(2) K-3 Illustrated by Dan Santat. Lê and Santat (Drawn Together, rev. 7/18) present another story focused on everyday familial relationships, expressed through concise writing and extraordinary visuals. As young Iris waits for an elevator with her family in their high-rise apartment building on Monday, she says, "There's one thing that always cheers me up: PUSHING ELEVATOR BUTTONS." Same thing on Tuesday and Wednesday--but on Thursday, Iris's pesky younger sibling gets there first. On Friday, Iris irritatedly retaliates by pushing "ALL THE BUTTONS!" A series of deliberately repetitive panels depicts the family's subsequent tedious descent to the lobby, and growing frustration. After the sullen Iris pockets a discarded elevator call button from the lobby garbage bin, she tapes it up next to her closet door--and her real adventures begin. An encounter with an impressively illustrated tiger (similar to the stuffed version her sibling totes) and a journey to a space station lead to eventual sibling cooperation. The story's clever premise is fully realized by Santat's mastery of light and atmosphere, resulting in multiple arresting spreads. Readers will be excited to link aspects of Iris's real world to her fantastical adventure, and intrigued by the open-ended conclusion. Uplifting.

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

(3) K-3 Great Idea series. Illustrated by David Parkin. This picture-book biography details the mid-nineteenth-century life and eventual successes of Elisha Otis, inventor of the modern elevator. Kulling succinctly and simply recounts Otis's progression from bed-frame factory worker to designer of lifts for heavy machinery to World's Fair marvel when he debuted his passenger elevator. Crisp pen-and-ink with watercolor illustrations contribute energy and levity to the account.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan