(2) PS Little Pig's (Little Pig Joins the Band) older siblings are going to sailing camp; he reluctantly stays behind, learning to tie knots. His grandfathers bring him a toy boat, which keeps him entertained all week. Friendly watercolors capture the hustle-and-bustle of a large family, Little Pig's initial loneliness, and summer days spent knee-deep in a (beautifully evoked) pooled-up stream. A profusion of speech bubbles adds drama, immediacy, and humor.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2017

(3) K-3 Illustrated by John Martz. Straight man Abbott is a tall brown bear and befuddled Costello is a short white bunny in this picture-book adaptation of the 1930s comedy routine. Martz alters the text very little and includes speech balloons, panels, and changing perspectives to maintain the story's pace and add clarity for young readers discovering this famous baseball comedy sketch for the first time.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(2) PS Little Pig, too small to play an instrument, watches his siblings have all the fun with Grandpa's marching band equipment. However, physical stature doesn't stop him from thinking big. Sprightly ink and watercolor illustrations match the upbeat text's tempo and include comic asides to help advance the narrative. Readers will likely recognize Little Pig's predicament and give his take-charge solution a hand.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2011

(2) PS A little yellow duckling wanders off: "Uh-oh. I'm lost." No worries; Monkey is nearby: "I can help." This small drama sets up a comforting pattern as successive animal friends assist one another. The concept of helping is right on target for the always-eager-to-lend-a-hand audience. Costello's animated art tells a lot of the story, and there's enough tension to keep things lively.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2010

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Shawn Costello. Jewish and African American soldiers fighting on the Union side in the Civil War prepare a Passover seder with some help from farmers, a traveling man, and memories of previous celebrations. The invented dialogue is stilted, but the subject is intriguing and the heavily illustrated chapter book format makes it accessible to a young audience. An author's note provides historical context.

Reviewer: Amy Kellman

(4) K-3 An inventive array of mildly eccentric monsters enjoy a Halloween feast while awaiting the arrival of "the scariest creatures of all." The rhyming text goes on too long and the twist is predictable (the scariest creatures are trick-or-treating children), but the line-and-watercolor paintings display a fresh sensibility and an evocatively autumnal tone.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(4) 1-3 Illustrated by Shawn Costello. In a sometimes sentimental text, Evans tells about the events leading up to the acquisition of a school bus for blacks in a rural Mississippi community during segregation. The illustrations adequately capture the mood of the text, though a lack of detail results in rather fuzzy compositions. An author's note provides details about the actual events that inspired the book.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Wes Siegrist. In unsentimental prose this book follows two one-year-old Florida panther kittens as they roam their territory and hunt on their own for the first time. The book's strengths are its immediacy and snapshot detailing of the sights and sounds of the habitat; less successful are the stiff watercolor illustrations. A double-foldout spread cataloging the plants, insects, and animals that share the cypress forest is appended.

Reviewer: Emma Loy-Santelli

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Shawn Costello Brownell. Elizabeth has always known she was adopted from China, but when she learns she has a Chinese mommy, too, some difficult questions are raised. The situation is handled sensitively by the author, who writes from personal experience. Figures in the realistic paintings are sometimes awkward, but the faces deftly show the strong emotional bond between adoptive mother and daughter.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson