(2) K-3 Illustrated by Eliza Kinkz. Young Jesús eagerly awaits Saturdays, when he helps his father with their family's­ lawn service business. Papá gives him the responsibility of taking care of the water jug, claiming that it is a magical clock and when the water runs out, it's time to go home. Hilarity ensues when Jesús doles out cups of water to three "super-old" thirsty cats, a dog in a sweater, and some peacocks, and uses lots of water to splash his face. The jug may now be empty, but Jesús and Papá can't yet go home: it's only ten thirty in the morning, and they still have eleven more houses to visit. Papá confesses that the water jug is not a magical clock after all; he had tried to make the day go more quickly by making the jug into a game. But as Jesús tells Papá, they can have fun in other ways. The protagonist's exuberance shines through in his observations of the world. Kinkz's art--in "pencil, ink, watercolor, gouache, crayons, and a few drops of queso"--brings this story to life. The colors are bright; the line drawings are childlike and full of zany energy. The garden-themed luchador endpapers will garner lots of laughs. This book mixes humor with the touching bond between a son and his papá, and a gentle message­ about the preciousness of water as a resource.

Reviewer: Yesica Hurd | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) PS In this odd little delight, Chwast takes objects you might find around the house and turns them into improbable animals. The story begins on the book's cover, which asks readers to "please find" the author's missing cat. Then the front end-papers introduce the series of objects featured in the book. From the very first pairing, where a pickle and a handsaw grow little green legs and a lower jaw to transform (after a page-turn) into a crocodile, young readers will know that they're in for a strange journey. A wrinkly old sock becomes a walrus, a table turns into a very square cow, and finally a pair of scissors improbably resolves itself into the face of the titular missing cat. Iconic graphic designer Chwast's signature psychedelic style is on full display here, including his large colorful lettering; huge question marks or exclamation points on every spread add an energetic, exuberant quality. The overall effect will induce giggles with each page-turn and may inspire children to try drawing something they see and turn it into a fanciful animal of their own.

Reviewer: Laura Koenig | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Annika Siems. Kangaroos on the city streets of Adelaide, Australia; an influx of flamingoes in Navi Mumbai; wild boars roaming through residential areas in Haifa, Israel. During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, when most people stayed home, wildlife began to safely venture into previously human-populated spaces. This book visits twelve locations and species around the world highlighting each situation with a brief, informative paragraph or two and a detailed double-page illustration of the unusual scene. In addition, this period benefited some animals in captivity (pandas) or on display (lions on South African safari tours), giving them respite from constant human activity. Todaro's afterword provides more details about the effects of the "anthropause" on nature and advocates for more "cohabitation efforts." "Notes on Habitats, Biomes, and Wildlife Behavior" and a list of related websites conclude this intriguing take on the pandemic.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(2) K-3 Readers will empathize with Yaccarino's latest, in which a family experiences the ups and downs of unexpected home confinement. When a storm, "unlike any storm we'd ever seen," forces them to stay inside, "maybe for a long while," three children and their father find themselves with "nothing to do and too much time to do it." A series of vignettes traces the family's activities (bathing the dog, arguments over an electronic device, an unfortunate home haircut) as the atmosphere goes from "strange" to "bad, to worse." With everyone disgruntled and getting on each other's nerves, they finally scatter to different parts of the house in order to be alone. When the storm takes a turn for the worse and cloaks the house in complete darkness, the group reunites in fear and vulnerability. As morning breaks, the storm is still there, but "something had changed," and the family's paradigm shift helps them face the duration of the storm with patience and gratitude. In his characteristic flat and bright digital illustrations, Yaccarino (Smashy Town, rev. 5/20) captures the characters' range of emotions, from the stresses of the storm and of irritable tempers to the euphoria of "one impossibly beautiful day" and of renewed family peace. Simultaneously lighthearted and tender, the book reflects the tediousness, camaraderie, and joys of family life--something to which many readers, especially during COVID-19, can relate.

Reviewer: Emmie Stuart | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) K-3 Translated by Kathryn Bishop. Illustrated by Annika Siems. On the title page, a boy boasts to his friends that he is going fishing with his grandad: "We'll catch a big fish, and I'll pull it out of the water all by myself!" The friends are unimpressed and laugh at him ("as usual"). Nevertheless, grandfather and grandson set off in their canoe, paddling through giant water lily pads, and begin fishing. Siems's painterly illustrations fill each spread, showing the scenes underwater and in the boat, using muted browns, blues, greens, and grays. One especially effective spread provides an overhead view of the lily pads and the boy's finger creating concentric circles in the water, capturing the luminous natural beauty. When they finally net a big fish, Grandad shows the boy the babies inside the creature's mouth, ­explaining that it's a father fish who will carry them for a month. He offers the child a choice--taking the fish to show to his friends, or allowing it to live with its children in peace. The understated story allows readers to see a community living close to the natural world (although the setting is unspecified in the text, the back-cover copy describes "a little boy of the Amazon"), and they will appreciate a tale in which a young person has an important decision to make.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2020

(3) K-3 Translated by Kathryn Bishop. Illustrated by Eve Tharlet. Tiny elf-like Oli finds a large blue stone. The forest creatures tease him for keeping it, but Oli says: "I'm sure I will find a use for it one day." And in fact, he eventually meets a distraught child whose doll is missing an eye. The dreamy illustrations, in which perspective is skewed and emotions are stronger than reality, suit the text’s sense of longing.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Borràs. Arturo may love to look at maps, with their thick lines that show where countries meet, but he does not like the lines on the map (nor the physical wall) that keep him and his mother separated from his father and beloved brother. In this tender story of longing, Arturo fantasizes about a borderless world, while simultaneously recalling fond family memories. He imagines a gap in the map's borders, one he can squeeze through; he dreams of a tunnel that goes beneath the lines; he envisions building a bridge that goes over them; and he dreams of flying, meeting his brother in the sky, which has no lines at all. References in text and art to fútbol, churros, adobe houses, frangipani bushes--combined with a sketchily rendered map on the opening spread--set this story in Mexico. Borràs's highly stylized figures are elongated, with oversized, white-irised eyes and rosy cheeks. Earth tones (rusts, oranges, and browns) match the restrained wistfulness that dominates the first part of the book, replaced with a warm blue in the closing spreads that mark the freedom and togetherness the two brothers find as they fly through the sky, all the way to the moon itself. Birds that fly free make frequent appearances in a story that asks why "the lines [have] to be there in the first place."

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2020

(3) K-3 Translated by Kathryn Bishop. Illustrated by Eve Tharlet. Farm child Lena describes waiting for hen Alma to produce a chick. Lena (presumably like the reader) has much to learn: Mom explains that a hen must sit on her egg for twenty-one days before it hatches, etc. Accompanying the well-articulated facts are marvelously truth-telling illustrations, as when four panels show Alma preparing to release an egg from her body.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Little Bunny, who is afraid of the dark, longs for a friend; both problems are solved when he encounters the Moon, who carries him up to the sky to meet the stars. The writing is rather twee, but the book offers Runaway Bunny–like reassurances, including an elegant white rabbit that could have sprung from the hand of Clement Hurd.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Translated by Michael Neugebauer. Illustrated by Zaü. In terse, first-person sentences, a boy describes the emotional ups and downs during his regular visits, accompanied by his quiet mother, to his incarcerated father. The French import is illustrated with strong, expressionistic sketches in black, gray, and white on cream-colored backgrounds. With few books on the topic, this unusual, mature picture book should find its place in libraries.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Sybille Schenker. In another sumptuous presentation (Little Red Riding Hood), Schenker uses a limited palette of green, black, white, and gold; clear acetate overlays; strongly-lined die-cut designs; and a hand-stitched binding to create a very special volume. Retold in a fuller version than usual, this telling includes the prince's faithful servant, Heinrich, who placed iron bands around his body to keep his heart from breaking when his master was transformed into a frog.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jonas Lauströer. A young elephant's relentless curiosity and intrepid attitude annoy his elders, launch him toward trouble, and ultimately gift him with his endlessly useful trunk. Kipling's wordplay and dialects are sometimes obscure, but Lauströer's intriguing illustrations blend realistic drawings with unexpected and delightful elements of whimsy that give this fable-like tale new appeal for modern audiences.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Feridun Oral. On Christmas Eve day, a rabbit hears a "whisper" in the snow; it turns out to be a teddy bear. The rabbit and his animal friends spend this compassion-cultivating book strategizing about how to find the child who has lost his or her beloved toy bear. Oral's meticulous art calls to mind Beatrix Potter with a snow-dusting of Jan Brett.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) PS A child with a harmonica encounters a rabbit playing piano at the park. With successive page-turns, more animal musicians arrive, leading to a concert. Cleverly, right-side pages physically increase in width, reflecting the increase in the instruments' sound. Yamada's deliberate telling lays out the story with matter-of-fact clarity. Sweet, blocky paintings, with cuddly-looking animals playing more realistically rendered instruments, capture the essential fantasy in their insouciant tone.

Reviewer: Thom Barthelmess | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Borràs. Although Marwan's Middle Eastern birth country is only hinted at in the beautifully expressive watercolor and ink paintings, the boy is unfortunately among the adult and child refugees fleeing war-torn countries worldwide. His mother, "with her flour-soft hands," is not beside him on the hard journey. The poetic first-person text, translated from the Spanish, addresses violence but still allows hope of Marwan one day returning to his homeland.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 A faithful retelling with the refrain "FEE, FIE, FO, FUM! I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ENGLISHMAN!" However, when Jack climbs the beanstalk, he spots some strange creatures. Töwe, "inspired by the sixteenth-century paintings of Giuseppe Arcimboldo," has painted arresting surreal visages for the giant and his wife, composed of fish, snails, birds, buildings, and other objects. Visually delightful, especially for sophisticated viewers.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 This elegant book succinctly relates Assisi's choice to leave his wealthy family to found a monastic order that preached respect for all creation; the text also describes his canonical miracles and his lasting impact on Christianity. The main narrative is accompanied on each spread by a quotation from his namesake Pope Francis and a well-reproduced period painting (source information provided).

Reviewer: Christina Dorr

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Joanna Boillat. When Leo touches a statue in Paris' Musée d'Orsay, the bear comes to life. Named for his sculptor, François Pompon (mentioned in the background note), Pompon the bear mysteriously flies away; Elschner imagines it's now Pompon's "twin" in his place..." and he is waiting for someone like you to visit him." Strong forms, muted colors, and red accents dominate the illustrations in this whimsical tale of art appreciation.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Alan Marks. A baby chimpanzee, captured by the hunter who killed her mother, eventually finds sanctuary with a kind man and forms an attachment to his dog. As a postscript makes clear, this heartbreaking true story is calculated to generate support for Goodall's work with orphaned chimps ("Once [Rickie] needed Henri--now she needs you"), but it is engagingly told and illustrated with expressive art.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(4) K-3 Translated by Sayako Uchida. Solitary Old Lion raises a lost baby rabbit: "If I let him eat enough, he'll grow up to be big and delicious!" Eventually realizing how lonely he has been and how much he cares for the bunny, the lion frees his captive and swears off rabbit meat. This moralistic (and slightly creepy) tale is accompanied by more successful, evocative pencil and acrylic illustrations.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher