(2) K-3 Illustrated by Hatem Aly. Our narrator was proud to have written a book in rhyme...and then little sister came along with her crayon and ruined it. Or did she? Frustrated, the narrator tries to tell the story aloud, with frequent sisterly interruptions that usually add positivity but disrupt where the rhyme seems to be going: "'She tagged along to join the action, / but mostly was a huge distrac -- ' // 'A HELPFUL NEW PERSPECTIVE!'" Between the sibling dynamics and the element of surprise that eventually becomes a recognizable pattern, the story is funny throughout (though its meter has some missteps). But the real payoff comes with a revelation at the end, which will likely prompt readers to go back and look more closely at the sister's contributions, aided by the differentiated font colors for each speaker. The illustrations, "developed digitally with some use of scanned traditional media textures, ink washes, and patterns," match the do-it-yourself imaginativeness of the text; the casual depiction of siblings with different skin tones is another plus.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(1) PS Illustrated by Robert Neubecker. This spirited look at a range of mass transportation vehicles showcases some of the vital but less visible jobs involved in making them move. "Who makes buses rev and go / through detours, gridlock, storms, and snow? / Block by block, who smooths the journey -- / potholed, hilly, twisty, turn-y? / IT'S NOT JUST THE DRIVER!" The book goes on to celebrate the role of the mechanic who proactively inspects the bus for safety and keeps it running. Continuing in this pattern, the text and art feature the subway's signal maintainer as well as the operator, the train's ticket agent along with the engineer, the plane's air traffic controller in addition to the pilot, and more. Full of small, amusing details to notice, the bright digital illustrations clarify how a team of people works together to get a complex job done. The engaging pages are packed with vehicles, transportation workers, and passengers. The whirlwind of activity flows visually to demonstrate the efficacy of the busy system running smoothly. This distinctive transportation book with its chirpy, rhyming text appeals to a young vehicle-loving audience while capturing the complicated and often overlooked aspects involved in keeping systems moving. An author's note provides more for readers to consider, including several questions: e.g., "Would you like to work on a team that makes transportation go? Which important job would you choose?"

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Alona Millgram. “Fingers crossed it turns out right. / Challah for Shabbat tonight.” Singsong rhymes take readers and listeners step by step as the narrator bakes challah with Grandma, including the fun of waiting together and, later, of Shabbat dinner with family. Illustrations are appealingly varied, from insets showing details of baking to flighty spreads with ingredients and smells dancing across the page. A welcome, warm portrayal of the Jewish Sabbath and of an intergenerational relationship.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) PS Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura. Creature-of-No-Words is content being "furry. And never in a hurry." The large, ungainly fellow enjoys his life, and although he doesn't "know how to say HAPPY" or "YUMMY" or "SAD" (having no words), he expresses himself through body language. Creature-of-Words, on the other hand, loves to use words; when she sees Creature-of-No-Words looking sad, she reaches toward him with outstretched arms and teaches him the word "HUG!" Creature-of-No-Words has a big red nose, his orange body is filled in with squiggly lines, and he's accompanied by eleven white birds. Creature-of-Words is smaller and redder, with a group of critter companions, including a fox, a cat, a squirrel, and two birds. Part of the book's fun is noticing the ways all of the animals interact in the illustrations. The text is written in triplets with occasional rhymes and includes such whimsical thoughts as the wish that pebbles would "burst like bubbles." Kitamura's paintings use intense color to show the pair living in a varied and beguiling landscape as they find joy together, sometimes sharing words and sometimes cuddled up "just listening to sweet silence." This tender tale illustrates the ways in which creatures, and humans, are alike and different from one another, especially in communication styles.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. In their third How to... book, Alexander and Sweet (How to Read a Book; How to Write a Poem,rev. 5/23) collaborate with singer-songwriter Preston to guide readers in tuning in to the world of sound around them. The lyrical text in bold hand-drawn block letters filled with color is prominent on each double-page spread. Beginning with the word hush, the authors invite us to begin by being quiet to "turn up your ears / and listen / to the / concert / happening / all around / you." We're encouraged to listen to the sounds of nature such as a "blue jay's / playful trill" and "trees swaying / and shushing." From there the poetic text focuses inward, first through breathing deeply, then through tapping feet and snapping fingers, ending with "sing / a song / loud / and strong." The pacing, vivid language, pleasing alliteration, inventive similes, periodic use of rhyme, and syncopated rhythm create a poem full of sound and music. Sweet's collage art incorporates musical imagery in waves, circles, swirls, and optical art patterns -- full of movement and energy to "make sound visible on the page," as she states in her end note. Preston contributes an end note as well. The overall impact resonates as a call for young people to find their voice and their power through music and beyond.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) PS Toad drives the tow truck for Pop's Garage, his dad's car repair shop. Toad is so busy that he bolts out the front door before the title page, skipping the insect his father has fried for him for breakfast. Vehicular calamities abound. "Catie cat has a flat. Davey dog hit a log. Mayor Hop forgot to stop. Stanley Snout's engine fell out." The punchy text uses short sentences and consistent rhythm with periodic bursts of rhyme, giving this a read-aloud cadence and momentum. The digital illustrations are a blend of spare, subtle, and energetic. Characters and vehicles appear as spot images in textured, relatively subdued hues on white backdrops, creating a warm, calm contrast to the nonstop accidents and Toad's frenzied activity level. When the tow truck breaks down, Toad insists he can handle it himself, but when his efforts end in his kicking the car in frustration ("Wait, Toad -- that's not going to help!"), Toad realizes it's time to call Pop. "Everyone needs help sometimes." With its clear plot, welcome predictability, and straightforward language, this book will be a smash with the preschool crowd while also satisfying the needs of beginning readers.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) K-3 Translated by Ilana Kurshan. Illustrated by Carmel Ben Ami. Uri, his little sister Shir, and their mother are waiting for their father to come home to begin their Hanukkah celebration. As evening falls, Uri starts to worry. He imagines, and then draws, Dad in various possible real-life jams (flat tire, stuck in the rain). Looking out the window, he's freaked out by the shadows, which take the shape of an advancing army led by a blobby-shaped King of Darkness; an appended note makes the connection to King Antiochus IV and the Hanukkah story. Just as Uri and Shir summon their courage, their father appears -- bearing jelly doughnuts traditional for the holiday, and ready to light the candles. Effective rhyming text carries readers along while colorful, sketchlike illustrations are a creative mix of realistic and imagined scenarios

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Wendell Minor. This picture book employs a first-person voice to enumerate the joys of winter. The rhyming text claims the identity of everything from snowmen to hot cocoa. "I'm a skater flying across the ice -- flash! / I'm a sled zooming down the hill -- dash!" Two of the season's holidays, Christmas and Hanukkah, are referenced in the text and/or the gouache, watercolor, and digital illustrations. The palette is appropriately cool, with pops of warmer colors, including bright red for mittens and the jacket of a boy making a snow angel (in perhaps a subtle nod to The Snowy Day) and glowing yellow for a cozy fire. The repeated refrain "I am Winter..." is completed at book's end with "I am Winter Magic!" An uplifting celebration.

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

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Rachelle Baker. On a rainy November day, a young girl goes with her mother to their neighborhood polling place. Along the way, the girl's mother explains that voting is "a mission / that, by definition / no one can do for us." The two enter a curtained-off booth where the girl pushes the buttons that correspond to the names her mother chooses on the ballot. The rhyming text, which eschews capitalization, is composed in a singsong meter (not surprisingly written by a well-known folk lyricist and composer) that will make for an enjoyable read-aloud. Digitally created illustrations show a Black mother and daughter walking to the polls in a culturally and ethnically diverse city setting. Illustrations emphasize relationships the girl and her mother have within their community and the civic values that voting symbolizes. For them, voting is about caring for and preserving a community; it's a sense of belonging, and "a job" that everyone's "got to do" in order to do their part and take care of one another. A thoughtful and rousing conversation starter.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Jonty Gentoo is a young penguin who is content in his zoo home until his aunts' tales of the South Pole awaken his desire to explore. "He longed for the snow / and he dreamed of the Pole. / 'To reach it,' he said, / 'is my one dearest goal.'" Jonty escapes his enclosure and swims to a distant land of snow and ice, surely "the land of the penguins." A polar bear regretfully informs Jonty that he's arrived at the North Pole. A migrating Arctic tern redirects the lost bird, and "the bird in the sea and the bird in the sky" travel to the South Pole, where Jonty is welcomed by "a heart-warming huddle of gorgeous gentoos." Donaldson and Scheffler's latest collaboration (notably The Gruffalo; most recently The Baddies, rev. 7/23) is a playful rhyming adventure that's fun to read aloud and well supported by Scheffler's recognizable cartoon illustrations. Back matter provides some information about the story's two "Amazing Birds." An uplifting tale of big dreams and friends who help along the way.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) PS In this companion to Hello, Moon (rev. 7/21), Downing records the activities of a group of woodland animals, including rabbits, bears, butterflies, and a hawk, as they engage in their daytime routines. The book sets a gentle tone: "Hello, sun! / Goodbye, night. / Sunrise chill, pale dawn light." Similar quatrains ("Morning shines, / ferns unfurl. / Acorns crack. / Hungry squirrel") detail the action, which includes frolicking, nest building, and even napping. A hawk flies overhead ("Feathers flash / all around"), interrupting the bucolic scenes, but the rabbits: "Hide away, / safe and sound." Although yellow predominates the palette of the watercolors and liquid acrylics, Downing employs soft blues and greens in the flora and fauna to create a pastoral tableau that beautifully complements the rhythmic text.

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

(2) K-3 Ready to Read: Monster Og series. Illustrated by Elio. In their entertaining second outing (Og Meets Mog!, rev. 3/24), Og (a gentle turquoise monster) and sidekick Mog (a large, round, catlike creature) are using a tool to "make something cool." Feeling left out, Dog snatches the last cog and drops it into a bog. "Og yells once. Og yells again." In some books, the repetition of sounds can become tedious, but Dyckman's agile deployment comes off as charming and allows children who are just beginning to decode print the opportunity to practice and build confidence in service of a cheerful, relatable story. The strong lines and bold, vaguely retro hues in Elio's images add to the appeal. Characters pop off pages that alternate between double-page spreads and spot illustrations, which controls the pace and gives this straightforward, low-stakes friendship story a feeling of movement and drama. The character design rides the line between cute and weird in a way that will encourage young readers to pick the book off the shelf. In the end, Og executes a plan to get the cog out of the bog, Dog makes amends, and then Og, Mog, and Dog create their "something cool" together. Three cheers for this unique and enjoyable story and friendship team.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) K-3 Ready to Read: Monster Og series. Illustrated by Elio. Picture book author Dyckman (Wolfie the Bunny, rev. 3/15; How Dinosaurs Went Extinct, rev. 3/23) steps into the beginning reader market with this book for the earliest readers. Og is a turquoise monster with puffy hair, blunt horns, and one tooth -- not even a little frightening. The book uses simple words, short sentences, and a lot of repetition ("This is Og. Og is nice") to ease children just starting to sound out words into this story about the day some sort of creature appears stuck in a block of ice. Og is scared but also determined to get the creature out. Og tries bonking the ice with a log, and when that doesn't work, it's time for a new strategy: "Og can think and make a plan!" For its simplicity, the text has a gentle rhyme scheme and pleasing sense of rhythm that reward the work of decoding. Elio's cartoon-style illustrations are bright, cheerful, expressive, and clearly composed, creating a path for readers who may be struggling with early phonics skills to follow the story. Once Og finally releases the creature from the ice, a new friendship is formed, and readers get a setup for future adventures with this duo.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Brian Biggs. Hardhat-wearing pigs hurriedly build a road to reach the county fair. While Rosie stays up all night and "plans," "outlines," and "calculates," her peers -- Curly, Pinky, and Stinky -- sleep. At work, the pigs follow a predictable pattern. Rosie directs; the crew messes up; Rosie fixes the problem. When the trio stakes the road incorrectly, for example, Rosie "checks the GPS / and straightens out / their crooked mess." When their load of dirt and rocks misses the dump truck, "Rosie shows them how it's done." And so it goes. Until...poor Rosie needs a nap. Thankfully, Finison doesn't just give Rosie a leadership role in a male-dominated field. Sure, she casts Rosie as a smart, problem-solving construction worker. But when Rosie needs a break, the author gives her one -- and the crew works together to finish the job. Biggs's detailed, motion-filled scenes will delight building enthusiasts. Compositionally, the art also supports the text's theme of collaboration. Early on, Biggs offsets Rosie-in-charge from the others, framed or separated by the gutter, while in later more cooperative scenes, the four pigs occupy the same picture space. And, like any good construction story, this one's packed with opportunities to spot favorite vehicles.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Kate Hindley. Hindley brings a Richard Scarry vibe to Fitzgerald's zany bedtime frolic. From the start, the direct-address narrator breaks the book's titular promise: the "quickest bedtime story EVER" is "only ten words. BUT before we begin, listen up." Listeners join a cast of pajama-clad animals in a series of interactive bedtime-stalling antics. They pledge to go to bed at the end of the book, while grownups promise to use their best reading voices. Everyone warms up (aided by silly, near-page-filling text), stretches (rotating the book to achieve a full vertical extension), tucks in their toys (from biggest to smallest, in colors and patterns, or "even try out [their] own ideas"), practices careful page-turning, and so on. Finally it's time for the story, which sums up this delightful romp: "Once upon a bed, / you laughed, / and played, / and read." Colorfully cluttered illustrations offer myriad details, inviting repeat readings, encouraged by the book's closing words: "(Until tomorrow!)." In the final pages, Hindley's bright, wakeful colors give way to sleepy shades of blue, glowing from decorative string lights, and everyone -- well, almost everyone -- is sound asleep.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Sonia Sánchez. Snow is a feeling the moment you wake / Snow is a stillness before the first flake." This picture book shows us a classic snow day through the eyes of a young child. Each page tells readers what snow means to the speaker -- anticipation, snowball fights, sitting in front of the fire, and togetherness. The rhyming text and the digital illustrations in a warm blue palette punctuated with reds work together beautifully to bring color into a world blanketed in snow. After a day of fun and excitement, this loving, diverse family snuggles down with some cookies and blankets and bids us goodnight.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) PS Illustrated by Sonia Sánchez. Gopal and Sanchez celebrate impromptu community-making through music: "One sweet song / for heart and soul. / One sweet song / to make us whole." In a scene recalling balcony performances in places like New York City during the COVID-19 shutdown, someone plays the flute by an open window; a girl listening from the building across the way chimes in with a triangle. This, in turn, spurs a third musician, then a fourth, and so on. More join in with everything from cello, violin, ghatam, and morsing to unconventional instruments that will cause audiences to giggle (pots and pans, bottles filled with dried beans, singing into a remote control "microphone," and even a horn made of a funnel and tube). The rhyming, rhythmic text counts up to ten participants and back down to one, first animating readers and then bringing them back to a quieter, peaceful state that gives this book a dual function as a bedtime story. Colorful painted and digital illustrations show individual lines, an almost scribbly texture, and imperfectly drawn shapes, all of which make the pictures buzz with energy and movement. Even if they didn't personally experience these types of balcony performances, readers will understand the way music-making can bring people together.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) PS On the opening double-page spread, a single duck flies over a peaceful wintry rural landscape while the rhyming text states the obvious: "Duck." A second duck joins the first on the following spread. "Duck. Duck." Next up, "Duck. Duck. Goose." No surprise there...but buckle up, because Hare's (Field Trip to Volcano Island, rev. 3/22) picture-book romp is about to go off the rails. On the fourth spread, the ducks and goose are now joined by "Moose?" Yes, "Moose on the loose" in a creative flying contraption. From there, the wacky story -- involving a train, a truck, some muck, and both bad and good luck -- takes readers on a wild ride. Hare's engagingly composed cartoonlike illustrations, "a blend of hand-drawn pencil with digital color and accents," take the wheel from the stripped-down text, heightening the absurdity. Effective page-turns, text placement, and punctuation enhance the spot-on comedic timing. This is tailor-made for story hours; the simple, repeated vocabulary and large, bold type would also support emerging readers. The adventure ends with ducks, goose, moose, and a hitchhiking hen enjoying tropical "Surf. Sand. Ocean. Sun." Flying south for the winter may not always be this chaotic -- but these snowbirds sure stick the landing.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Lorena Alvarez Gómez. “Me llamo La Chiva. That’s me! Beep, beep, beep!” But this chiva is not a goat, it’s a bus (helpfully explained in an author’s note) decorated with bright patterns that travels through a town in the Andes. Cheerful rhyming text follows the bus on its way to a market in town, including a stop for a flat tire that the passengers help fix. Painterly digital illustrations in vibrant colors feature a smiling bus, diverse community, and playfully exaggerated steep mountain roads. Also available in Spanish as ¡Me llamo la Chiva!: El colorido bus de los Andes.

Reviewer:

(2) PS In a creative echo of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” Ipcar describes the snow-covered fir tree outside her window on a clear Christmas night. Atop the tree is “one shining star”; after this, she counts the creatures that inhabit it—two black bears, three bobcats, and so on, culminating with twelve black-capped chickadees. The illustrations, vigorously drawn and painted in rich, warm colors on full-bleed double-page spreads, are accompanied by a rhyming text with many child-appealing details. The five raccoons are “bold little bandits with neat black masks”; the eight gray squirrels have “small feet frisking, soft tails whisking.” Originally published in 1986.

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