(3) PS Illustrated by Ella Bailey. "I've always known my monster. It's always been there. It knows ALL about me." A young child with short hair and brown skin talks about life with "my monster," a (not-scary-looking) large, round, horned yellow creature. The monster hides when the child attempts to get rid of it--and the longer it stays hidden, the more difficult and demanding it gets. "It even made me stay indoors when my friends came to play..." The monster effectively embodies anxiety in the uncluttered illustrations; the compassionate text keeps the focus on the protagonist, who models how to lessen anxiety's grip while accepting that "My monster is part of me."

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Ella Bailey. A girl struggles to pick the perfect name for her new cat: Jane? Rambo? Mr. Maestro? Fed up, he runs away; his return improbably involves a trip to the zoo, a (gorilla) replacement, an art heist, and a feline sleuth. The girl's oblivious first-person narration plays it straight, allowing pastel-toned illustrations full of clever cat details to reveal the humorously outrageous story.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher