(3) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Little Blue Truck (Little Blue Truck; Little Blue Truck Leads the Way) and his toad friend are going to a Halloween party. Along the way, they pick up other costumed animal pals. Schertle's bouncy rhymes set up each encounter; lift-the-flaps on the board book's facing pages give the answers. McElmurry's folksy, detailed illustrations provide some foreshadowing for the Little Blue Truck–centered reveal at the party.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2016

(2) PS Illustrated by Stephanie Yue. Lyrical text follows a young mouse's daily activities in each season, every day following the same formula. In spring, summer, and fall, he explores, greets other creatures, and gathers stores for winter. When he pops out of his hole to find snow, let the cozy indoor winter activities begin! Cutaway art shows the mouse's humble underground abode, furnished with homey details.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2015

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Petra Mathers. Fifteen adroitly phrased rhymes, voiced by pieces of clothing, reflect children's amiable relationships with these intimate possessions. Schertle's contagiously rhythmic, playful verse is perfectly reflected in the art (full-page alternating with lively vignettes). From delicately comical to downright funny, Mathers brings her signature style to endearing watercolors of the various animals who stand in for children.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2009

(4) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. While visiting the city, Little Blue Truck lands in a traffic jam with a crowd of scowling, pushy vehicles. After Blue wisely admonishes them to go "one at a time," the mayor picks the little truck to lead everyone in a polite parade. The vehicles reform rather too quickly, but the sprightly rhyme is entertaining, as is the portrayal of the city, with its many-windowed skyscrapers.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by David Slonim. The book's three interlocking stories provide lots of laughs. In the first tale, Jeremy finds the perfect thing to collect. In the second, Jeremy wants a pet dust bunny. The final story (published previously as a picture book) finds Jeremy on St. Patrick's Day wearing no green. Short chapters, frequent black-and-white illustrations, and funny situations will amuse early chapter book readers.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2009

(3) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Featuring trucks, farm animals, and animal sounds, this story is right on target for a board book audience. Little Blue and his friends drive home the story's gentle message (some days, nice guys finish first) as effectively as before. Schertle's bouncy rhyming text and McElmurry's amiable old-fashioned-looking illustrations fare well in the smaller format.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Aaron Renier. On his way home from school, young Digby finds himself enmeshed in a series of improbable events that conspire to keep him from doing his homework. In the end, Digby's yarn captures the president's attention, and she writes him a note canceling his homework. While the cartoon illustrations are too busy, readers will enjoy scanning them for clues about what might come next.

Reviewer: David Elzey

(2) PS Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. Schertle's rhyming text bounces along as Little Blue Truck, on a leisurely country drive, beeps hello to his animal friends. The calm is shattered when an obnoxious dump truck barrels past--then gets stuck in the mud. McElmurry's amiable illustrations give Little Blue a vintage look, and this old-fashioned book has a timeless message: some days, nice guys finish first.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Matt Phelan. A playfully lyrical text describes the seasonal activities of "a boulder-big bear with shaggy, raggy brownbear hair everywhere...except on his no-hair nose." For most of the year his exposed nose is of no concern, but when winter comes it's a different story. Loose-handed illustrations in pastel and pencil show the rotund bear from a wide variety of perspectives.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(4) PS Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. Tired of "One, two, buckle my shoe"? The parent of a young elephant counts out the pleasure the two will share ("3, 4, dip and pour / oceans from a pail. / We might catch a mermaid / with a swishy fish's tail"). Some of the rhymes stall, but they're all ebullient--a quality aided and abetted by the book's joyful watercolors.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) PS Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. In this companion to All You Need for a Snowman, busy kids enjoy a summer's day. Again, Schertle's rhyming text bounces along with its list ("sun and shade, / buckets and balls and / lemonade"), while Lavallee's illustrations capture the joys of sand and sea. Preschoolers, however, are bound to notice the one crucial item nowhere to be seen: sunscreen.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Curtis Jobling. A boy is in bed "when I thought I heard a knocking...." He goes downstairs, looks out the window...and "two empty eyeholes stared right back!" The skeleton climbs the stairs to the boy's bedroom and announces what he's after: clothes to cover up his bones. The suspenseful rhyme bounces along, delivering both shivers and laughs, and the cartoonlike illustrations help diffuse the scariness.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2003

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Julia Noonan. When a restless toddler can't sleep, his father brings him outside for a late-night, pajama-clad walk, and together they see animals--mouse, owl, raccoon, dog, cat, skunk, and possum--all busy with their own nocturnal wanderings. Soft, moonlit illustrations follow the rhyming, repetitive guessing game within the text to its predictably sleepy close.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(4) PS Illustrated by Linda Hill Griffith. This collection of fourteen poems ranges from the amusing "A Bad Bear Day" to the bittersweet "Barely Bear." Each simple poem is paired with a detailed, full-page painting featuring teddy bears engaged in various activities (sleeping, playing, etc.). The ideas expressed in both verse and illustrations aren't original but will attract die-hard teddy bear fans.

Reviewer: Beth L. Meister

(3) PS Illustrated by Ted Rand. After parading to bed with her animals, Hattie explains to her parents why all nine of them must sleep with her. This new edition of a bedtime counting book features expressive, cozy artwork that suits the comfort of a recognizable bedtime ritual.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) PS Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. Schertle's neatly rhymed and cadenced text keeps this simple story rolling, while Lavallee clearly understands the serious joys of making snowmen in superabundant snow. Industrious tots, rotund in rainbow-hued snow gear, radiate vigor as they collaborate on their monumental project, enthusiastically shaping the snow. A wonderfully childlike and ebullient addition to the winter repertoire.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Mark Buehner. The essential cat, in all its haughty self-assurance, is brought to vivid life in this captivating volume that alternates haiku with longer, rhyming verses. Realistic oil and acrylic full-page paintings (striking enough that an invitation to find animals hidden in each page seems an unnecessary disraction) illustrate a book that holds its own int he cat-poetry category.

Reviewer: Nancy Vasilakis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1999

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Wendell Minor. Graced with humor and rhythmic assurance, fourteen lyric poems invite the reader to imagine small moments on a farm. Although the poems are generally reflective in nature, their robust language rewards reading aloud. Minor's full-page and double-spread watercolors are unnecessary and intrusive, but the poetry is first-rate.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 1999