(4) PS Illustrated by Brigette Barrager. On a rainy day, Uni and the little girl (who dreamed about each other in Uni the Unicorn) finally meet after wishing to be together. They lift the spirits of the forest animals and other unicorns before they stop the rain through their combined wishing. While the odd plot and twee, color-saturated art overshadow the book's message about belief, fans of the first book should be satisfied.

Reviewer: Janet Daniels

(3) PS Illustrated by Holly Hatam. Addressing the girl in the illustrations (and girls in general), this frankly purposeful book offers advice on a range of topics: "Don't ever lose your sense of wonder," "Listen to your brave side," etc. The messages encourage independence and self-confidence, with the reassurance that help is available if needed. Sprightly collage art and touches of humor in the text create an upbeat tone.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) PS Illustrated by Teagan White. In this sentimental declaration, a narrator assures readers they are protected and loved. Appealingly twee illustrations depict button-eyed children encountering nature in cozy vignettes; opposite each image, patterned text suggests children may interpret starlight as a wink, wind as a kiss on the cheek, and more. While saccharine, this book may be potentially comforting to young readers preparing for a beloved one's absence.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(3) PS Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. When Little Miss learns she's going to be a big sister, she waits impatiently for the baby. "Then...Ow. Now!" The baby arrives. In well-metered rhyming text, this big sis enthusiastically participates in the care of her new sibling. Reynolds's loose-lined, soft-color illustrations are set against ample white space and bring vibrant life to the spare text.

Reviewer: Sian Gaetano

(3) PS Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. Four shapes--a blue circle, a yellow square, a red rectangle, and a green triangle--star in this sweet and silly celebration of friendship. Spare text describes a trait ("Friends make you feel happy"), which the thick-outlined foursome then brings to life in eye-catching, clutter-free spreads (the shapes are arranged as a smiling face). Amusing, well executed, and engaging.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. "I wish you more hugs than ughs." "I wish you more bubbles than bath." Fourteen wishes, each illustrated with a gently funny-cute scene featuring one or more children, conclude with "I wish all of this for you, / because you are everything I could wish for... / and more." Rosenthal's originality manages to keep the heart-tugging out of greeting-card territory.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Brigette Barrager. Unlike other unicorns, Uni believes little girls are real and daydreams about the wonderful things she and her girl would do together. Meanwhile, "somewhere far away (but not that far away)" a real girl dreams of a unicorn waiting to be her friend. Although the characters' large eyes make the bright illustrations too cutesy, the story will appeal to little unicorn fans.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. An exclamation mark tries to fit in with a group of quiet periods, but he doesn't really understand his purpose in life until he meets a nosy question mark. She simply won't stop asking questions until he commands her to "STOP!" The latest offering from this author-illustrator duo works best when it relies more on visual humor than on wordplay.

Reviewer: Kathleen T. Horning | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2013

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Serge Bloch. Rosenthal has a knack for clever, participatory wordplay; here she offers a series of wordles, a term she's coined for phrases that are homophones, as in the book's title. Coming up with meaningful and humorous phrases that also happen to sound the same isn't easy. Yet Rosenthal manages to do so again and again--with crucial assistance from Bloch's gleefully silly mixed-media illustrations.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2013

(3) PS Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Little Miss plants a kiss, tends to it properly, then waits: "Doubt. / Pout. / Sprout! / SHOUT! SHOUT!" The single kiss blooms as pink and yellow sparkles that she spreads and shares with a diverse cast of other children; it turns out to be "endless bliss." The simple rhyming text is delightfully spare--as are Reynolds's miniscule, glitter-embellished pictures.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Scott Magoon. In this companion to Spoon, Rosenthal and Magoon again make utensils deeply sympathetic. Chopstick, having broken its leg, encourages its mate to "venture off on your own a bit"; they learn that separation has made them a stronger pair. The deadpan puns are consistently good, whether presented just textually or textually and visually, as when "Chopstick was quickly whisked away"--by a whisk.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. Double-page spreads feature random characters speaking in "wumbers" ("Would you like some honey 2 swee10 your tea?" "Yes, that would be 1derful"). This might strike readers as more innovative if they weren’t already replacing syllables with numbers in their text messages, but the humor of Lichtenheld's cartoon illustrations is likely to grab their attention. Exaggerated facial expressions offer picture clues that are even more fun to decode.

Reviewer: Kathleen T. Horning | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2012

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jen Corace. A series of simple equations and companion illustrations sum up various childhood experiences ("barefoot + screen door + popsicles = summer") and life lessons ("blaming + eye rolling ≠ sincere apology"). The equation/art pairings serve, in effect, as mini-vignettes, and are thoughtful and well chosen. Corace's illustrations have a (mostly) retro vibe that works well with Rosenthal's arithmetical musings.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Delphine Durand. "After the twenty-six letters had been invented," Al Pha takes up the challenge of putting them in order. His logic is often a stretch (E next to F because they look alike, P because "just then, nature called"), but it may still help readers make sense of the alphabet's seemingly arbitrary order. Acrylic illustrations of characters shaped like thumbs enhance the humor.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Paul Schmid. Two things are certain about this uneven assemblage of silly and sometimes subversive poems, palindromes, puns, lists, and random observations. One, kids will like it. Two, ditties like "Tinkle / Tinkle / In the sea / Don't look under / While I pee..." will draw comparisons to Shel Silverstein's work. Expressive black line drawings are a perfect, punchy counterpart to Rosenthal's verbal humor and horseplay.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jane Dyer. Each page features a vocabulary word that is defined in terms of how it relates to cookies ("PROMPT means, When it's time to make cookies, we are here and ready on the dot!"). Like others in this series, the sweet-treat hook makes for a kid-friendly vocabulary lesson. The eye-pleasing scenes show rosy-cheeked tots interacting with animals dressed like children.

Reviewer: Sophie Williamson

(3) PS Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. A little girl puts her mom to bed--marching her upstairs, scrubbing her feet in the bath, monitoring teeth-brushing ("Did you brush your teeth?" "Yep." "A nice long time?" "Yep." "Good mommy"), picking out tomorrow's outfit, and "reading" her a book--before falling exhausted into her own bed. The conceit works quite well, with Pham's comical illustrations humorously extending Rosenthal's witty speech-balloon text.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jane Dyer & Brooke Dyer. "PROTECT means, I will always be here to keep your cookies safe." As she did in Cookies and Christmas Cookies, Rosenthal defines challenging vocabulary words (e.g., endearment, unrequited) metaphorically via baked-goods-centric analogies. Like the text, the illustrations (which feature clothed animals and humans interacting on equal footing) occasionally cross the line between tenderness and sentimentality.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Scott Magoon. Spoon, a humble young utensil, feels disenfranchised: Knife "gets to cut," Fork "gets to go practically EVERYWHERE," etc.; meanwhile, little does Spoon know that he's the object of the other utensils' envy. This tastefully punning (Spoon goes "stir-crazy") tale of envy and, finally, self-acceptance has improbably wide appeal, thanks to illustrations that somehow manage to anthropomorphize a clutch of cutlery.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. It's a duck. No, it's a rabbit. While two offstage narrators argue, readers can decide what the central figure in each double-page spread actually is. Rosenthal's skillfully written banter is heightened by Lichtenheld's simple ink, watercolor, and colored-pencil illustrations of the white duck-rabbit figure outlined in thick black line and silhouetted against a bright blue sky. A great brainteaser and great fun.

Reviewer: Chelsey Philpot | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2009