(2) K-3 In a picture book just right for young listeners as well as new readers, Sloth wakes up ready to eat. She "moves by degrees toward the tastiest leaves." Striking torn paper, ink, and digital media illustrations silhouette her dark figure against a verdant jungle of leaves and vines, creating a layered textured-collage look. Short, playful lines of text curve and stretch across spreads, mirroring Sloth's languorous movements. The refrain "Go, Sloth. Go, Sloth. Go, Sloth, go!" provides the opportunity to join in and chant along, and tiny critters -- lizards, butterflies, birds -- add something extra to notice on re-reads. The combination of illustration, page design, and words adds up to a book that gives a sense of Sloth's leisurely pace while also creating forward momentum to keep pages turning. The text is minimal and repetitive, relying on sight words, which makes this a solid choice for children just learning to read. As the book draws to a close, spreads evolve from green to orange, purple, and blue as dusk falls and Sloth achieves her goal: bedtime. Yuly (The Pelican Can!, rev. 5/24) displays sensitivity to young children's interests in this appealing homage to simple pleasures.

Reviewer: Adrienne L. Pettinelli | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2025

(2) PS Yuly's well-designed picture book presents a series of playful rhyming questions ("Who can soar down close to the shore?" "Who can fly up high in the sky?") followed by the refrain, "The pelican can! The pelican can!" While young listeners and emerging readers will enjoy the predictability of the interactive format, Yuly delivers plenty of page-turning visual drama. She sets pelicans -- sometimes rendered in thick black outlines, other times in solid silhouettes -- against striking torn-paper seascapes as they travel from nest, to sea, and back to nest again. With each question-and-answer couplet, shifting color palettes depict the peaceful blue-black nighttime that bookends the story, the splendor of sunrise and sunset, and the bright daylight in between. Artfully placed text mimics the pelicans' path as they fly, dive, "SPLASH!," and scoop, enhancing the book's visual delight and the appeal of decoding words and images as readers follow the pelicans from page to page. Sure, "The pelican can! The pelican can!" And the viewer can, too.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(3) PS Likening herself to elements in nature--a leaf, pebble, cloud, and flower--a young girl declares: "I am a small part of it all." Yuly's spare, six-sentence text gently articulates the narrator's feeling of being connected with nature. Distinctive digital-collage, charcoal-pencil, and ink illustrations feature torn tissue and cut paper with recycled-looking textures and rough edges.

Reviewer: Erica Wetter

(3) PS "Sun gives us light. / Thank you, sun." This appreciation is repeated as a child observes and enjoys bees, sheep, clouds, trees, dirt, and Earth. Yuly's colorful collage illustrations set against white backgrounds are reminiscent of Eric Carle's. The simple text and pictures will appeal to preschoolers, and the message of gratitude for nature is appropriate for many storytime themes.

Reviewer: Janet Dawson

(3) PS Jelly Bean is a kind blue giraffe with black spots whose head accidentally becomes home to a bird's nest. Jelly Bean's animal friends entertain her while she waits for the eggs to hatch. The short, simple sentences highlight themes of friendship and caring. Set against the mostly white background, the bright collage illustrations (containing torn tissue- and construction-paper and twine) are full of texture.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(3) PS Kitten wants to play hide-and-seek. Cat "hides" in hopes of sneaking in a nap, "but Kitten always finds him!" Soon Cat has had enough but finds Kitten asleep in his bed. Simple text features just enough repetition to heighten humor when the pattern breaks. Thickly outlined illustrations in big, bright shapes strongly communicate the cats' emotions and their odd-couple dynamic.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher

(3) PS Night Owl loves to explore at nighttime, but soon he can't find Mommy Owl. He follows different sounds in search of her only to find other animals; when a storm develops, he heads home and is reunited with his mommy. Lively animal sounds and textual repetition make this book a good read-aloud choice. Yuly's simple, bold illustrations playfully depict the moonlit great outdoors.

Reviewer: Julie Bartynski-Fenner

(3) PS A little red bird wakes early and goes on a preposition-laden journey: "Across...through...under...up...and over" until she finds the Early Worm. Readers may think they know the little worm's fate, but Early Bird gets the worm--and shares a strawberry breakfast. The large-size type plays around, under, and over the bold shapes and colors in this simple, pleasing story.

Reviewer: Carrie Harasimowicz Sullivan