(3) PS Illustrated by Jennifer Yerkes. "Red light, green li-" reads a dozen-odd right-hand pages; turning the page reveals the concluding letters to each "li-": “-on” (a dapper green lion prepares to cross the street), "-ghtning!" (lightning spooks the lion), etc. Will the lion ever get across the street? An omniscient narrator ("Some days are not like most days") walks readers through this suspenseful word game, tastefully illustrated with pastel and brush-pen line art.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Macky Pamintuan. The zoo animals hop into a rocket and blast off to the moon, but an asleep-at-the-wheel rhino sends them off course, returning them to Earth. The text, with its quasi-rhymes, wordplay, and onomatopoeia, is awkward, but the story has an easy-to-follow trajectory. Clear, energetic digital illustrations reminiscent of film animation will engage both the space-travel and zoo-animal fandoms.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(3) PS Illustrated by Stephanie Ruble. Both Ewe (sheep) and Aye (lemur) want to fly. Ewe experiments with wheels, while Aye tries with wings. After several failed solo attempts, they find success in combining their ideas, soaring higher than they ever imagined possible. With clean color saturation, Ruble's illustrations are expressive and spunky, while the simple text's clever wordplay delivers a message of strength in partnership.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(3) PS Illustrated by Mike Lowery. A straightforward narrative about friends Frog and Bunny's argument over a robot is reinforced by rhymes (or near rhymes) playing off the book's title: "Ribbit Rabbit. / Trip it, trap it." It's a notably inventive and well-sustained bit of storytelling, and the mixed-media art finds both the frustration and humor in the age-old challenge of learning how to share.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Nathan Hale. After Jeremy claims a "vulchair" ate his homework, his teacher makes a home visit. She enters his "gorvilla" through the "condoor," walks across the "floormingos" and up the "harecase" to his "kangaroom." The forced story line is beside the point; what's really on display are Ryan's comical wordplay and Hale's clever acrylic illustrations, which gleefully capture the absurdity of the text.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley