(2) K-3 Illustrated by Hannah Marks. An offstage narrator insists this book's panda protagonist needs a problem to solve: "that's how stories work." Things devolve as the uncooperative panda hijacks the story. Kid-friendly design distinguishes the narrator's traditionally formatted text from the panda's speech-bubble dialogue while plentiful white space makes the appealing digital illustrations easy to follow. Underwood's meta tale creatively explains storytelling fundamentals, slyly defining plot, setting, and characters as the panda upends the norms.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019