(2) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. When a woman in the grocery store drops a hundred-dollar bill, Ruben (whose family struggles to pay the bills) starts to believe his wish for a bike might come true. Jones's watercolor, pencil, and ink illustrations depict Ruben's family life as no-frills but happy. Boelts conveys the lure of owning what other kids own, alongside the inevitable guilt that Ruben feels before the realistic resolution.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2016

(3) PS Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. No matter what two ducks do, their clumsy friend Moose messes things up. After one catastrophe too many, they banish Moose but later have to convince him to come home again for his surprise birthday party. Using only the words duck and moose, the story is told through punctuation and brightly colored, expressive cartoon vignettes with plentiful white space and lots of tension.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Dog Toby is upset when the neighbor's cat, Pandora, comes to stay with his family: Pandora doesn't pay any attention to Toby's antics, and she never gets in trouble for misbehaving. Regardless, when Pandora gets stuck in a tree, Toby is there to help. The cat-dog dynamic is hilarious and the cartoony illustrations add details to the pets' hijinks.

Reviewer: Julie Bartynski-Fenner

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. A sweet potato, lost and trying to get back home, rolls down the road looking for other vegetable and flower patches, trying to fit in. Told repeatedly he's lumpy and bumpy and doesn't belong, Little Sweet Potato finally finds acceptance at the "hodge-podge patch" (a garden). Illustrations with cartoony, googly-eyed veggies and flowers add humor, but the story is message-y.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. A collection of lighthearted poems reveals a "B-list" of superheroes. Jones's colorful cartoons play up the comedy of the underemployed superheroes, from The Bulk--the Hulk's big and green but incredibly sappy cousin--to brawny but clumsily mismatched conjoined twins Herk and Uleez. While at times the poems strain to scan, overall this is an entertaining package.

Reviewer: Carrie Harasimowicz Sullivan

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. This third Bed and Biscuit book is darker than the others. "Magic chicken" Malicia pulls a number of mean-spirited tricks. Ernest, valiant mini-pig, leads the gang in stopping her. There's some didacticism in the message about standing up to a bully (the magical elements add some confusion), and the animals' plan to fight back seems rather cruel. Black-and-white illustrations add levity.

Reviewer: Lauren Aimonette LIang

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Rabbit Edward loves "stuff," to the exclusion of his friends. (Anthony: "Want to do something today?" Edward: "Can't...Doing stuff with my stuff.") After being trapped beneath an avalanche of knickknacks, he realizes how much he misses his friends--who coincidentally show up to dig him out. The text's light tone and the cartoon illustrations' playfulness make the story's antihoarding message go down easily.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. In his second tale, Ernest the mini-pig has his hooves full at the Bed & Biscuit animal boardinghouse. Not only is he hosting unappreciative guests, he's also training a new puppy--who thinks he was born to be wild. Readers learn the differences between wild and domesticated animals in this entertaining story illustrated with clean-lined pencil and watercolor drawings.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. "Emma's dog, Toby, was always in trouble. On Monday he got into the garbage. On Tuesday he ran into the road..." After a couple of stints in obedience school, Toby appears to be reformed, but a walk in the park proves otherwise. There are some leaps in logic, but Toby's antics, shown in the many varied illustrations, will make readers laugh.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) PS Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Two children go running, twirling, and twisting down the street gathering items for a party, accompanied by the text's rhythmic refrain: "Shake, shake, shake it, baby! / Come and dance with me!" The spirited watercolor, pencil, charcoal, and digital illustrations using simple shapes are full of movement. Sturdy pages are appropriate for a very young audience.

Reviewer: Amy Kellman

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Jeremy yearns for expensive high-tops, but his grandmother doesn't have the money. When he spots the shoes in a resale shop, he buys them even though they're too small. Whether children are on the shoe-owning or the shoe-envying side of the economic line, they'll sympathize with Jeremy's problem. Jones uses watercolor, pencils, and ink to depict a multiethnic urban neighborhood.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2007

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Veterinarian Grampa runs the Bed and Biscuit, whose permanent residents include Ernest the pig and Milly the cat. After rescuing a puppy from a barn fire, Grampa is distracted with the puppy's care. When Milly gets jealous and runs away, it is up to Ernest to find her. Told with humor, the story celebrates family, no matter how unusual.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. Annie finds a monster inside her new backpack. Not a scary monster, but a wisecracking, annoying one. However, when the monster makes confetti out of Annie's homework to create an Annie-Is-Great parade, Annie decides, "My backpack is silly and messy and big trouble. But I love my backpack." Uncluttered digital illustrations outline major events while displaying expressive faces.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2006

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. A young African-American boy is unhappy with his birthday present: a goldfish he names Norman. His awakening to Norman's virtues is so gradual and funny that readers won't mind that they can predict the book's ending: the boy can't go through with trading Norman for a more charismatic pet. Appealing digitally rendered art is clean-lined without looking synthetic.

Reviewer: Nell Beram