(2) K-3 Translated by Azita Rassi. Illustrated by Marjan Vafaeian. Persian merchant Mah Jahan collects birds and keeps them "in cages...so that they couldn't...leave her." When her favorite, a parrot, asks her to visit its former colony in India, she does and is shocked when one of the wild birds drops dead. Back home, Mah Jahan tells her parrot what happened--and it drops dead. But it's a ruse: the parrot's friends sent "a story...to teach me how to escape." A thought-provoking, visually striking retelling originally published in Tehran.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2019

(2) PS As they enjoy afternoon tea, including sweet manju cakes (steamed buns filled with red bean paste), four woodland-creature friends decide to scare a bear passing by. All their tactics fail--until the bear "admits" his deepest fear: manju cake. The animals lob the cakes into the bear's cave and are surprised by the bear's pleased reaction. The mixed-media illustrations reward close inspection with clever details. Based on "Manju Kowai" or "Scared of Buns," a story from the Japanese oral storytelling tradition of rakugo.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Uma Krisnaswamy. In this volume of original trickster tales set within a frame story and inspired by Indian folklore, Prince Veera and his friend Suku, a farmer's son, enjoy holding court when the king is not available. Time after time, the pair acts logically and kindly--and metes out appropriate justice, often with a humorous comeuppance for the villain. Traditional black-and-white illustrations are sprinkled throughout.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Shirin Adl. Twenty-one pithy tales starring the pan-Muslim trickster figure Mulla Nasruddin challenge readers' perceptions. In one story, a man asks Nasruddin, standing on the opposite bank of a river, how he can cross to the other side. Nasruddin replies, "What a birdbrain...You are on the other side!" With his towering turban, expressive face, and fluffy cotton gravity-defying beard, Nasruddin will elicit giggles even as readers contemplate the puzzles he poses. Mixed-media illustrations incorporate paper, tissue, felt, yarn, sticks, beads, and more. Glos.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2019

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Mindy Dwyer. When Granddaughter rushes and spills blueberries, Grandmother explains how trickster raven Chulyen's nose became bent because he hurried. After Chulyen loses his beak, an old woman uses it as a tool; Chulyen steals his nose back, but without noticing it's now worn and crooked. Sprightly comic-style art and the inclusion of Dena'ina words make this an engaging retelling from southern Alaska. Reading list. Glos.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Tom Knight. In this playful Halloween-themed retelling of the folktale "Stone Soup," three hungry witches have only a bone to eat. They beg local monsters for eerie ingredients such as earthworms, eyeballs, and cobwebs, promising there's no trick, just a tasty treat. Greens, blues, and oranges dominate the cartoonish, digitally colored charcoal and pencil illustrations. A soup recipe (substituting edible ingredients for witchy ones) is appended.

Reviewer: Amy Bennett-Zendzian

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler. This slim volume collects two previously, separately published tales by consummate First Nations storyteller King, with new black-and-white illustrations. Both stories are set "a long time ago," before humans and animals stopped talking to each other, and feature Coyote less as devious trickster and more as hapless dupe. King's sense of humor is on full display, and he enlivens the tales with gleeful, effortless anachronisms.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2018

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Nicole Allin. Anansi travels to different villages for delicious-smelling food. He won't help with preparations, leaving "one end of a web string" in each place and asking to be pulled back when the meal is ready. He's surprised when they tug simultaneously. The spirited telling works, but it's not well served by amateurish cartoony illustrations. An author's note and two (modern) recipes are appended but no sources.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Kevin Cornell. Pranksters Miles and Niles (The Terrible Two) seem to have met their match when Principal Barkin's father, former Principal Barkin, takes the school back under his control. Ultimately, the Terrible Two must enlist help, and they know exactly whom to ask. This humorous sequel is full of absorbing strategy and even a little suspense. Exaggerated cartoons punctuate the plot and add to the comedy.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2016

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Phyllis Saroff. Collared lemming Tuktuk discovers the perfect winter bedding: a fur-lined kamik (Inuit boot). As Tuktuk drags it to his burrow, a polar bear, an Arctic fox, and a caribou all want the boot for themselves. The dull and familiar trickster tale is elevated by eye-catching realistic illustrations conveying the tundra's natural beauty. Back matter includes information on Arctic seasons and wildlife and a matching activity. Glos.

Reviewer: Russell Perry

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Jacques. In this "Emperor's New Clothes" adaptation with tornado facts forced in, weasel Travis the Tornado Tamer offers to protect an all-animal town by creating a magical cover that only the smart and special can see. After a tornado hits, the trickster moves on (as "an Earthquake Ender"). Slick illustrations include animals humorously wearing old-timey costumes. Tornado information and activities appended. Glos.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(4) 1-3 Calico: Pony Girls series. Illustrated by Paula Franco. Four girls experience growing pains of friendship at Storm Cliff Stables camp. Dani, who's from Costa Rica, constantly feels one-upped by her overachiever cousin, Gabriela; Carly hates following rules; Kianna, still seven, faces challenges as the youngest. New readers will have fun horsing around with the girls in these high-interest if facile stories. Average-quality illustrations emphasize the cast's racial diversity. Review covers the following Calico: Pony Girls titles: Carly, Daniela, Gabriela, and Kianna.

Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rowan Sommerset. Quirky Turkey wants "sweet revenge" after being duped into eating poop in Baa Baa Smart Sheep. But after an extended speech-bubble conversation with Little Baa Baa about the "lemonade" Quirky Turkey's holding, the unlucky bird gets tricked into drinking the pee. The quintessential gross-out humor will resonate with second graders; minimalist illustrations capture the antagonistic vibe in the characters' expressions.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rowan Sommerset. Feeling bored, Little Baa Baa pranks Quirky Turkey, convincing him that a pile of (presumably) sheep droppings are actually "smarty tablets" and basking in deadpan satisfaction when the gullible--yet now, indeed, wiser--bird gobbles them up. The two pencil-drawn animals in a brown-gray wash converse in speech bubbles, their expressive faces supporting a goofy cumulative text. The timeless poop humor has wide appeal.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jonas Lauströer. A clever hedgehog fools a snooty but gullible hare into racing until he drops dead. The Grimms are at their folksiest; some words are changed, but the illustrations reveal the hare lying in a pool of blood as in the original. Realistic animals, surrealistically dressed in their Sunday best, scurry across windblown landscapes. The images are scraped raw and as prickly as the hedgehog.

Reviewer: Amy Bennett-Zendzian

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Leslie Stall Widender. When Ms. Shukata Possum needs a new house, her animal friends pitch in in exchange for a meal afterward. Lazy Chukfi Rabbit feigns illness and secretly hoovers the meal's homemade butter until he's really sick. Readers will enjoy following Chukfi's attempt to evade detection. The illustrations finesse the humor in this Choctaw trickster tale, which is told with confiding informality.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Giuliano Cucco. A crocodile and a crocodile bird are the best of friends, although the latter can't resist playing tricks on the former. One life-threatening trick in particular results in a long-overdue comeuppance--and a too-abrupt ending. Twice as wide as it is tall, this big, unusual book is powered by cuteness-free storytelling and full-page art in saturated royal colors.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 4-6 Having defended her claim to the Ladyship of the Summerlands in Summerkin, Fer faces a deeper challenge: Lords and Ladies who swore to relinquish their glamories have broken their oaths, and Fer and puck Rook must save the land from the creeping sickness that results. High magic, faerie charms, and a gratifying friendship subplot give this adventure an otherworldly heft.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) YA W.A.R.P. series. After a wormhole transports Riley, a reluctant assassin's apprentice, from Victorian to modern-day London, Riley and teenage FBI agent Chevron Savano must evade and defeat Riley's evil mentor, Garrick, who gained quantum abilities during his own trip forward through the wormhole. Capably plotted time-travel adventure filled with hand-to-hand combat, canny reversals and tricks, and sarcastic repartee will ably reward Colfer's longtime fans.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) YA Ashline Wilde (Wildefire; Embers & Echoes), teen reincarnation of a Polynesian volcano goddess, teams up with her fellow demigods to stop her ex, Colt, from merging Ash and her two sisters into a single consciousness. A mash-up of the supernatural and mythological, the trilogy's final volume covers no new ground but provides a satisfying (if predictable) conclusion.

Reviewer: Barratt Miller