(2) K-3 Illustrated by Matthew Cordell. A mouse with nautical aspirations realizes her dream. Wee Mabel gazes with longing at the cunning model ship fashioned by the man who lives in the lakeside cabin where she makes her home. It is the man's "prized possession," the product of many months of painstaking labor; he is so possessive that he won't even let the boy who lives with him touch it. Then one blustery night the cabin door is blown open and Mabel gets her chance. Using a mouse-sized block and tackle and some tiny logs as rollers, she lowers the boat and pushes it into the water to sail it all night long. When the man panics at the ship's loss but then sees it under sail with Mabel at the helm, man, boy, and mouse are united in awe and glee. Jonker taps into many children's delight in miniatures; they will thrill along with Mabel at her adventure. Cordell's scratchy ink and wash illustrations have a faded look, their sepias and pale blues giving the tale an old-timey feel that a gooseneck desk lamp only slightly diminishes. Mabel and the boy each wear a knitted watch cap, hers a pale red and his blue; when he lifts her in his hand at the end of the story, they smile at each other, fast friends. The illustrations mix full-bleed spreads with vignettes; the latter are framed in knotted rope. Sweet wish fulfillment.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(4) 1-3 Makers Make It Work series. Illustrated by Maine Diaz. In each of these early-reader stories, the main character employs a makerspace skill--chemistry, rocketry, beekeeping, and sewing--to solve a problem. If the child's first effort fails, he or she persists to achieve success. The various illustrations (by different artists) are serviceable and the stories are fairly engaging, but kids will likely be more interested in the instructions for hands-on activities. Useful for early-elementary classrooms and makerspaces. Review covers these Makers Make It Work titles: Slime King, Rocket Rivals, The Broken Bees' Nest, and The Lost and Found Weekend.

Reviewer: Janet Dawson

(4) 1-3 Makers Make It Work series. Illustrated by Tammie Lyon. In each of these early-reader stories, the main character employs a makerspace skill--chemistry, rocketry, beekeeping, and sewing--to solve a problem. If the child's first effort fails, he or she persists to achieve success. The various illustrations (by different artists) are serviceable and the stories are fairly engaging, but kids will likely be more interested in the instructions for hands-on activities. Useful for early-elementary classrooms and makerspaces. Review covers these Makers Make It Work titles: Slime King, Rocket Rivals, The Broken Bees' Nest, and The Lost and Found Weekend.

Reviewer: Janet Dawson

(4) 1-3 Makers Make It Work series. Illustrated by André Ceolin. In each of these early-reader stories, the main character employs a makerspace skill--chemistry, rocketry, beekeeping, and sewing--to solve a problem. If the child's first effort fails, he or she persists to achieve success. The various illustrations (by different artists) are serviceable and the stories are fairly engaging, but kids will likely be more interested in the instructions for hands-on activities. Useful for early-elementary classrooms and makerspaces. Review covers these Makers Make It Work titles: Slime King, Rocket Rivals, The Broken Bees' Nest, and The Lost and Found Weekend.

Reviewer: Janet Dawson

(4) 1-3 Makers Make It Work series. Illustrated by Barbara Bongini. In each of these early-reader stories, the main character employs a makerspace skill--chemistry, rocketry, beekeeping, and sewing--to solve a problem. If the child's first effort fails, he or she persists to achieve success. The various illustrations (by different artists) are serviceable and the stories are fairly engaging, but kids will likely be more interested in the instructions for hands-on activities. Useful for early-elementary classrooms and makerspaces. Review covers these Makers Make It Work titles: Slime King, Rocket Rivals, The Broken Bees' Nest, and The Lost and Found Weekend.

Reviewer: Janet Dawson

(2) YA Edan starts a cosplay ("costume play") club called SEW: Superheroes Everywhere. In addition to drama within SEW--from sniping among members and a love triangle to sexual objectification and a false accusation of theft--Edan also weathers turmoil at home. Edan's frustrations at not having her passions taken seriously are relatable, and interactions among the casually diverse SEW crew make for a mostly breezy, diverting read.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(4) K-3 Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Illustrated by Emilia Dziubak. In lush jungle scenes, hiding creatures cautiously peek out of leafy foliage and a lithe tiger looks well in charge of his territory. But "you can't believe all the stories you hear..." At night, this jazzy, cheerful tiger does the ridiculously unexpected: making fruit salad, styling orangutan hairpieces, dancing with tapirs, etc. Tiger has some mildly amusing one-liners as he spells out the story's lesson.

Reviewer: Paula M. Cairo

(3) 4-6 Set at a late-nineteenth-century logging camp in northern Michigan, the humorous story details the exploits of eleven-year-old Stanley Slater, who's known for his overactive imagination, energy, and scrapbooking talents, and who's on a quest to find his long-lost dad. Larger-than-life characters dominate; standouts include Stanley's impossible cousin Geri, his strict grandmother, and lumberjack Stinky Pete (who may be a murderer).

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Tracy Bishop. A little girl tries and gives up on biking, ballet, and karate. After sage advice from Mom, she has a change of heart: "and with my newly-opened mind, / decided that I'm never... / ...going to be the quitting kind." Though the message-y story isn't particularly exciting, humorous illustrated scenes and (so-so) rhymes with words such as potty and heinie provide amusing moments.

Reviewer: Chelsey Philpot

(4) K-3 Your Piggy Bank: A Guide to Spending and Saving for Kids series. Each title features a child character saving for a certain item. Most of the pages focus on adding and subtracting money to make purchases and then using what's left to save for the desired item. Addition and subtraction of decimals and the concept of value are explained very clearly, but the small type and crowded pages may challenge younger readers. Glos. Review covers these Your Piggy Bank: A Guide to Spending and Saving for Kids titles: Money for Clothes, Money for Entertainment, Money for Food, and Money for Hobbies.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tracey Campbell Pearson. "Pets are the Hobby of my brother Bert," an unnamed girl announces. At first it seems tame enough, but Bert's menagerie includes Gorilla and Lion, not to mention Pangolins, Ocelot, and Grampus. After the mischief-making narrator releases the pets, chaos ensues, shown in Pearson's cheerfully riotous watercolors. Hughes's verse is light and loose--just right for such a "house-shaking rumpus."

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2009