(3) PS Somos8 series. Newborn firefly Clementine is determined to find out what kind of creature she is by exploring the landscape around her. A little girl with a lantern saves Clementine from “a big, hungry bat” and helps her find “the other little stars.” Illustrations in deep blues and greens feature inviting glows from a variety of summer-night light sources in this cozy picture book, originally published in Italian.

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(2) K-3 Translated by Cecilia Ross. Illustrated by Marta Sevilla. The copyright page says this story was the winner of a contest that "aims to spread equality in literature that promotes respect for identity and battles against stereotypes." Though its mission is clear, this isn't a didactic tract; our introduction to the grouchy blue-haired witch protagonist is: "Oh, for the love of STINKING SKUNK FARTS!" She didn't mean to turn her hair blue--though in Sevilla's illustrations, it's a beautiful balayage--and she decides to bolster her self-esteem by snatching a child. As it turns out, the boy is an amateur beautician, and his hair artistry turns the witch's frown upside-down. Bold-hued illustrations with eye-catching patterns and details enhance the enchanting tale, whose message is worn with style.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2020

(2) K-3 Somos8 series. Translated by Cecilia Ross. Teaching sharing to a potty humor–­loving reader, this book (originally published in Spanish as ¡Esta caca es mía!) is a perfect choice. It begins with a dog blithely going about his regular daily business, leaving his customary "little present" in the garden. Lola, a "very flitty fly," stakes her claim on this "enormous steaming mountain," ­planting her flag and declaring: "This poop is mine!" Enter Fiona, the "laziest and most ­loudmouthed of all flies," who swoops in with her own assertion: "This poop is mine!" Relatable retorts about not-­fairness and here-first-ness ensue. And then the poop-slinging begins. It's all humorously, and disgustingly, shown in Gusti's bold-hued, black-outlined illustrations. The two scrappy flies are clad in all-black and ready to rumble, Lola being squatter and rounder with yellow eyes, and Fiona taller and more rectangular with purple eyes. The scenes in which they stomp their feet (four each, plus two arms) are particularly...poo-kicking, with zum zum sound effects enhancing readers' sensory experience, for better or worse. It's not a total gross-out: the illustrations' textured backgrounds are quite painterly, and the twilight-set scenes chronicling the insects' equal separation of the spoils are surprisingly serene. The story doesn't end there, though, and true détente between the critters comes only after a human puts their foot in it.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021