(1) K-3 Illustrated by James E. Ransome. The prolific author-illustrator couple (most recently The Story of the Saxophone, rev. 1/23) teams up again to offer this inspiring picture-book biography of the late human rights and civil rights icon. Cline-Ransome's reverent narrative gracefully captures Lewis's (1940–2020) humility and perseverance. Growing up in a farming family in Alabama, young John learned about love from the Bible at an early age. He felt its presence everywhere he went -- except when he encountered the discriminatory realities of Jim Crow laws. "Election day meant Whites Only could pick the laws, mayors, and presidents. John hated that colored folks had to stick to picking cotton." Inspired by a radio sermon delivered by Martin Luther King Jr., Lewis left home at seventeen to attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville. As he learned about practices of nonviolent resistance, his commitment to end segregation through nonviolent protest was unwavering. Beaten and arrested, yet undeterred, he led prolonged sit-ins; rode buses as a Freedom Rider; spoke at the March on Washington calling for jobs and freedom; and led the march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, that ended in state police violence. Ransome's distinctive illustrations, created with a combination of found, printed, and purchased paper with pencil drawings, perfectly match Cline-Ransome's telling and dramatically radiate the magnitude of Lewis's influence. An author's note, a timeline, sources for quotations, and a selected bibliography are appended.

Reviewer: Pauletta Brown Bracy | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tiffany Bozic. Acting as narrator, a young hummingbird describes his first year, beginning when "my older sister and I hatch, two days apart, from eggs as small as navy beans." They feel a breeze "many times a day," signaling that food is coming. And then one day it doesn't. The two wait, cold and hungry, until the next morning when the breeze returns. Here listeners must infer what has happened; a human hand lifts their tiny nest and uses a syringe to feed the babies. They are orphans, now living in a hummingbird rescue center and gradually learning the skills they will need to survive in the larger world. Realistic and delicate, Bozic's depictions of the main points in the narrative (learning how to hover, sip nectar, and catch insects) are rendered in acrylic paint on wood with the birds placed in natural settings and poses, resembling the best of scientific illustrations. Readers follow the two as they make their way in the world, migrate south for the winter, and then return to find mates. An author's note explains that this touching success story is based on an observed hummingbird rescue. Montgomery outlines ways to save such abandoned birds (clearly emphasizing that readers shouldn't try this at home) and the many resources available to help these tiny animals of the Americas. Also appended are facts about hummingbirds, including their size and habitats.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Stephanie Graegin. A lesson in mindfulness is couched in a cozy story about a much-anticipated visit with extended family. At first, the child protagonist struggles with a seemingly interminable "today": "Today stretches long...when you're counting weeks to summer, counting days to your trip, counting hours until you'll see Pop-pop and your cousins again." With these lines, Snyder cleverly initiates a second-person narration to align readers with the protagonist. Then, when the child's parents finally stop their "yak-yak-yak[ing] with the neighbors," the family drives to a picturesque lake house, where Pop-pop, cousins, and other relatives await. Graegin's rendering of the peaceful, idyllic setting and her matter-of-fact depiction of an affectionate, multiracial family are warm and welcoming. Now time races by as the child frolics in the lake with cousins and later watches fireflies dot the yard, visually echoed by a string of fairy lights. A wasp sting is the only trouble spot to mar this happy, fleeting day, but grownups and sympathetic cousins ease the child's pain. Fireworks cap off "the today you've been waiting for," and then, staving off sorrow at book's end, closing text reminds the child and readers alike that our favorite days can continue as "a memory you can visit again and again." Thoughtful back matter offers tips for "appreciating the here and now" and using positive memories to ease anxiety and worries.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Samantha Cotterill. This companion to Snyder's 2021 Listen encourages children to find visual patterns in our "VAST world." In vivid three-dimensional scenes, Cotterill depicts a redheaded pair: a child, sketchbook in hand, and a pregnant parent. Snyder writes in a direct, second-person voice: "But what if you stop, LOOK around, and get a closer view?" When the world "feels like too much" or is hard to "make sense of," look for patterns: stripes, repeating shapes, opportunities for repetitive movements ("Step, HOP, step, HOP"), zigzags, circles, checkerboards, polka dots, spots, and more. Cotterill fills her hand-built, mixed-media dioramas with patterns for viewers to find as the characters visit a farmers' market, a dock, and a forest. She keeps the compositions busy; that's the point. Once we find the patterns in her textured, bustling scenes, a sense of order grows from all the details. Snyder's text is particularly evocative during the book's close, noting that patterns connect us like "notes in a lullaby" as parent and child wrap themselves in a patterned quilt on the front porch. Back matter describes various types of patterns (fractal, branching, alternating, etc.) as well as a few activities related to making and locating patterns (the creation of sound patterns and taking "pattern walks").

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Marc Rosenthal. A minor drama unfolds when Duck and Cat visit the playground and find a new taller and curvier slide. Duck is excited to try it, but Cat has concerns. Could this slide be "too exciting" or "too fun"? Rather than admit fear, Cat tries to steer Duck toward the familiar swings and sandbox, but Duck keeps gravitating back to that slide. This picture book has all the hallmarks of a beginning reader--limited vocabulary, short sentences, strong visual support of plot, lots of sight words, and ample word repetition--and it can serve just as well for new readers as it can for storytimes. Rosenthal's pastel-hued, cartoon-style illustrations add warmth, humor, and nuance. Duck's open facial expressions telegraph excitement, while Cat's, in contrast, cycle through worry, hope, desperation, and determination. In the end, Cat realizes that good friends don't deny friends new experiences, and the slide turns out to be enjoyable for everyone. Many books for young children explore conquering fear, but fewer contextualize how one's fear can dampen someone else's good time; this book adds something fresh to the shelf.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(2) YA Fleeing Fidel Castro's Cuba in 1960, Victoria's family is sure they will be in Miami for only a few weeks--a few months, max--until the United States helps topple Castro's regime. Still, soon-to-be-thirteen-year-old Victoria is devastated to leave her home country and her "prima hermana," Jackie, behind. Diaz alternates focus between the cousins to describe this fraught moment in history. For Victoria, life in America is not easy, and she has to take on adult responsibilities to help feed her family. When communication with Cuba is almost completely cut, Jackie fears that Victoria has forgotten her. Jackie is eventually sent to live in Miami through Operation Peter Pan, and the girls struggle to deal with the challenges of their new reality--which, it increasingly becomes clear, will be permanent--as well as navigating the social landscape of junior high. Using personal interactions among Victoria, Jackie, and their new peers, Diaz does not shy away from addressing intertwined issues of the time period, including school integration, Cold War anti-Russian prejudice, and racial and gender dynamics within the family. The book's ending, if somewhat farfetched, allows for a happy, hopeful reunion in Miami with Jackie's parents and baby brother and the girls' grandmother. An author's note and extensive Spanish glossary are appended. Spanish-language edition, Hasta siempre Cuba, mi isla, forthcoming (12/23)

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) 4-6 Arthur Popper is a diffident, slightly anxious eleven-year-old who lives with his parents and younger sister above the family business, a thriving, capacious secondhand store in Boulder, Colorado. He works shifts in the store and is valued for being "good at customer service" but longs for another area where he can truly shine. When some family members' and friends' jewelry starts disappearing, he takes on the mystery-solving challenge. He receives advice from a ghost mouse who lives in a teacup on his bookshelf, the single touch of fantasy in an otherwise naturalistic novel. The detective narrative, which is tidily composed and plausible, provides the scaffolding for a story of family and community relationships that is a tour de force of small, beautifully calibrated effects. Arthur's best friend is Veda, who is Latinx, but things go sideways for them when Arthur's grandfather expresses a prejudice against "certain kinds of people." Freeman doesn't provide easy answers to the problem of a bigoted family member, nor does she give Grandpa an easy epiphany. Instead she portrays a realistic, flawed family with all its tensions. She allows Arthur to encounter and grapple with the concept of white privilege on his own, in age-appropriate terms, keeping the focus firmly on the child characters and their strengths.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Renata Liwska. On the longest night of the year, Owl calls on his forest friends to “shine the light” and “share a gift of hope.” Deer leaves nuts on tree branches so that all may have enough to eat. Raccoon hides berries in the snow as “sweet surprises.” As different animals explain how they can contribute (“I can help to shine the light...I can help to spark the light”), they decorate a tree, and their efforts culminate in the completed tree featured in a vertical gatefold. Liwska’s muted digital illustrations, with primarily blue backgrounds, help to set a peaceful wintry mood.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) PS In a welcome reissue of an alphabet book first published in 2015, twenty-six “playful pigs” wake up and explore a field of colorful, freestanding letters. The entire alphabet, in both upper and lowercase, runs along the top and bottom borders as each pig interacts with a single letter. “Abigail Pig admired an A. Billy Pig balanced on a B.” By the time Yolanda yawns and Zeke zzzs, the moon has risen and it’s time to go home. A playful (and humorous and painlessly instructive) book for young children learning their ABCs, with engaging gouache and pencil illustrations in Lobel’s recognizable style.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Bryan Collier. "During the 1960s, Diane Nash was one of the most influential and effective leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, yet most people don't know who she is." Wallace's latest picture-book collaboration with Collier (Between the Lines) seeks to correct that. The second-person narrative highlights major moments in Nash's life, beginning with her birth in Chicago and moving quickly through her childhood and high school years. When she moves to Tennessee to attend Fisk University, Nash experiences for the first time the overt segregation from which her parents wanted to shield her. This begins her commitment to civil rights activism, starting with integrating Nashville's lunch counters. "You stay BRAVE. You won't cave. Sit-in after sit-in. As hot coffee burns and sugar turns hair white, you focus on love. And when you get arrested for ordering a sandwich, more students fill the seats each week--one hundred, two hundred, three hundred strong!" Collier's watercolor and collage illustrations beautifully complement the text. The book opens with images of Nash's parents cradling her as a baby and then of Nash, as a small child, being hugged by her grandmother, highlighting the love that encouraged her activism. In later images, Nash stares directly at the reader with a look of determination on her face. The back matter includes an author's note that discusses gender discrimination within the movement, an illustrator's note, a timeline, a bibliography, and video resources.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jessie Hartland. What kind of spark is needed to ignite a global movement? In the case of the Earth Day Movement, it was quite literally sparks from a railcar landing in the heavily polluted and quite flammable Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. "KABOOM!" While not the first time the river had caught fire, this time, as Wittenstein's enlightening text shows, residents had had enough. Spurred on by the activism of the 1960s, they demanded action to clean up the river, and by extension the planet. While young readers may take for granted the concept of environmentalism, the book does an excellent job depicting the nascent moments of the movement that led to the first Earth Day celebration, the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, and legislation such as the Clean Water Act. Hartland's playful gouache paintings shine, reflecting a child's perspective on the events and conveying their emotional significance and ramifications. Back matter consists of a detailed author's note providing additional historical details; a timeline of the environmental movement; a bibliography; and a list of resources where readers can learn more about the Cuyahoga River Fire of 1969, Earth Day, and more about protecting our planet.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(1) PS Mina is a mouse, her nose always in a book, who lives "in her own little world where nothing ever bothered her." Her busy father brings home things he collects from the outside world, and one day he tells Mina that he has a big surprise. The page-turn reveals a massive cat, staring morosely at them. "It's a squirrel!" he declares. Forsythe's understated humor effectively conveys Mina's dilemma: when she can't sleep, her father tells her there's nothing to worry about, but looming over them both and taking up nearly every inch of their home is the cat, watching with narrowed eyes. They all manage to get along (and the cat gets a sweater!), but when a doctor visits the ailing pet--who has by now been joined by others--and names it as the feline it is, the cats pounce. (Not to worry.) Mina, much like the protagonist of Forsythe's Pokko and the Drum (rev. 1/20), is whip-smart and patiently suffers a well-intentioned but hapless parent. The illustrations are also reminiscent of Pokko with their velvety textures; palette of beautiful coppers, crimsons, and forest greens; and warm glow that emanates from nearly every spread. More, please, of Forsythe's richly imagined forest worlds.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tomie dePaola. An imp, a goblin, and a scalawag attempt to outdo one another in the telling of scary stories. Each includes what they collectively believe to be the scariest creature of all--but when that creature actually does appear, it wins them all over by proving its own storytelling prowess. Previously published as Four Scary Stories (in 1978), this crative, metafictive, silly-not-spooky tale features lively, vivid-hued illustrations starring dePaola's recognizably round-faced characters with their easy-to-read thoughts and funny facial expressions.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) 4-6 McCarthy takes readers back to the movies in her latest, visually rich informational picture book. More "a jumping-off point" than a thorough history of the cinema, the book covers the evolution of moving images, the innovators (all white men) who helped push the medium forward, and the amazement and shock the first motion pictures caused ("At the end of the show there was complete chaos"). The book excels when McCarthy uses side-by-side shots to mirror early moviemaking techniques, such as with nature photographer Eadweard Muybridge's series of shots of a galloping horse, and to illustrate how early films inspired later movies. In one particularly effective page turn, McCarthy draws a line from groundbreaking early German film Metropolis to Star Wars and Blade Runner, showing striking similarities between set and (droid) character design. McCarthy employs her trademark big-eyed, smiley characters (Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton are suitably silly, and even beloved Star Wars droid R2D2 hilariously sports a giant goggly eye). Extensive back matter includes an author's note, short entries on related topics from "MGM's Leo the Lion" to "The Beginnings of Hollywood," and a selected bibliography.

Reviewer: Sam Bloom

(2) K-3 Illustrated by James E. Ransome. This picture-book biography of writer Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford), by the team behind Freedom Bird (rev. 1/20), pays homage to its renowned subject and the wondrous power of storytelling. In childhood, Morrison was a listener, relishing the stories and music shared by her parents and grandparents. She was also an avid reader and continued to read more and more, "feeding a hunger that would never end." After attending college and graduate school and a brief teaching career, she began working as an editor in New York, at which time she started to write, publishing many books and winning awards for her stories about the lives of Black people in America. Nolen emphasizes Morrison's uncanny gift for storytelling ("She could look beyond things as they were and see a greater vision") and celebrates her not only as a brilliant writer but also as an inspiration to others. The straightforward main narrative is appealingly accompanied by words floating at the tops of pages in a storyteller's voice ("I'm telling you, that girl was magic"). Ransome's expressive watercolor and collage illustrations, delivered as mostly double-page spreads, are perfectly matched to the text and especially compelling in conveying a sense of Morrison's profound legacy. Back matter includes an author's note, a bibliography, important quotes, and a list of select achievements.

Reviewer: Pauletta Brown Bracy | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(2) PS Illustrated by Marc Rosenthal. The deadpan narrator tells one story: "Bear, Porcupine, Otter, and Squirrel love fishing." Meanwhile, the pictures tell a slightly different version. While, in the cartoon spot art, Bear, Otter, and Porcupine do look lovingly at their fishing gear ("I love fishing"), Squirrel sulks over breakfast, a poster over the table declaring "I heart acorns." As the tale goes on, the gulf between the reiteration of "Bear, Porcupine, Otter, and Squirrel" all loving fishing and the pictures showing no such thing continues to widen. Squirrel hates the long walk, the fishy smell, the sitting around, and the fur-frizzing rain; the other creatures delight in every moment. Unfortunately, the day collapses for everyone when Squirrel accidentally drops their one slippery catch, and the wordless spread showing the four staring solemnly over the side of the boat as the happy fish swims away says everything. When Squirrel pulls out a cellphone to call a taxi and offers to buy dinner, it becomes clear, finally, that while all the friends may not always love fishing, everyone loves Squirrel (including the fish, one supposes). The exaggerated expressiveness in the bright illustrations, all the way to the fishy endpapers, makes the play between art and text especially enjoyable for sharing.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) PS Illustrated by Will Moses. Folk artist Moses (Grandma's great-grandson) uses the first two and a half verses of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" as the text for his depiction of the ­Nativity story. The homespun quality of the oil paintings serves the tale well, with the manger a warm and comfortably crowded birthplace for the Baby Jesus. Although the carol gets a little abstract from the third verse on (all four verses are appended, along with a ­simple choral arrangement), Moses ­follows the Holy Family on their ­successful journey out of Bethlehem, the star still shining above.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Raúl Colón. Lady Liberty's torch reassures immigrants from around the world and across time in this inclusive, celebratory picture book. Engle's spare, rhythmic text paints the immigrant experience in broad strokes, identifying emotional themes--courage, pride, and identity--that many travelers share. Colón's illustrations are more specific; his richly saturated, evocatively textured images capture expressive faces of families fleeing war and disaster, then practicing their skills and exercising new freedoms across the United States. A spread depicting a classroom acknowledges the United States' complicated socio-political history--specifically the seizure of Native American and Mexican land and chattel slavery; the page turn is abrupt, but the message essential. This lyrical and thought-provoking read-aloud is both welcoming and honest.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tiffany Bozic. In simple yet poetic language accessible to young readers, Johnston describes trees' place in nature: "Trees are friends. Their branches say, Come. Come. Climb." The observations are accompanied by visually soothing acrylic-on-wood paintings--in some, the wood grain of the substrate is preserved, adding texture--that show identifiable trees, birds, animals, wildflowers, fungi, and amphibians, as well as children. Less science lesson than appreciation for these stately companions, the text ends with back matter that names the trees pictured, gives further reading for children and adults, lists websites for tree advocacy organizations, and offers author and illustrator notes.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell. Book, a new and vivacious red library book, is excited to be a part of its community, as it delights children and travels to picnics and sleepovers. But as time wears on and its popularity wanes, Book becomes forlorn, forgotten, and eventually discarded. Book longs to return to the fun it once had with young readers. After a long, lonely wait in a dark and silent box, our protagonist finally gets another chance when it is selected by a new reader at a used-book sale. Richly textured hand-drawn illustrations tenderly highlight the bright red book on each page. An author's note discusses Lehrhaupt's inspiration for Book's story and gives readers ideas for places in need of book donations, so they can pass on their own beloved volumes to new homes.

Reviewer: Maija Meadows Hasegawa | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2021