Carolyn Digby Conahan. Each of ten rhyming prayers is matched with a Bible verse and a lively, cartoony illustration, as of a family together or children at play, that reinforces the poem's theme. Apparently meant to be read in two voices, each poem has a for-kids refrain--"God smiles at me" or "God believes in me"--that occurs at regular intervals. Although collectively repetitive, the poems individually have an easy, light touch.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam