(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Barnett and Klassen (The Three Billy Goats Gruff, rev. 1/23, and others) reunite to address the title’s age-old Christmas question. Barnett’s text expertly speculates as a child might, with ideas ranging from the logical (“Maybe Santa knows about the key under the flowerpot”) to the playful (“Or [does he] stretch out like taffy and step in one leg at a time?”). Klassen’s graphite, ink, and digital illustrations add his ever-pleasing straight-faced brand of humor (e.g., Santa doing laundry in his heart-patterned underwear to clean the soot off his suit). Theorizing is more entertaining than discovering an answer would be -- the magic is in the mystery, after all, including the mystery of how Santa gets back up the chimney.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Frequent collaborators Barnett and Klassen serve up a delectable rendition of the oft-retold folktale. The bare-bones narrative "clip clops" along with abundant humor and plenty of verbal delights, repetition, and rhyme ("Who seeks to reach the grassy ridge? / Who dares to walk across my bridge?") as the brash, blustery bully of a troll gleefully lists all the ways he loves to eat goat. Droll digitally compiled illustrations created with ink, watercolor, and graphite capture a proscenium view of the action above and below the bridge and depict a large, rodent-like troll who dwells in the muck of a bone-strewn riverbank. How the menacing meat-eater gets his comeuppance and the clever brothers go on to enjoy grassy glory on the other side of the bridge are the stuff of legend, and here they're given a playful twist by these masters of the deadpan. The tale wraps up with the troll floating down the river and around a bend. "Where he ended up I really can't say. I've never gone that far. There are too many mosquitoes." Sure to be a read-aloud favorite, this engaging interpretation will sit comfortably next to classic versions by Marcia Brown, Glen Rounds, Paul Galdone, and Jerry Pinkney.

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. It has been a year since the dramatic and emotional events of Pax (rev. 3/16). Peter, now thirteen and estranged from his grandfather, is living with the kindly hermit Vola. Pax, the fox Peter abandoned, has his own family, with mate Bristle giving birth to a litter of kits. The war from the previous book appears to be over, having claimed the life of Peter's father and many others. Now people are attempting to rebuild, with a group of volunteers called the Water Warriors helping to decontaminate the local water supply. Peter, feeling restless, alienated, and in denial ("at thirteen, life could never hurt him again"), leaves Vola to join the junior Water Warriors, intending never to return. At the same time, Pax sets out to find his family a new, safer home. Chapters alternate between Pax's and Peter's perspectives. The boy's restrained thoughts and spare dialogue mask his feelings of grief, despair, and a crushing sense of guilt about Pax, while the fox's own primary concerns are about survival, with occasional memories and specific scents recalling happier times. That the two characters will reunite is to be hoped for (and expected), as they are both drawn back to the place Peter had called home. Subsequent events, lightly foreshadowed, result in a satisfying yet bittersweet conclusion. Klassen's interspersed textured black-and-white art adds layers of complexity. This sensitively imagined story effectively explores issues of human-animal connection, emotional vulnerability, the aftermath of conflict, and found family.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(2) 1-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Badger is perfectly content to live alone in a brownstone owned by Aunt Lula, which he's arranged to suit his rather particular preferences, when a surprise roommate turns up. (It would have been less of a surprise had he not been too busy to read Aunt Lula's letters.) Skunk needs a home--"Not everyone wants a skunk"--but the impetuous and sometimes literally effusive Skunk's interference with scientist Badger's Important Rock Work just won't do. The personality pairing familiar to readers of Frog and Toad and the like should help ease the transition to this more challenging text, with its advanced vocabulary ("He'd shelved [the rocks and minerals] alphabetically with the most delicate specimens wrapped in tissue paper"), long paragraphs, and only occasionally interspersed illustrations. Those illustrations, some in black and white and some in warm color, echo the text's old-fashioned feel. This new series, with its humor and understated (well, sometimes) emotions, deserves a far warmer welcome than the one Skunk initially receives.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2021

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. While playing hide-and-seek with Square (Triangle; Square), Triangle breaks Circle's rule about not hiding behind the waterfall. Annoyed, Circle follows him into a dark cave until only expressively drawn eyes are visible. An unknown third pair causes the friends to flee, with philosophical Circle wondering what shape it was. Klassen's understated work with light, shadow, and texture in the graphite, watercolor, and digital illustrations carries Barnett's highly entertaining story full...circle.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2019

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. In a companion book to Triangle, Square pushes square boulders to a hilltop. Seeing a resemblance between Square and the block he's pushing, his friend Circle calls Square an artistic genius. Before Square knows it, he's agreed to create a sculpture in Circle's likeness. Angled lines and white space direct readers' eyes across each page, and short sentences, smart dialogue, and word repetition keep the story steadily moving.

Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2018

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Triangle leaves his triangle-shaped house via his triangle-shaped door, off to "play a sneaky trick on Square." But thanks to geometry, Square gets the last laugh. Fans of this author-illustrator team will recognize elements such as sumptuous textures and expressive eyes, not to mention a pesky antihero and a chase scene that goes in one direction, then back--plus an open, ambiguous ending.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2017

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. This latest Barnett/Klassen collaboration, an original pourquoi tale explaining why wolves howl, is a delightfully entertaining mash-up of familiar storytelling tropes combined in a wholly original way. Barnett's language is both funny and rich; Klassen's mixed-media illustrations are concentrated down to their essences, with striking tableaux that seem to capture each moment at the very peak of the action.

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

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. When his father enlists, twelve-year-old Peter is forced to release his pet fox into the wild. Omniscient third-person chapters alternate between Peter's and Pax's stories as boy and fox try to find each other--and as soldiers prepare for an unnamed war practically in Peter's backyard. Occasional black-and-white illustrations portray scenes both ordinary-seeming and subtly menacing. An emotional, thought-provoking story of conflict, loyalty, and love.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2016

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Steve's baby brother is sick, so his parents don't pay attention when Steve becomes afraid of the wasps in the backyard. In a recurring dream, a voice offers to make everything better, but the easy fix starts to look like too sinister a bargain. Oppel's language is straightforward, but the emotional resonance deep. Klassen's black-and-white drawings astutely capture the magnitude of a child's imagination.

Reviewer: Sarah Berman | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Sam and Dave hope to dig up "something spectacular" but, alas, unearth nothing, repeatedly coming close to (but just missing) precious gems. When their dog, digging for a bone, ruptures the hole's dirt floor, the explorers fall "down, down, down," and land in what appears to be their own yard. Well-chosen words and plentiful white space support readers; cross-section illustrations add visual humor.

Reviewer: Sam Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. When the comforting glow of Laszlo's nightlight goes out, the dark comes to visit and speaks to Laszlo: "I want to show you something." With his command of language, tone, and pacing, Snicket creates the perfect antidote to a universal fear. Using simple black lines and color contrasts to provide atmosphere and depth, Klassen captures the essence of Snicket's story.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. When young Annabelle finds a box containing yarn of every color, she knits herself a sweater. Then she knits one for her dog and everyone else in her colorless town. An archduke steals the box, but the magic doesn't work for him and all is made right. Impeccably paced brown ink and digitally created illustrations pair nicely with the translucent, lightly inked knitwear.

Reviewer: Robin L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2012

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. An abandoned house succumbs to the encroaching forest, which lifts it from its foundation and carries it into the canopy. The tension in this bittersweet elegy to the passage of time is matched by the soft, plain narrative and the somber, dappled watercolors. This book offers some simple and profound musings to contemplative young readers curious about the future and their role in it.

Reviewer: Thom Barthelmess | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2012

(2) 4-6 Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series. Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Miss Penelope Lumley is governess to three uncivilized (understandably, as they've been raised by wolves) children on a full-of-secrets country estate. Let the over-the-top characterizations, ludicrous situations, and tongue-in-cheek humor begin! This first installment is practically all setup, settling Penelope in and introducing various mysteries. Like Lemony Snicket, Wood has the gift of simultaneously sending up and inhabiting the story she's telling.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2010