(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

(2) PS "Girls and boys come out to play, / The moon doth shine as bright as day. / Leave your supper, / Leave your sleep, / And come with your playfellows into the street." Pearson's single-rhyme Mother Goose opens on a contemporary nighttime scene of a diverse neighborhood of children getting ready for bed. Then Mother Goose appears and issues the titular invitation. The children frolic briefly in the street, after which Mother Goose leads them "up the ladder and down the wall"--in this rendition, a demarcation, as the setting now changes to a more pastoral traditional fairy-tale world inhabited by such nursery-rhyme characters as Humpty Dumpty (and all the king's men), the dish and the spoon, and Little Boy Blue. (The players are helpfully identified on the CIP page and on endpapers containing eight additional rhymes.) A moment of humor arrives when Mother Goose realizes that just one halfpenny roll will not feed them all, as the rhyme claims, and everyone pitches in to make more "pudding." Sprightly watercolor illustrations in a mix of double-page spreads and vignettes pace the action perfectly; the many details will keep and hold youngsters' attentions--a small child who hangs back ("Come with a good will...or not at all"); Jack and Jill's pail being used to milk the cow to make the pudding. In the end, with full bellies and having been read a story (from a Mother Goose book, natch), the now-yawning children head home for bed, and Mother Goose flies off into the night. "Good night. Sweet dreams."

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Abigail Halpin. Picking up where Anne Arrives left off (but also understandable on its own), this chapter book relates events from Anne’s early days at Green Gables, faithfully but with brief paragraphs and copious white space that should appeal to newly independent readers. Illustrations from spot art to full-bleed spreads convey the rural setting and capture characters’ emotions as Anne forms lasting relationships.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sarah Jacoby. Barnett is openly admiring of Brown's legacy in this picture-book biography. In forty-two pages (because Brown lived forty-two years), he weaves facts about her life with information on how her books were received, in particular by notable librarian Anne Carroll Moore. Barnett conveys the sense that Brown's stories felt as strange and wondrous as life itself can be. Jacoby's mixed-media illustrations are appropriately impressionistic and playful. Bib.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) YA Bryan was a nineteen-year-old art student when he was drafted into a segregated army unit of stevedores, where he used every opportunity to sketch and record his experiences, from training to D-Day and its aftermath. Bryan's present-day text serves as a kind of voice-over to the scores of images included: original paintings and drawings, letters, journal passages, photos, maps, and army posters. The dynamic book design and lavish production choices make this a fully immersive experience. Ind.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(3) 4-6 Britain’s first ten Children’s Laureates, from Quentin Blake (1999–2001) to Lauren Child (2017–2019), discuss their writing and/or illustrating processes, supply creative prompts, and show samples of their own work. The result is an encouraging set of examples for young creators of how ideas can become stories or illustrations. With twenty additional “ideas for creative projects” appended and "More About the Laureates," this volume should serve as a useful resource.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(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

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by Abigail Halpin. Eight chapters relate the beginning of Anne of Green Gables's story, remaining faithful to the events--and often the language--of L. M. Montgomery's original but with short paragraphs and plenty of white space. This inviting introduction for newly independent readers includes color-saturated mixed-media illustrations that capture the spirit of the characters and the Prince Edward Island setting.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Dan Santat. In a mash-up of fairy tale and auto race, the Princess passes a litany of favorite characters from fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and classic books like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz after a pit stop. In the vibrant art, full-bleed pages of bold lines and dramatic layouts play up tension and movement. This speedy freshening up of classic children's literature honors the power of confidence and determination and puts the Princess in the driver's seat.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2018

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Geneviève Godbout. Anne of Green Gables says good night to the things and people she loves, giving brief explanations for each. Though the chief appeal may be for adults familiar with L. M. Montgomery's famous story, the hushed text combines with ethereal pastel and colored-pencil illustrations in muted colors to create a bedtime book well suited to lulling young listeners to sleep.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Júlia Sardà. Krull embraces the absurdity of Carroll's writing in her whimsical biographical sketch of the author and the creation of his most famous work, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She emphasizes the imaginative entertainment he devised for children, creatively incorporating some of his invented words (such as frabjous and mimsy) and including them in an appended glossary. Sardà's fantastical, idiosyncratic illustrations channel Carroll's genius for nonsense.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. A mother tells her son the "real story" of the bear that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh: the boy's great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn (author Mattick's great-grandfather), bought Winnie in a train station and made her a mascot for his Canadian Army battalion during WWI. A deft blend of historical research and gentle, heartwarming fiction enhanced by Blackall's art. "Colebourn Family Archive" appended.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) YA Four Long Island prep-school students experience tragedy after they fall in with the beguiling author of their favorite teen novel. Interview transcripts and diary excerpts provide shifting accounts of what happened between the powerful (fictional) author and her fans; interspersed excerpts from the author's books reveal she was lifting story lines from her young friends' lives. This is a twisting, salacious drama that tantalizingly blends fiction and reality.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald

(2) 4-6 Although the intended audience is young people, adult fans are the most likely readers of this breezy sketch of L'Engle's life, from childhood through the publication of A Wrinkle in Time. Not as comprehensive as Leonard S. Marcus's Listening for Madeleine (2012), but L'Engle's granddaughters present a sweet biography full of nice insight into the artist as a young woman, particularly as demonstrated in her journal entries.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2018

(3) 4-6 Fifty-two letters are divided into age-level sections (upper elementary, middle school, high school), then further grouped by theme. Addressed to a wide variety of authors, from Elie Wiesel (Night) to Sharon Draper (Forged by Fire), the letters reveal young readers' personal connections, revelations, encouragements, and more. A tribute to the power of the right book in the hands of the right reader. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 Bachelet hypothesizes a diary entry by the White Rabbit's wife, about her at-home-mom life while her husband is at work at the palace. Wonderland characters grace the art, which shimmers with winking allusions to Carroll's original work; the text's darker elements (e.g., Mrs. Rabbit wishes her husband "paid just a little attention to me every once in a while") skew toward mature picture-book readers.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) YA Essential Literary Genres series. Each volume briefly introduces a genre, then summarizes four or five well-selected books within it, suggests simple critical angles for understanding and interpreting the titles, and gives examples of topics for high-school essay-writing. Brevity rather than depth defines this series. The light-pastel sidebar type was a poor design decision. There are four other spring 2017 books in this series. Reading list, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Essential Literary Genres titles: Young Adult, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, and Science Fiction.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) PS Illustrated by Clement Hurd. Retrospective by Leonard S. Marcus. This edition is notable for children's literature historian Marcus's twenty-page afterword. His reflections include biographical information about the creators and their editor (the legendary Ursula Nordstrom); insight into the trio's collaboration; discussion of the book's legacy; and reproductions of correspondence, photos, and illustrations from early editions. Scholars and interested (grown-up) readers will find this a rich look at a cultural touchstone.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Lauren Castillo. White is introduced in spare text and warm images, with a focus on his love of nature and animals plus the creation of his first two children's books. Herkert effectively evokes White's own prose, filled with sensory detail and phrases that roll off the tongue. Castillo's illustrations mirror the text with natural colors and lively drawings of the young boy growing into the adult writer. Bib.

Reviewer: Monica Edinger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(2) K-3 Illustrated by John Rocco. A picture book biography of author-illustrator Burton focuses on her adult life as mother to two boys who love trains and trucks. The text and art are at their best when "Jinnee" is illustrating, creating lifelike scenes out of blank paper and charcoal. Rocco's paintings of the artist at work and his replicas of her illustrations are masterful. An intriguing, loving introduction to a picture book icon.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017