(2) PS "One very hungry day, Beast caught Dinner. Beast was ever so pleased. Dinner looked very tasty." The illustration shows a large purple-pink monster (not all that scary on the frightening scale) chasing a little curly-haired child across a rainy landscape. Generous Beast wants to share this tasty Dinner with his friends, so he sends out invitations. All four say yes (in entertainingly presented glued-in fold-out letters), but all make demands: Sir Gutguzzler wants Dinner fattened up first; Madame Gargoyle asks that Dinner be extra-salty; Giant Grimble says Dinner needs to be muddy and slimy; and Hairy Fairy demands that Dinner be served chilled. The clever child turns each demand to best advantage, making a fattening chocolate cake, taking Beast for a delightful swim in the sea, playing together in the swamp, and finally sledding in the snow. By this time, Beast has become too fond of Dinner to serve and eat; instead, the guests arrive to find a feast of all kinds of aptly delicious food, including a chocolate mud pie, salted popcorn, and ice pops. The brightly colored, scribbly illustrations capture the growing friendship between young human and monster; the recipes provided on the endpapers--eyeball sushi, slime soup--are child-pleasingly gross.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(3) K-3 Herds of dinosaurs chase a mini "book monster" named Nibbles as he chews his way through this very book, leaving cut-out holes in some pages. Labeled drawings of four dinosaur species give basic stats and information. With bathroom humor, riddles, silly speech-bubble commentary, and frequent lift-the-flaps (ill-suited for library circulation), this meta romp–meets–dinosaur primer should have wide appeal.

Reviewer: Janet Dawson

(4) K-3 While Poppy cleans her room, her imaginative fantasies come alive, filling her room with "weird and wonderful creatures." Zany mixed-media illustrations show Poppy's ramshackle bedroom replete with a woolly mammoth, talking goldfish, and other wacky characters. The creative book design offers a playful reading experience, although the various fonts and irregular-sized text may be difficult for young readers to navigate.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(4) K-3 Young narrator Orion fears darkness. After the Dark (resembling a giant blue jelly bean with limbs) visits him, they strike up a life-altering friendship: "nobody (not even me) is scared of their best friend." The story works, but the changing fonts and font sizes, vignettes with tiny type, and underlined and crossed-out words are, while visually inventive, cumulatively nerve fraying.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Sharing-averse twins Sidney and Stella fight over a bouncy ball until it shatters the moon; widespread panic--displayed gloriously in a detailed gatefold--ensues. "Sidney and Stella HAD to put things right." The resolution is a little hasty, but the zingy digital illustrations throw in plenty of wry humor, and kids will have a blast poring over them.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen