(1) PS Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. Rohmann returns to the natural history museum setting of his debut, Time Flies, but this outing is far cozier than that 1995 Caldecott Honor Book. It's just as fanciful, though. Penny, a brown-skinned girl with exuberant, textured hair, is visiting the museum on a school field trip. "In a quiet corner of the dinosaur exhibit, something astonishing happened." Penny notices the hatching of an adorable baby sauropod, who wags his tail at her, then scales the short glass barrier and follows her. A little bit behind Penny, the wee green reptile creeps between a stuffed grizzly's legs and later perches atop a model Earth, perspectives adding gentle humor. Their bond is cemented back in the dinosaur hall, where the little dino and Penny find themselves surrounded by massive skeletons. Fleming's understated text leaves space for Rohmann to let composition and body language do the talking: Pip is the only living dinosaur there, and he needs Penny. Fortunately, Penny understands, and she arrives at a brilliant plan that allows them to leave the museum and head "into the future...together." Young readers will be thoroughly charmed by the text's absolute faith in this future. Rohmann's loose strokes of black colored pencil, digitally colored, position his characters against uncomplicated, mostly white backgrounds that keep the focus on their emotional connection. Like Pip, this openhearted invitation to imagination is a keeper.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(1) PS Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. "In a tall, tall tree, / at the tip-tippy top, / hung a single red apple, / just about to drop." Crisp, bright illustrations with smooth black outlines, created on stained paper with relief printmaking (and recalling the style of Rohmann's Caldecott winner My Friend Rabbit), feature a shiny red apple that stands out against green leaves and blue sky. Mouse spots the apple, which, from her position on the ground, looks precarious up high in the tree. "Mine!" she declares and waits for it to fall. Next comes Hare, then Fox, Deer, and Bear, and one by one each lays claim to the irresistible fruit. The final visitor to the tree is the wind, and the apple falls at last. The chanting rhythm of the text bounces toward an inevitable conflict; dramatic visual perspective shifts heighten the tension. Smart compositions using panels to slow time show the animals watching the apple's descent before they dart off the page after it in a chorus of "Mine!" The ensuing animal brawl is featured on two wordless double-page spreads; story-hour audiences will easily see the apple rolling away from the hubbub and toward the page-turn. Finally, one last animal asks, "Mine?" The clever plot tist is a just-right ending to this spirited, visually pleasing read-aloud.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. Showcasing another fascinating animal (Giant Squid, rev. 9/16; Honeybee, rev. 3/20), and with their usual dynamism and immediacy, Fleming and ­Rohmann turn their attention to polar bears, specifically a year in the life of one female and her two cubs. In April the mother emerges from the den in which she's been nursing for four months. Her stored fat has sustained her, her milk providing nourishment for the cubs. But now it's time to eat, and she guides her cubs to Hudson Bay, where she can position herself on the ice to hunt. By June the mother and cubs have grown bigger and stronger, but they "must fatten up now...to survive summer's lean months." An attempt to capture "one last meal" causes the ice to break, and the trio drifts far out into the bay. Their swim back to shore is arduous and dangerous for the cubs (the long passage of time is revealed in a dramatic gatefold); once back on land, they must wait until the bay refreezes, which shortens the feeding calendar. Rohmann's early oil paintings depict the bear as an apex predator, but Fleming's straightforward text makes it clear that this creature faces potentially fatal danger--even the most powerful animal cannot overcome the grave threat of habitat loss. "Too much ice is melting too soon. And too little ice means too little food." Back matter addresses climate change head-on, while a diagram explains how the bear's physiology helps it survive. Ten "cool facts" about polar bears, a list of websites, and a selected bibliography complete this outstanding book.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) PS Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. It's Christmas Eve, and Bulldozer is worried: "He didn't have any presents for his friends. Not one." He sees an old tire sticking out of the snow: "I wonder what other treasures are under there?" With his playful cat friends from Bulldozer Helps Out (rev. 7/17) as company, he digs and digs, amassing an impressive pile of salvage. He's discouraged at first, then inspired: "Through the swirling, whirling, / twinkling snowflakes, he thought he saw-- / Was it? / Could it be?" Poking, pushing, nudging his creation into shape, Bulldozer brings his vision to life. A string of lights and a large gearwheel at the top complete the surprise. Fleming's warmhearted story and Rohmann's bold relief block print illustrations are both full of treasures.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. A worker bee breaks out of her honeycomb cell and begins a task-filled life in her colony. The "teeming, trembling flurry" of bees within the close confines of the dark hive is impressively portrayed in Rohmann's honey-toned illustrations through extreme close-ups and varying perspectives on bee bodies. For the first twenty-four days of her life, the bee remains in the hive, tidying up, nursing larvae, grooming the queen, and performing other vital tasks, all while developing her own strength. With each stage of growth, the text builds anticipation through repetition: will the next stage be "Flying? / Not yet." Partway through the book, on day twenty-five, the bee finally emerges above a sunlit meadow on a four-page foldout; she flies into the next stage of existence as a pollinator. After ten days of nectar collection (during which she produces "one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey"), the bee dies, and a new bee emerges from a cell. As with the author-illustrator pair's Giant Squid (rev. 9/16), the art and text together convey a holistic view of environment and organism, with excellent pacing through the complete bee life cycle. A diagram of bee anatomy is appended, and a "Helping Out Honeybees" note discussing the importance of honeybees to human food production and threats to their existence, with a reading list and websites, concludes the book.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2020

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. German shepherd Strongheart (née Etzel) is transformed from a fierce guard dog into a Hollywood star in this abundantly (and wonderfully) illustrated novel based on the 1920s canine action-movie hero. Freely imagined dialogue and a point of view that irregularly dips into the dog's consciousness ("At that moment, a memory came to Strongheart") aren't always plausible, but the sympathetic protagonist will keep dog lovers reading.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(2) PS Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. The construction-site gang from Bulldozer's Big Day is on the job again. Little Bulldozer wants to help and charges off to clear debris but suddenly stops. Why? When the big trucks arrive, they hear a "chorus of gentle mews." Sturdy block-print illustrations feature bright primary and secondary colors and thick black lines, providing a sense of security. A preschooler-perfect story with trucks, furry babies, and a winning protagonist.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2017

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. Cadenced text and dramatic illustrations collaborate beautifully to build suspense and movement as a lurking giant squid and other sea creatures battle for survival. Scientific information sneaks in effortlessly: readers gain knowledge of the animal's feeding, breeding, and movements, plus insights into many still-unanswered questions. An anatomical diagram and an explanation of the ways scientists piece together information about squids are appended. Bib.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2016

(2) PS Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. On his "big day," Bulldozer can't wait to invite his friends to his party: "Guess what today is!" The other construction vehicles appear too preoccupied with work to guess. "No friends. No party," sniffs Bulldozer. Of course, there is a party; everyone's secretly been constructing a giant birthday cake. Engaging text will keep story-hour audiences invested; block-print illustrations feature trucks with loads of personality.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2015

(2) PS Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. For her cumulative tale about animals falling into a hole, Fleming adopts a dancing cadence, punctuates each verse with a chime-in phrase, and concludes each with "Oh, No!" After "Frog fell into a deep, deep hole," so go four more, until Tiger--lurking nearby--threatens to "help [them] out." Propelling the comic action, Rohmann's energetic relief prints show the animals' tumbles from different perspectives.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2012

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. Lowry meets Graham Oakley (and Jan Karon) in this heartwarming fantasy about the mice of Saint Bartholemew's church. Mouse Hildegarde is our guide to the community, its joys and concerns like any other but with the perpetual fear of cats, the exterminator, and the Altar Guild ladies. Lowry's light, droll tone is just right, and Rohmann's spot illustrations have their own wit.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(3) PS Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. A short poem by Scottish poet Guthrie (1874–1952) salutes the day: "To the sun / Who has shone / All day, / To the moon / Who has gone / Away..." In illustration, a squirrel family frolics, beginning and ending its day in its tree trunk home. Together, the whisperlike poem and tender watercolors create a quiet musicality.

Reviewer: Nell Beram