(4) PS Illustrated by Emilie Chollat. Spring-toned illustrations portray various animals (ducks, cats, etc.) in their natural habitats, with all but one young critter (duckling, kitten, etc.) fast asleep. Each spread also shows a little boy wearing a sheep's costume. The joke, which may require a few readings to get, is that he's another sleep shirker: at book's end, his mother spots him hiding behind a tree.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Emilie Chollat. The old woman and her brood move out of the shoe into the house of the seven dwarfs, Snow White moves in with Rapunzel, Rapunzel moves in with Rumpelstiltskin, etc., and everyone is happy until the children from the shoe get homesick. Readers familiar with these characters will enjoy this irreverent departure from fairy-tale tradition. The book features retro-looking illustrations in candy colors.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Emilie Chollat. Spoiled Louie loves to blow hard on his French whistle, scaring animals and making babies cry. When his cousin takes a turn, she plays it soft and sweet, "like in Paree." A smattering of French words adds pizzazz to a tale that builds to a highly satisfactory conclusion. Gleeful illustrations capture the personalities of impish Louie and his steadfast cousin.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin

(3) PS Harper Growing Tree series. Illustrated by Emilie Chollat. "Water drops / 1 Froggie hops / 2 Spiders skitter / 3 Chickies flitter." Appelt's sparse rhyming text effectively combines with Chollat's bold acrylic illustrations to capture the energy and excitement of a rainy day. Preschoolers may not be familiar with all the verbs, but this won't inhibit the overall success of this simple counting book.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Emilie Chollat. These six fables are by turns funny, serious, effective, and forced. Each features a different animal and alliteration for a different letter; amid many morals, a common thread is to appreciate yourself. Bright acrylic and collage pictures illustrate and exaggerate parts of the fables, where wisecracking contemporary animals reveal their lessons in ordinary type interspersed with phrases in different colors and fonts.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian