(3) K-3 Illustrated by Chiara Fedele. Swenson's cheery rhyming couplets introduce the concept of a windfall in this festive (and educational) seasonal book. After attending the "windfall ball" ("A swirling night of celebration, / windy, joyful jubilation"), the forest animals are well-stocked with food for winter. Fedele's watercolor, colored-pencil, and tempera forest scenes feature soft smudges and warm, autumn-evoking colors. Appended with further information and an author's note.

Reviewer: Erica Wetter

(4) K-3 Green Light Readers series. Illustrated by Ryan Sias. Friends Woof and Quack defy species expectations: Woof hates fetching (Meet) and Duck won't fly south (Winter). The narratives take place almost entirely in speech bubbles, which incorporate plenty of repetition for beginning readers. Unfortunately, goofy scenarios with humor arising from text-image interplay lose their oomph as Woof and Quack fade against the over-saturated backgrounds. Review covers these Green Light Readers titles: Meet Woof & Quack and Woof & Quack in Winter.

Reviewer: Rebecca Fox

(4) K-3 Green Light Readers series. Illustrated by Ryan Sias. Friends Woof and Quack defy species expectations: Woof hates fetching (Meet) and Duck won't fly south (Winter). The narratives take place almost entirely in speech bubbles, which incorporate plenty of repetition for beginning readers. Unfortunately, goofy scenarios with humor arising from text-image interplay lose their oomph as Woof and Quack fade against the over-saturated backgrounds. Review covers these Green Light Readers titles: Meet Woof & Quack and Woof & Quack in Winter.

Reviewer: Rebecca Fox

(4) PS Illustrated by Ned Young. Follow eighteen-wheel semi-truck Frankie on his journey from cargo load to final delivery and experience honking horns, squeaking brakes, and tire blow-outs along the way. Appealing primarily to diehard truck fanatics, an onomatopoeic, mostly plot-less text filled with trucking lingo (defined in a "truck-tionary") flows across bright spreads with friendly motion- and commotion-filled illustrations.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(2) PS Illustrated by Chris Raschka. "If you were a dog, would you be a speedy-quick, / Lickety-sloppidy, / scavenge-the-garbage, / frisbee-catching, / hot-dog stealing, / pillow-hogging, / best-friend-ever sort of dog?" After dog comes cat, fish, bug, and so on. The playful direct-address text maintains a pattern, but specifics are gleefully unpredictable. In a pleasing twist, the final animals introduced are dinosaurs. Expressive art captures the animals' movements.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014

(3) PS Illustrated by David Walker. In this pleasing variation on an ever-popular theme, a boy settles into bed during a thunderstorm, only to have six animals join him, one by one. "Flash! Crash! Boom! Boom! Boom! / 'Arrooo,' howled dog. 'Is there room?'" The bed finally collapses when Sis crashes the party. Everyone flees, and the boy is back where he started. Lively pastel-colored art complements the bouncy rhyming couplets.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert