(4) PS Mr. Panda offers doughnuts to a series of ill-mannered black-and-white animals, finally granting the whole box to the lemur who says "please." Gray backgrounds and Mr. Panda's beleaguered expression contrast nicely with the lemur's perky energy and the technicolor doughnuts he consumes, but Mr. Panda's ultimate admitted dislike of the treats lessens the impact of the joke.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! series. Illustrated by James Penfield. Step-by-step instructions and diagrams lead aspiring artists through the process of drawing a variety of people and objects. Baltzer's directions are clear and concise, and sidebars and appended facts offer bonus bits of nonfiction. Whether Penfield's illustrations are intentionally childlike is unclear; while his style may be reassuring to beginners, more experienced artists may find his odd proportions and unsteady lines off-putting. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! titles: Cars and Trucks, Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, Dogs and Cats, Monsters and Other Mythical Creatures, Pirates on the High Seas, and A Royal Court in Its Kingdom.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! series. Illustrated by James Penfield. Step-by-step instructions and diagrams lead aspiring artists through the process of drawing a variety of people and objects. Baltzer's directions are clear and concise, and sidebars and appended facts offer bonus bits of nonfiction. Whether Penfield's illustrations are intentionally childlike is unclear; while his style may be reassuring to beginners, more experienced artists may find his odd proportions and unsteady lines off-putting. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! titles: Cars and Trucks, Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, Dogs and Cats, Monsters and Other Mythical Creatures, Pirates on the High Seas, and A Royal Court in Its Kingdom.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! series. Illustrated by James Penfield. Step-by-step instructions and diagrams lead aspiring artists through the process of drawing a variety of people and objects. Baltzer's directions are clear and concise, and sidebars and appended facts offer bonus bits of nonfiction. Whether Penfield's illustrations are intentionally childlike is unclear; while his style may be reassuring to beginners, more experienced artists may find his odd proportions and unsteady lines off-putting. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! titles: Cars and Trucks, Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, Dogs and Cats, Monsters and Other Mythical Creatures, Pirates on the High Seas, and A Royal Court in Its Kingdom.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! series. Illustrated by James Penfield. Step-by-step instructions and diagrams lead aspiring artists through the process of drawing a variety of people and objects. Baltzer's directions are clear and concise, and sidebars and appended facts offer bonus bits of nonfiction. Whether Penfield's illustrations are intentionally childlike is unclear; while his style may be reassuring to beginners, more experienced artists may find his odd proportions and unsteady lines off-putting. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! titles: Cars and Trucks, Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, Dogs and Cats, Monsters and Other Mythical Creatures, Pirates on the High Seas, and A Royal Court in Its Kingdom.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! series. Illustrated by James Penfield. Step-by-step instructions and diagrams lead aspiring artists through the process of drawing a variety of people and objects. Baltzer's directions are clear and concise, and sidebars and appended facts offer bonus bits of nonfiction. Whether Penfield's illustrations are intentionally childlike is unclear; while his style may be reassuring to beginners, more experienced artists may find his odd proportions and unsteady lines off-putting. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! titles: Cars and Trucks, Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, Dogs and Cats, Monsters and Other Mythical Creatures, Pirates on the High Seas, and A Royal Court in Its Kingdom.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! series. Illustrated by James Penfield. Step-by-step instructions and diagrams lead aspiring artists through the process of drawing a variety of people and objects. Baltzer's directions are clear and concise, and sidebars and appended facts offer bonus bits of nonfiction. Whether Penfield's illustrations are intentionally childlike is unclear; while his style may be reassuring to beginners, more experienced artists may find his odd proportions and unsteady lines off-putting. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Looking Glass Library: I Like to Draw! titles: Cars and Trucks, Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, Dogs and Cats, Monsters and Other Mythical Creatures, Pirates on the High Seas, and A Royal Court in Its Kingdom.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kristyna Litten. Snuggleford Cuddlebun is a champion sleeper. She is a sloth, after all, and the only event that draws her away from home is the annual Snoozefest at the Nuzzledome in her hometown of Snoozeville. Puns abound in Berger's well-crafted rhyming text, and Litten's digital art combines painterly texture with lots of hide-and-seek details. A cheeky ode to the delights of sleep.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jill Dubin. This twist on "Over in the Meadow" depicts far-flung animals in their mountain habitats with their offspring. Berkes's rhyme scheme struggles at times, but she packs a lot of information into her verses and the ensuing back matter. Dubin's richly layered cut-paper illustrations add texture and include a hidden animal in each spread. Suggested activities and a musical score are appended. Map, reading list, websites.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Lee White. Penelope can't escape her mother's penchant for planning every minute, until she falls through a hole in her schedule and finds herself in the Wonderland-esque Realm of Possibility. Britt's playful puns move the story along as Penelope strives to save the Realm from the evil timekeeper Chronos, and White's violet-hued illustrations add life and movement.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) 4-6 In her third adventure, spy-in-training Ruby Redfort joins forces with best friend Clancy to unravel a mystery involving missing jewelry, perfume, and wild animals on the loose. Child delivers an irreverent and fast-paced (if rambling) escapade that will appeal to any reader who has fantasized about life as a code-cracking secret agent. Back matter explains how to encode one's name using molecular structures.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) K-3 With simple text and cut-paper collages, Chrustowski traces one honeybee's journey from hive to meadow and back again, explaining how a scout bee uses a series of motions to communicate a harvest location. A brief afterword offers more information about the process, and the bright, broad illustrations offer enough detail for readers to identify every part of the bees.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) K-3 Put a bunch of lost and hungry animal astronauts on a spaceship with the forbidden Nuts of Legend, and something is bound to go wrong. And a series of stops to ask for directions only makes matters worse. Dolan's comic-book-style mixed-media illustrations are peppered with speech bubbles and side stories that experienced readers will relish exploring.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) YA When anxious seventeen-year-old Ben Fletcher is put on probation, he takes up knitting to satisfy one of the requirements and finds that he has untapped natural talent. It's a talent he's desperate to keep secret but also one that leads to surprising social victories. Easton is generous with humor and absurdity, and Ben's voice is clear and consistent throughout.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) YA The second installment in the trilogy finds band manager Summer juggling college applications, industry politics, and her quest to help boyfriend Caleb find musical messages left behind by his famous father. Emerson sustains a whirlwind pace throughout the novel and the mystery element is compelling, but his characters' dimensionality takes a backseat to his insider's view of the music business.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Victoria Jamieson. Sidelined by his latest concussion, football star Zane Braycott applies his love of strategy and competition to the third round of Gollywhopper Games, navigating puzzles as well as new friendships. Feldman's knack for leading readers through her diverse characters' solutions without losing their interest carries the narrative, which is unfortunately slowed by a conspiracy subplot involving competing toy companies.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) YA Picking up moments after former friends Gemma and Hallie confronted each other (Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend), Finn's second installment in this ritzy Hamptons-summer-set series finds the girls still bent on mutual revenge. Through a series of schemes and pranks, their battle escalates until everyone around them is involved. Finn's quick-fire dialogue and pacing compensate handily for occasional plot implausibility.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) YA Famed French jewel thief and acrobat Rémy Brunel (The Diamond Thief) is determined to discover the truth of her origins, even as she is pursued by police and manipulated by a hypnotist. Gosling crafts a world full of steampunk-style mechanisms and criminal intrigue, and though it is occasionally difficult to track the many characters in this sequel, it's an entertaining, fast-paced ride.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) 4-6 Seagate Summers series. Twelve-year-old Remy returns to Seagate with plans to revive her dog-sitting business and figure out if her feelings for friend Bennett might be more; a forced evacuation complicates things. While the narrative lacks tension, Greenwald applies a light touch to issues such as divorce, giving readers a chance to comfortably eavesdrop on Remy's questions and search for answers.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Stevie Lewis. Mandy Berr stomps and roars through two more adventures, both featuring her trademark enthusiasm and troublemaking ways. Gutknecht's heroine frequently crosses the line from sassy to intolerable, but there's just enough redemption to balance the tally sheet by the end. Lewis's black-and-white line drawings add comic relief, and Mandy's "List of Lessons" summarizes what she has (reportedly) learned from her escapades. Review covers these titles: Pizza Is the Best Breakfast and Never Wear Lipstick on Picture Day.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby