(4) K-3 Guardians of Childhood series. Illustrated by William Joyce & Andrew Theophilopoulos. Formerly known as Nightlight, Jack Frost got his new name when he fell to Earth after saving the Man in the Moon from Pitch, the Nightmare King. Jack's role as a Guardian of Childhood is ill-defined and the story is undeveloped, but the draw of the series has always been the lush romanticism of the mixed-media illustrations, here credited to Joyce and Andrew Theophilopoulos.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(3) K-3 Illustrated by William Joyce & Kenny Callicutt. The story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" gets a quirky update in this hefty picture book, wherein Jack traces a drought in the kingdom to a young giant's prolonged bath time. Joyce's rhythmic cadence is perfectly complemented by epic multimedia art, which combines realistically rendered backgrounds and objects with doll-like characters to create an inviting fairy-tale world.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) 4-6 Guardians series. Illustrated by William Joyce. Pitch, King of Nightmares, escapes imprisonment. It falls to wizard Ombric and Russian bandit Nicholas St. North to protect the world's children from nightmares wielded by Pitch and his evil troops of Fearlings. A familiar figure is entertainingly redrawn in this fantasy adventure that supposes a disreputable past for jolly St. Nick. Atmospheric black-and-white drawings illustrate key scenes.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan