(3) PS Illustrated by Monique Felix. A chicken trying to nap on a rainy day is continually foiled (e.g., the barn is dry, but the cows are too loud). The back-and-forth "good day"/"bad day for a chicken" tension is resolved when the rain stops and the chicken fills her belly: "it's a bad day to be a worm." Gorgeous, personality-rich full-spread illustrations augment a humorous and satisfying story.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(3) K-3 Write Me a Poem series. Illustrated by Monique Felix & Etienne Delessert. This generally accessible series introduces the concept of writing poetry (Who) and highlights techniques poets use to convey images (Picturing), emotions (Poking Fun), and sound (Rhyme). Excerpts from classic poems (often with sophisticated vocabulary) serve as examples. Full-page illustrations, alternately elegant and cartoonish, match the feelings of the poems. Writing activity appended. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Write Me a Poem titles: Finding the Rhyme in a Poem, Picturing Words in a Poem, Poking Fun in a Poem, and Who Is a Poet?.

Reviewer: Rebecca Fox

(3) K-3 Write Me a Poem series. Illustrated by Monique Felix. This generally accessible series introduces the concept of writing poetry (Who) and highlights techniques poets use to convey images (Picturing), emotions (Poking Fun), and sound (Rhyme). Excerpts from classic poems (often with sophisticated vocabulary) serve as examples. Full-page illustrations, alternately elegant and cartoonish, match the feelings of the poems. Writing activity appended. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Write Me a Poem titles: Finding the Rhyme in a Poem, Picturing Words in a Poem, Poking Fun in a Poem, and Who Is a Poet?.

Reviewer: Rebecca Fox

(3) K-3 Write Me a Poem series. Illustrated by Monique Felix. This generally accessible series introduces the concept of writing poetry (Who) and highlights techniques poets use to convey images (Picturing), emotions (Poking Fun), and sound (Rhyme). Excerpts from classic poems (often with sophisticated vocabulary) serve as examples. Full-page illustrations, alternately elegant and cartoonish, match the feelings of the poems. Writing activity appended. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Write Me a Poem titles: Finding the Rhyme in a Poem, Picturing Words in a Poem, Poking Fun in a Poem, and Who Is a Poet?.

Reviewer: Rebecca Fox

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Monique Felix. Animals, plants, and sensory experiences from nature pose the titular philosophical question to one another, while readers grapple with soft-edged, evocative illustrations that provide open-ended (but sometimes bewildering) answers to each. Oppenheim highlights different types of connection, occasionally confusing in their variety: smell to flower, branch to tree, jump to rope, etc. Gentle rhyming prose provides a springboard for discussion.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Monique Felix. When the river rises during the "wet, rainy season," crocodile Snout (the "Good Ship Crocodile") ferries fireflies, frogs, a hedgehog, and other creatures across; likewise, the fireflies guide him home when he becomes lost. It's a quiet, peaceful story, and the oversize, dramatic double-page-spread illustrations stand out. Unfortunately, awkward text placement near the gutter detracts from the overall book design.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Monique Felix. In this reissue of the illustrated edition, the complete text of the classic tale about a toy rabbit is accompanied by full-page and double-page pastel pictures that are both ample and appealing. The handsomely designed book will please fans of the story.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Monique Felix. As he walks to his tuba lesson, a boy encounters a lively group of woodland animals. Felix cleverly incorporates musical notation into her illustrations for this imaginative almost-wordless story. The lines of the musical staff become the path the boy follows from page to page, and the notes themselves play an important part in the adventure he has along the way.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Monique Felix. Alone in his beloved woods, Bear dances joyfully for his own pleasure. Men capture him, forcing him to dance for the entertainment of crowds. Clever Bear is eventually able to escape and return home. The theme, that all creatures deserve respect, is conveyed in simple, poetic prose. The powerful illustrations effectively play with scale to display Bear's personality and predicament.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Monique Felix. Hewing closely to the Grimm version of the tale, Felix illustrates a gorgeous, psychologically suggestive "Hansel and Gretel" peopled by limpid-eyed, rosy-cheeked children; set in deep, tangled woods; and featuring an alabaster-skinned, cat-eyed witch, her scraggly hair dressed with bones. There's quite a bit of text per page, but the overall presentation of this edition is delicious.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Monique Felix. A girl vows to catch a large pike, identifiable by the two lures stuck in its mouth, after she witnesses it eat all three of a mother's ducklings on the nearby lake. She finally captures the fish, only to discover when she slits it open that the pike is also a mother, carrying hundreds of eggs. Written as a introspective prose poem and accompanied by serene watercolors, this cerebral book may have a limited audience.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt