(4) K-3 A dog invites readers to search busy, colorful pages for a cat. After eleven double-page spreads, the cat encourages readers to re-search the pages from back to front to find the dog. Both animals change colors as they travel past wide-eyed cartoon creatures in fantastic settings. The illustrations aren't subtle, but this offering will engage those who enjoy poring over minutiae.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) 4-6 Purporting to be written by a six-hundred-year-old wizard, this tome offers novices instructions for creating their own props and performing sleight-of-hand illusions; the nine chapters include "Transfiguration and Shape-Shifting" and "Flying, Levitation, and Escapology." Considerable work went into this production, which features spot and full-page art. Unfortunately, the book's small print sometimes hampers legibility. Ind.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) K-3 Photographs by Walter Wick. Twelve photographs of spooky scenes in and around a haunted house are paired with rhyming couplets that prompt readers to search for numerous objects hidden in the double-page spreads. Similar to the previous books in the I Spy series, this volume will hold appeal for picture puzzle fans. Originally published in 1996; now with new bonus challenges by Dan Marzollo and Dave Marzollo.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(4) 4-6 Alternator Books: My Minecraft series. Each of these four volumes offer a brief overview of a feature of the popular open-world video game. Accompanied by screenshots from the game, the straightforward, second-person texts tend to be repetitive from book to book, particularly when discussing a 2018 update and MineCon. Sidebars highlight STEM connections and how coding skills come into play. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Alternator Books: My Minecraft titles: The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Construction, The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Mining and Farming, The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Mods, and The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Survival

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(4) 4-6 Alternator Books: My Minecraft series. Each of these four volumes offer a brief overview of a feature of the popular open-world video game. Accompanied by screenshots from the game, the straightforward, second-person texts tend to be repetitive from book to book, particularly when discussing a 2018 update and MineCon. Sidebars highlight STEM connections and how coding skills come into play. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Alternator Books: My Minecraft titles: The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Construction, The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Mining and Farming, The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Mods, and The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Survival

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(4) 4-6 Alternator Books: My Minecraft series. Each of these four volumes offer a brief overview of a feature of the popular open-world video game. Accompanied by screenshots from the game, the straightforward, second-person texts tend to be repetitive from book to book, particularly when discussing a 2018 update and MineCon. Sidebars highlight STEM connections and how coding skills come into play. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Alternator Books: My Minecraft titles: The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Construction, The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Mining and Farming, The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Mods, and The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Survival

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(4) 4-6 Alternator Books: My Minecraft series. Each of these four volumes offer a brief overview of a feature of the popular open-world video game. Accompanied by screenshots from the game, the straightforward, second-person texts tend to be repetitive from book to book, particularly when discussing a 2018 update and MineCon. Sidebars highlight STEM connections and how coding skills come into play. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Alternator Books: My Minecraft titles: The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Construction, The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Mining and Farming, The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Mods, and The Unofficial Guide to Minecraft Survival

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) K-3 Inspired by Jules Verne's novel, a small, bespectacled boy takes a fantastic journey through forty spreads with eighty challenges, including mazes, difference spotting, and other calls for mental contortion. The generous trim size contains the multitudes of balloons, bicycles, etc., depicted in pen-and-ink with spare digital coloring, elegantly hiding solutions in plain sight. Answer keys are appended.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(4) K-3 Dabble Lab: Amazing Magic Tricks 4D series. Barnhart, a professional comic magician, presents guides for kid-magicians at a range of skill levels. Most amateur tricks (Hocus) have six steps or less; veteran tricks (Alakazam) are more complex and require increased dexterity; all use cheaply acquired items. Illustrated with photos, the step-by-step instructions occasionally lack clarity, but videos on the (free) Capstone 4D app help young readers grasp the elements of distraction, storytelling, etc. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these Dabble Lab: Amazing Magic Tricks 4D titles: Alakazam!: Tricks for Veteran Magicians and Hocus Pocus!: Tricks for Amateur Magicians.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(4) K-3 Dabble Lab: Amazing Magic Tricks 4D series. Barnhart, a professional comic magician, presents guides for kid-magicians at a range of skill levels. Most amateur tricks (Hocus) have six steps or less; veteran tricks (Alakazam) are more complex and require increased dexterity; all use cheaply acquired items. Illustrated with photos, the step-by-step instructions occasionally lack clarity, but videos on the (free) Capstone 4D app help young readers grasp the elements of distraction, storytelling, etc. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these Dabble Lab: Amazing Magic Tricks 4D titles: Alakazam!: Tricks for Veteran Magicians and Hocus Pocus!: Tricks for Amateur Magicians.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(3) K-3 Translated by Paul Kelly. Illustrated by Miguel Bustos. In this Spanish import, young Lucas visits a variety of crowded spots (circus, airport, park) in search of a friend. His search is unsuccessful, but the reader is asked to spot dogs, ducks, cars, and more in bustling, stylized pictures dominated by the color purple. Final pages challenge readers to expand their seek-and-find experience by including friends ("I see something you can't see... What is it?").

