(3) PS Illustrated by James Marshall. "See the piggy, / See the puddle, / See the muddy little puddle." Mother, father, and brother pig chide the little piggy--who, naturally, ends up in "the muddy little puddle"--for being "much too plump and little / To be in the muddy middle." Marshall's instantly recognizable characters bring Pomerantz's delightful verse to life in this board-book edition of an old favorite.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: June, 1974

(3) PS Illustrated by Byron Barton. This simple story works well in board book format. Barton's solid, clear illustrations fill the pages and are bold enough to survive being shrunk to less than half the size of their original reproduction. Young readers will enjoy the suspense and rhythm of the villagers' search for a bear and will be satisfied with the happy ending, in which an unharmed bear ambles away from the houses back to his home in the woods.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Illustrated by JoAnn Adinolfi. Tom is giving his dog, Louie, a birthday party. When Emilia insists on bringing her pet gerbils, "Louie" informs her by letter (Tom is Louie's scribe; Emilia's older brother, Pedro, is hers) that she's uninvited. So begins a feisty correspondence. Given the promising scenario, the ending is rather anticlimactic, and it's hard to keep all the characters straight, but the candy-colored illustrations expertly capture the party vibe.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Kurt Cyrus. Sliver and Slice, two grouchy old mice who live a miserly life in an abandoned car, routinely turn away other neighborly mice as well as those in need. However, one cold winter night, they open their home to four young mice, changing everyone's lives forever. Although the rhyme becomes tedious, the book includes many child-pleasing details in the illustrations, including Sunday comics wallpaper, an oil-can furnace, and mice clad in denim overalls.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(4) K-3 Illustrated by David Soman. Published spring 1998. Molly and Ben share a friendship, a two-family house, and an annual birthday party. They fight shortly before the special day but have the party "for the sake of the grown-ups." In a contrived ending, they make up when each gives the other a special birthday gift. Soman's watercolor illustrations are expressive and best at showing the loneliness and longing Ben and Molly feel before they make up.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth