(4) 4-6 Fakespeare series. Illustrated by Daniel Jennewein. Two fifth graders find themselves sucked into Shakespeare plays and must help complete the story before they can return to their own lives. Warring pizza-making families (Romeo and Juliet) and kings launching stink bombs to obscure evil acts (Hamlet) take center stage in these wacky riffs on the Bard's works. The frenetic stories are filled with juvenile humor and childlike cartoon drawings. Review covers these Fakespeare titles: Something Stinks in Hamlet and Starcrossed in Romeo and Juliet.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 4-6 Fakespeare series. Illustrated by Daniel Jennewein. Two fifth graders find themselves sucked into Shakespeare plays and must help complete the story before they can return to their own lives. Warring pizza-making families (Romeo and Juliet) and kings launching stink bombs to obscure evil acts (Hamlet) take center stage in these wacky riffs on the Bard's works. The frenetic stories are filled with juvenile humor and childlike cartoon drawings. Review covers these Fakespeare titles: Something Stinks in Hamlet and Starcrossed in Romeo and Juliet.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Daniel Jennewein. In this follow-up to Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?, an offstage narrator spends the book cajoling a girl to indulge her pet buffalo's yen for drum lessons ("Encourage him!"). The book owes a nod to the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie franchise, but Vernick sustains her riff nicely. Jennewein gets it and makes the characters harmless-looking, fun-loving goofballs.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Daniel Jennewein. Though he's hairier than everyone else and too big for the swings, Buffalo successfully navigates kindergarten. He gets over his shyness, fear of scissors, and temptation to improperly use his horns by following the rules and remembering that everyone is different. Expressive childlike drawings illustrate this playful take on the first-day-of-school-jitters story.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden