(4) K-3 Illustrated by Helen Dardik. Bagel is roundly (get it?) rejected when he tries to find a partner for the Cherry Jubilee dance contest: Pretzel tells him his steps don't "cut the mustard," Croissant says his moves are "totally stale," etc. The baked-goods-centric puns don't serve the (bland) story as well as the story serves the puns, but humor abounds in the pink-frosted digital art.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Alexandra Boiger. Lively if wordy text recounts how First Lady Jackie Kennedy, who restored a then "dreary" White House "into a stately home," waged a long, tough campaign to preserve NYC's historic, iconic Grand Central Station. The impressionistic watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations convey the story's emotions and the station's grandeur, but Boiger oddly renders Jackie as a stilted, peg-legged character. Concludes with author's and illustrator's notes. Bib.

Reviewer: Christina Dorr

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Amy Wummer. This story inspired by the familiar Christmas poem starts on July 3 ("while visions of fireworks popped in our heads") but is mostly set during the happy holiday itself, when rain threatens but quickly disappears. While the meter shifts constantly, this is a serviceable introduction to what one might expect on Independence Day, complete with a patriotic color palette and firework-bedazzled skies.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Pablo Bernasconi. A boy expounds on the virtues of a pet dinosaur, also offering tips on its care and maintenance (e.g., "It needs lots of water and lots of tummy rubs"). Humorous large-scale mixed-media illustrations enhance the straight-faced text. Inventively shaped and layered flaps appear throughout; some seem gratuitous, others expand the story's scope.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Julia Breckenreid. This simply told biography of the father of color theory covers Albers's formative years, from his childhood in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Germany to the 1975 publication of his book Interaction of Color. Brechenreid's paintings illuminate the story both with examples of color interaction and with representational scenes from the artist's life, always employing her subject's preferred flat colors and geometric shapes. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2010

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sylvie Kantorovitz. Lucy doesn't want to sleep: "I want to draw." Harold and the Purple Crayon–like, her monster drawing comes to life; when Lucy's finally tired, she has to figure out how to get Monster to go to sleep. Monster's delay tactics--"Hungry," "Thirsty," "Potty," "Cold"--will strike a familiar chord. The cheery illustrations are appropriately childlike.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn