(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. Hannah is upset because she must move to a new town. As her grandmother describes her own move long ago, a striking oil-paint and collage spread shows a Jewish family from Europe being welcomed by Canadian relatives; "Definitely some bitter but even more sweet," she tells Hannah. An afterword explains the symbolism of bitter and sweet in Jewish tradition, but the feelings about moving are universal.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. A large Brooklyn-of-yore family's new parrot, Hametz, gets a little too involved in the Seder, repeating the Four Questions it learned from young narrator Lily and swiping the afikomen. In this thirty-fifth anniversary edition, the humorous, slightly revised text and new oil and collage illustrations are full of accurate Passover details as well as warm nostalgia.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. Ryan O'Brian finds himself unable to stop writing poems--on paper, on a friend's shirt, and even on a table using French fries. The zippy rhyming narrative is kept separate from the many different types of Ryan's own poems (from acrostic to sonnet to limerick) woven into Brooker's vivid, dynamic collage illustrations. A guide at the back explains each poetic form.

Reviewer: Siena Leslie

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. In preparation for dinner with the Highbrow family, Bernard Worrywart's mother teaches him all about manners. However, when the protagonist finally dines with the unruly clan, they break every rule he's learned. The book teeters on pedantic, but the humor (which includes burping, singing at the table, and other shenanigans) and animated oil-paint and cut-paper illustrations keep it from falling over the edge.

Reviewer: Chelsey Philpot

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. Every Saturday Goldie Simcha prepares cholent (stew) to share with her neighbors on the Sabbath. When Goldie is sick, her neighbors create their own (somewhat stereotypical) multicultural feast. It's the embodiment of community, warmth, memory, and tradition--i.e., the Jewish observance of Shabbat. Oil and collage pictures evoke a cheerful urban setting through small details about the apartment dwellers. Recipe appended.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. When Wendy goes walking with her family along their street, she can't resist picking up lost or discarded objects. After months of collecting, she's inspired to create some quirky sculptures that celebrate her neighborhood. Like the playful, evocative text, Brooker's eye-catching collages give Wendy a distinctive personality; they're especially appropriate for a story about the wonders of found objects.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. Tadeo's search for a perfect circle takes him around the world on a fantastic adventure. Led by his rope, Tadeo flies to the African savannah, Istanbul, London, the Canadian Arctic, and back home to Central America, where he finds the perfect circle in his mother's hug. Textured mixed-media collages gently carry the imaginative tale. End pages feature a world map with a compass rose.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. Beekeeper Fred's busy daily round, beginning with a cozy cup of tea, makes an appealing frame for the main event: tending his "tiny city" of three hives on his Brooklyn roof to harvest enough honey to share with neighbors. Textured details in the collage illustrations--and a cheerfully upbeat main character--enhance the story. The accurately detailed text is nicely supplemented by clear endpaper diagrams.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2011

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. "Report of a math attack, Second and Main. / They say there's a kid with a scrambled-up brain." The "kid" is a girl stumped by a math problem: "what's seven times ten?" Numbers everywhere (on a clock tower, in the grocery store) go haywire until she remembers the answer. Mixed-media illustrations capture the mayhem and grab attention with unexpected perspectives and jaunty angles.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. A girl imagines that her cat may one day tell her about all the places he has visited. Engaging mixed-media collage and oil-paint illustrations show the feline traveler along the foggy English coast, biking through France, and stargazing in Rome. Back matter includes information about each country, and the endpapers feature a map of the cat's voyage.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. A castle is thrown into turmoil at the prince's bedtime. Nothing helps, until finally his sister discovers what he needs: a good-night kiss. Dodds's bouncy rhymes are fun to read aloud; her page turns are propulsive; and the cumulative structure builds satisfyingly. Brooker's expansive multimedia collages, full of movement and amusing detail, extend the sense of growing chaos.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2008

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. After Mama tells Precious to let "nothing and nobody" into the house, Brother warns her about the Boo Hag: "She's tricky and she's scary, and she tries to make you disobey yo' mama." Illustrations combining the realistic with the fantastic suit the down-to-earth yet magical tone in this lively tale that (despite an ominous ending) is a great storytelling choice.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2005

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. In rhyming verse, Spinelli describes City Angel's daily rounds, which include seeding a vacant lot and gently lecturing a litterbug. Brooker's illustrations, which feature an African-American girl in traditional angel attire, are gorgeous--beautifully composed, color-saturated collage and oil-paint creations that depict and dignify the urban landscape.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. Henry, who loves "putting things together," builds an Amazing Machine that takes over the house. His doting parents ask, "But, Henry, what does it do?" Henry replies, "Do?...I haven't a clue." The high-spirited, wacky text and collage pictures build rhythmically, and soon the whole town gets involved with Henry's runaway invention. The story concludes on a surprising carnivalesque note.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2004

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. "'Twas the first night of Chanukah and on the fifth floor, / There was holiday hustling and bustling galore." Newman playfully uses the rhythmic pattern of Moore's Christmas poem in this variant of "The Gingerbread Man." A runaway dreidel whirls through the house, the city, and the countryside, finally spinning up to the sky. The narrator, his family, and townspeople are illustrated in warm colors and set in a traditional Jewish neighborhood.

Reviewer: Amy Kellman

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. In this rollicking picture book, the Queen of Trouble can't sleep a wink. After a series of silly suggestions by the king, young Isabella Abnormella Pinkerton McPugh comes up with a solution--the very first queen-sized waterbed. The quirky collages, a mix of oil paint and photographic images, are energetic and funny, and the rhyming text rolls easily off the tongue.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. Krull presents twelve personalities, from the Oracle at Delphi to contemporary psychic Jeane Dixon, who have practiced the age-old "art of prediction." An engaging conversational narrative places this tantalizing subject within a larger socio-historical context, and intriguing questions will challenge readers and inspire further exploration. Vivid multimedia collage portraits illustrate the book. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Mary Burkey | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 1999