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 On Halloween, the honeybee-costumed Bear (Bear's Merry Book of Hidden Things) searches for his favorite treat in a corn maze, pumpkin patch, haunted library, and more. He discovers candy corn, spider rings, and other Halloween-themed treasures, but there's no honeycomb to be found--until he arrives home. (Surprise!) Kids will gladly join in the search but may need to reference the last page for hints before returning to pore over the detailed scenes.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(4) PS A double-decker bus travels around Letter Town seeking (in alphabetical order) rotund, cartoon-style letters representing a variety of letter-associated occupations, objects, actions, etc. Endpapers provide a key to each spread's picture puzzle. For an extra challenge, a second visual narrative involving a robber (R) is woven throughout. Although the rhyming text is occasionally forced, the playful illustrations should appeal to young search-and-find enthusiasts.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 Translated by Bill Nagelkerke. A boy named Finn and his dog wake to find that goblins have taken over. Boy and dog chase the sprites across twelve double-page spreads (through a garden, beneath the earth, etc.) that harbor mazes and items to find ("Finn searches for a lamp to light the way"). This seductive large-scale offering's art suggests M.C. Escher on a color bender.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Search for traveling musicians with their instruments in eleven busy double-page spreads, each depicting a different country, from Iceland to Egypt to Brazil. A final spread shows the reunited musicians in concert. A small yellow bird in each picture puzzle suggests additional objects to find. A key is appended, but the order of the countries is different than preceding pages, which could cause confusion.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) 4-6 Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming series. Each of these informative titles introduces young readers to a specific popular video game, sharing--over four or five brief chapters--the history of each game's development, success, and fandom. Full-page sidebars feature key developers and related careers. Photos of game content, creators, and actual fans appear on every page and highlight the gaming industry's racial and gender diversity. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming titles: The World of Angry Birds, The World of Minecraft, The World of Mario Bros., and The World of Pokémon.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) 4-6 Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming series. Each of these informative titles introduces young readers to a specific popular video game, sharing--over four or five brief chapters--the history of each game's development, success, and fandom. Full-page sidebars feature key developers and related careers. Photos of game content, creators, and actual fans appear on every page and highlight the gaming industry's racial and gender diversity. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming titles: The World of Angry Birds, The World of Minecraft, The World of Mario Bros., and The World of Pokémon.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) 4-6 Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming series. Each of these informative titles introduces young readers to a specific popular video game, sharing--over four or five brief chapters--the history of each game's development, success, and fandom. Full-page sidebars feature key developers and related careers. Photos of game content, creators, and actual fans appear on every page and highlight the gaming industry's racial and gender diversity. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming titles: The World of Angry Birds, The World of Minecraft, The World of Mario Bros., and The World of Pokémon.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(3) 4-6 Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming series. Each of these informative titles introduces young readers to a specific popular video game, sharing--over four or five brief chapters--the history of each game's development, success, and fandom. Full-page sidebars feature key developers and related careers. Photos of game content, creators, and actual fans appear on every page and highlight the gaming industry's racial and gender diversity. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Searchlight Books: The World of Gaming titles: The World of Angry Birds, The World of Minecraft, The World of Mario Bros., and The World of Pokémon.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Steven Salerno. Illustrated by Steven Salerno. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie developed a board game to expose unfair housing practices at the turn of the twentieth century. Charles Darrow makes the game brighter and bolder; he buys Magie out, becoming the sole proprietor of the newly named Monopoly. Stone smoothly navigates a changing cast of characters and time periods, repeatedly drawing readers in with thought-provoking questions. Salerno's mixed-media, retro-style illustrations convey a sense of the times. Bib.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018