(3) K-3 Illustrated by Marc Brown. Brown compiles capital-L Life Lessons from everyone's favorite aardvark. On double-page spreads, Brown's words pair with a picture-book page or TV still (original sources labeled) meant to exemplify the lesson. Loosely organized into thematic sections, the book's coverage is broad and ranges in depth. Many of the pairings offer genuine wisdom or insight on topics from racism to disinformation to appreciating childhood; other spreads feel didactic; some are theme synopses. The volume should be useful as bibliotherapy and also as an annotated visit with the beloved characters. Back matter includes biographical notes, including "How Arthur Came to Be."

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Supriya Kelkar. A young American desi (someone of South Asian descent living elsewhere) compares the disparate parts of her own cultural makeup. "Pavadais in bright gold colors / Jersey shirts and faded jeans / Swapping, changing, feeling seen... / Which is the color of me?" While the child's voice is initially curious, there's never any hint of self-consciousness, and the tone becomes proud and grateful. The gently rhyming text uses a dynamic refrain ("Finding the sounds of me," "Blending the flavors of me," etc.) to empower cultural identities of all kinds; Kelkar's rich collages, a potpourri of paper, fabric, and other media, are wonderfully suited to this celebration of "blending, merging, taking wing..."

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) PS Illustrated by Wazza Pink. In the same vein as the authors' A Bucket of Blessings (retelling an Indian myth) and The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk, the mother-son coauthors recast Mother Goose classics for an audience of culturally South Asian tots. "Jai Be Nimble," "Humpty Dumpty," "Pat-a-Naan," and more: each nursery rhyme maintains the original's characteristic rhythm while subbing-in one or more Hindi words (defined with pronunciation below). In parallel with the Sehgals' English-Hindi mashups, the digital illustrations include both familiar Mother Goose imagery and South Asian cultural details, such as traditional clothing and lotus design motifs.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) YA The Disability Visibility Project, founded by Wong in 2014 as an oral history project, grew into an online community and later an anthology of thirty-seven personal narratives; this is the abridged young-readers' volume. The selections are well organized into four topical sections ("Being," "Becoming," "Doing," "Connecting"); when appropriate, a content note warns of potentially distressing subject matter within a story. Wong emphasizes in her introduction--as do many of the contributors--that the book is not meant for instruction or inspiration. Rather, the seventeen essays provide powerful and empathetic windows into living with (or, often, learning to live with and coming to terms with) a broad range of disabilities.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rachel Stubbs. In this beginner's cookbook, Atherton (2019 winner of The Great British Baking Show) uses an encouraging tone to present doable recipes with kid-pleasing gimmicks (e.g., "Octo-Pizzas" with breadstick tentacles). True to the book's subtitle, the recipes are generally healthy and nutritious, and many manage to include oft-dreaded veggies in creative and not-unappealing ways: in bear-shaped banana pancakes, half a cup of spinach "gives them their fun greenish color." The book is organized by meal type and includes an illustrated equipment list, glossary, and helpful tips. Stubbs's sweet spot art adds to the cozy, welcoming vibe.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sarah Horne. Ostensibly walking readers though writing a book about his dog, Barton introduces elementary-age readers to nonfiction publishing. From research to writing to minute steps in a book's life cycle, an impressive amount of information is cleverly cloaked in entertaining meta storytelling. Horne's slapstick illustrations work in perfect tandem throughout; occasional vignettes use flow-chart arrows as the would-be "book" moves from agent to editor and on. Even "people whose names don't...appear on the cover" (typesetters! proofreaders!) get a shout-out--all without a dull moment.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Maryann Cocca-Leffler. Coauthor Leffler (the adult daughter of Cocca-Leffler), who was born with cerebral palsy, describes how she loved attending public school. Sadly, "it hadn't always been that way" for kids with disabilities. In 1971, seven kids (each named in a tidily illustrated vignette portrait) were denied schooling until their families' outcries led to Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia, which secured the right to public education for children with disabilities. The text describes events and facts gently while making a strong case for the ruling; the illustrations showcase people with disabilities on every spread. A wealth of appended contextual material, including a timeline and selected sources, enriches the historical account.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Ms. Prichard's students--including Amelia, who's upset by "loud noises" and "weird smells"--adore their teacher's service dog, Harley, but respect the rules, such as: no petting him when he's wearing his vest. During a fire, Harley shows his service chops by finding Amelia and helping her and Ms. Prichard safely out of the burning school. This picture book, inspired by a real elementary teacher with an invisible disability (PTSD), sensitively discusses disabilities kids may encounter in peers and adults while also clarifying etiquette around service dogs on the job. The sweet illustrations add informative details (e.g., Amelia's noise-cancelling headphones).

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Betty C. Tang. Brayden Harrington has techniques that help with his "bumpy speech," but public speaking still causes stress and embarrassment sometimes. When he meets Joe Biden at a presidential campaign event, Brayden is astonished when Biden tells him: "'When I was your age, I had bumpy speech, too.'" The encounter inspires both Brayden and the soon-to-be president, who invites the thirteen-year-old to (virtually) address the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Like Harrington's viral speech, his autobiographical account is sympathetic and moving, with cheery digital illustrations that emphasize feelings of hope. Appended with tips and other information on stuttering.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat. The narrator and her sister marvel at the beautiful saris that Ammi (mother) and Abba (father) make to sell at the haat (market); an intricate and laborious art form, one sari can take months to complete. The girls decide that Ammi deserves to keep one for herself--and when their piggybank savings don't cover the cost, they raise the rest themselves. A sweet family story about appreciation, sacrifice, and generational traditions is woven into an overview of this centuries-old regional artisanship in Northern India. The bright digital illustrations do justice to the rich colors and patterns of sari-weaving. More about "The Saris of Kaithoon" and a glossary are appended.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) PS After a child with brown skin is asked a mystifying question--"What are you?"--the spare text and childlike illustrations cleverly posit the many (often opposing) whats she is. "I am dark. I am pale" appears over three small (differently melanized) hands reaching into a huddle-circle; the opposite page shows one set of bare tan-lined feet: "In summer I am many colors." The girl is also, for example, a "scaredy-cat" (mid-thunderstorm) then "brave" (catching bugs), and "not mischievous / (most of the time)." A note from the Indian American author explains the dehumanizing nature of the question and expands on the themes of dialectical self-images and identities.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile. This graphic-novel adaption of Alexander's Newbery Medal–winning verse novel, about African American twins and middle-school b-ballers Josh and JB Bell, retains all the on-court drama, swaggering narrative voice, and poignant emotional pitches of the original. The basketball action comes alive in the angular, motion-filled art, in shades of black, white, and (aptly) orange; the art also captures the story's more tender social interactions, moments of familial intimacy, and later scenes of heartbreak surrounding the boys' father's death.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2014; November, 2019

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Aimée Sicuro. Brown's debut picture-book biography of Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) limns her creative childhood, dutiful art study, and early career in mid-twentieth-century NYC. Once Frankenthaler develops her trademark "soak-stain" technique, the rhythmic text mirrors that kinetic process: "Helen grabbed a bucket of crimson and...POURED...setting her colors FREE." Sicuro's watercolor, ink, and charcoal-pencil illustrations reinforce the ideas of movement and color saturation. An appended art project helps everything seep in. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(2) K-3 Throughout this picture-book biography of Asawa (1926–2013), a Japanese American creator of nature-inspired wire sculptures, there's an emphasis on the handmade--from a childhood on a farm to her college studies to learning basket-weaving from a craftsperson in Mexico. The illustrations evoke the handmade; charcoal and colored-pencil drawings are combined with hand-painted and monoprinted paper in distinctive, naive-style collages. More about Asawa's life and a "Make Your Own Paper Dragonfly" activity are appended. Bib.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(2) YA A change of summer plans finds seventeen-year-old narrator Emma--whose mother died of an overdose years back and whose father has just remarried--staying with her mom's large, boisterous extended family for a few weeks at the motel they run. Privileged, anxiety-prone Emma quickly acclimates to the working-class environs and bonds with her relatives, soon embracing a new, more laidback identity. Dessen's latest novel is largely about the ups and downs of family.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Hadley Hooper. After struggling for years, Swiss-born twentieth-century sculptor Alberto Giacometti found fame for his tall, spindly figures (e.g., Walking Man series), while Diego (who later become known for his furniture designs) worked tirelessly to support his brother's art. The book touches on life events in snapshot-like sections that nevertheless provide strong impressions. Hooper's art, in paint and ink and finished digitally, is strikingly dynamic. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(2) YA Gurley uses the star-crossed-lovers theme to good effect in his YA debut set in a (fictional) blue-collar California oil town. The romance between alternating narrators Vanessa (an aspiring astronomer) and Zach (an artist) is tentative and chaste but emotionally intimate as they unpack their respective family baggage. This love story is also a timely, moving statement about income inequity and a reminder that everyone struggles.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(2) YA Henstra uses the epistolary format with great success in this novel about the burgeoning romance between sophomore Jonathan Hopkirk ("Jo"), an openly gay poetry and music lover, and senior football star Adam Kurlansky ("Kurl"). Perhaps there's melodrama in this couple's beautiful love, and in how spectacularly it's challenged by devastating conflicts, but this is what makes the book such an epic, sweeping romance--and gay teens deserve more of those.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(2) YA In a relatable voice, cheerleader Jenna describes how things got "weird" with best friend Raejean junior year; her pain erupts in revenge during a team trip. Readers in it for mean girls and competitive cheerleading may be surprised when the plot incorporates queer romance (with transgender boy James) and Live-Action Role Playing. But MacCarthy pulls off this combination of topics with aplomb in an affirming story about having multiple conflicting selves.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Julie Morstad. Japanese American artist Fujikawa (1908–1998) helped break the color barrier in picture books with her 1963 now-classic Babies. Maclear lucidly outlines a remarkable life of art and creativity, of struggle and perseverance. Growing up in California, Fujikawa "sometimes...felt invisible among her mostly white classmates." This feeling continued into adulthood and an art career in New York City, especially when her West Coast–based family was incarcerated in WWII internment camps. Morstad's illustrations effectively vary in style and coloring to match events. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019