Jolly Season Sleep-Aid! Santa and the Goodnight Train by June Sobel

SANTA'S COMING! HO HO HO!
THE GOODNIGHT TRAIN IS ALL AGLOW.

ENGINE'S SHINED, LOOKING JOLLY.
STRUNG WITH LIGHTS, DECKED WITH HOLLY!

ALL ABOARD. SLOW AND STEADY.
CAREFUL NOT TO DROP YOUR TEDDY!

It's no secret that for youngsters, falling asleep is difficult on Christmas Eve.

So what could be more timely than a special sleepytime express, The Goodnight Train, sporting a big wreath on its boiler and pulling special sleeping cars, each one a cozy sleigh bed for tired but excited tots. As he boards, one boy drops his bed-buddy-bear, just as it's all aboard for the little night-capped and pajama-ed passengers, and with a WHOOOO WHOOOO and a JINGLE JINGLE the Goodnight Train heads out for Destination Dreamland.

Lucky for that little rider, the lost Teddy catches a ride on Santa's sleigh as they zoom through a gingerbread town, the merry locomotive shining its light into the night, and the missing Teddy drops down right where he is supposed to be as Santa flies on.

Meanwhile Santa's sleigh has a temporary delay, but soon all is set aright, and his reindeer fly again through the night. With its load of snoozing sleepers, each one now gifted and with the boy's Teddy back in his arms, the Goodnight Train chugs on, its job well done. Santa sighs with relief, finally heading back to his workshop on Christmas Eve.

This just-published holiday sequel to June Sobel's train series, with its Christmasy sparkles and colors by illustrator Laura Hutiska Beigh and Sobel's soothing rhyming verses, Santa and the Goodnight Train (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019) may be just the bedtime story to send non-somnolent youngsters off to sleep on Christmas Eve, especially when shared with Sobel's The Goodnight Train and The Goodnight Train Rolls On! (board book).

Pencil Me In! Linus, The Little Yellow Pencil by Scott Magoon

THE FAMILY ART SHOW WAS COMING UP, AND ONLY THE ART WITH THE MOST HEART WOULD WIN THE GRAND PRIZE.

Linus, the little yellow pencil, feels on the spot. This year everyone is expecting an entry from him.
But even though Linus is a sharp little guy, he does not work alone. There's a problem with his co-creator, his eraser, Ernie! In fact, when they are working it seems as if he and Ernie just aren't even on the same page!

"YOU CAN'T EVEN DRAW A STICK FIGURE," SAYS ERNIE.

RUBBA-DUBBA-RUBB WENT ERNIE, AND LINUS'S LINE WAS GONE!

Talk about a co-worker who rubs you the wrong way! Ernie the Eraser is keeping Linus' inspirations on the dull side!

And then Linus gets some good advice from a old guy named Smudge, who's clearly been around a while and who seems to know his stuff. He suggests that Linus and Ernie share the job, taking turns and concentrating on the end product, in Scott Magoon's latest, Linus The Little Yellow Pencil (Disney Hyperion, 2019). Magoon continues his mania for puns in this one, and youngsters who appreciate wordplay will relish the tasty double entendres Magoon tosses into his text in this heart-y tale of self worth. Says Booklist, "The narrative is packed with art-related puns ("bristling with envy"; "brush aside"; "drawn to the very edge"; "Go, get that lead out"), and the digitally created illustrations are filled with movement and color."

Catch of the Day! Gus and the Greatest Catch of All by Victoria Cossack

Gus was the very best fisherman in town, no contest--although he'd won many.

Gus holds all the records as the finest fisherman in his fishing village. As an angler, he's awesome! His daily catch tops twenty-five, but he's not content to rest on his laurels. To keep up his reputation as the greatest, he must catch more.

So one fine day, Gus sets out to sea in his trusty rowboat, going for a catch of 100 fish! The cameras are rolling to record his triumph.

But when he tosses in a bucket of chum-bait, he can't believe his eyes.

The school of fish was growing by the second!

His boat began to rock beneath him!

Gus and his boat are borne up on a veritable tsunami of fish. His boat and oars go flying, and grabbing a big breath, Gus goes underwater, snatching and grabbing at the hoard of fish all around him. But the fish flow together as one, staying in a mass just ahead of him, clearly challenging him to a game of tag. Hey! Games are even more fun than fishing!

Having one hundred new friends might be better than catching a record-breaking 100 fish!

Even when a giant eel gives him a great big squeeze, Gus sees that it's just a big fishy hug. And when he finally is forced to the surface for a breath, Gus is a changed man....

Gus rows toward home with a full heart and, for the very first time, an empty fishing net.

More is not always better, and Big Gus gladly trades accolades for lasting friendship, in Victoria Cossack's Gus and the Greatest Catch of All (Page Street Kids, 2019), a turn-the-tables tale of the fish that got away but came to stay. Artist Cossack's cozy seaside fishing village and friendly fish are charming in this little fantasy tale for young readers with the simple theme of a live-and-let-live space in your own place.

Meta-Menace? Get Me Out of This Book: Rules and Tools for Being Brave by Kalli Dakos and Deborah Cholette

I'm Max. I'm a bookmark who used to be SCARED TO DEATH of books. The pictures freaked me out!

When I was put on a page with a king cobra, I couldn't LOOK, and I SHOOK, and I SCREAMED--

Max the Bookmark has a phobia!

He knows it's silly. It's sensible to be scared of real cobras and sharks. But being scared of illustrations? That's embarrassing, all right, especially IF your job is being a bookmark. Your job is to mark any page the reader picks! If he wants to stay employed, Max needs remediation, and he decides to advance his education with a some coursework--the Special Bookmark Badge!

Rule One is to Breathe Deeply.

At least breathing comes naturally. But the Rule Two is harder. Make a Plan. In other words, think about what you can do. There's always something. And that's when Rule Three comes in: Try to imagine good outcomes. Think Good Thoughts.

But talk is cheap! The next thing is important and goes without saying: practice, Practice, PRACTICE.

Max can't wait to try out his new skills with The Scariest Book EVER!

Max masters the task of facing up to snakes, sharks, cockroach armies, skeletons, and hairy seven-headed monsters. After all, what's the worst thing that can happen?

"Tomorrow someone will turn the page in the book."

Fears of ink on a page are not really the issue, as Max loses his logophobia, in Kalli Dakos and Deborah Cholette's tongue-in-cheek how-to manual, Get Me Out of This Book: Rules and Tools for Being Brave (Holiday House, 2019). Sarah Infante provides humorous illustrations of this metafictional protagonist as a stand-in for the fearful to keep the narration light and funny.

Fears are normal, but kids troubled with persistent anxieties may find that this well-executed picture-book bit of bibliotherapy, actually borrowed from the Navy Seals training book, may transfer to handling fears and phobias in the real world. Says Kirkus Reviews, "An ambitious blending of emotional and psychological tools with fantasy that will serve the right reader well."

Wait For It!!! Tomorrow Most Likely by Dave Eggers

TOMORROW! TOMORROW! I LOVE YOU, TOMORROW!

YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAY!

Whether it's been a great day, an okay day, or a real bummer of a day, most kids hate to hang it up and retire to their beds!

But youngsters, who have SO many tomorrows before them, should rejoice at what awaits.

Tomorrow most likely there will be a door that leads to the world.

Tomorrow most likely you will touch something gooey.

You might eat a cloud. You might write a song and sing it too loud.

There are mountains of time... oceans of faces, canyons of color, and skies full of places.

Tomorrow is great because you will be there in it, says author Dave Eggers in his newest Tomorrow Most Likely (Read Aloud Family Books, Mindfulness Books for Kids, Bedtime Books for Young Children, Bedtime Picture Books) (Chronicle Books, 2019). Eggers' song of things to come is illustrated resplendently by Caldecott artist Lane Smith, using sponge prints, scratchboard, and unusual color combinations to express the uniqueness of each new day. CARPE DIEM!

"An outstanding storytime selection," says School Library Journal's starred review.

Theorize and Categorize! The Missing Bouncy Ball by Misti Kennison

EMMA HAS LOST HER FAVORITE BOUNCY BALL.

But not to worry! Detective Fox and Goat are on the case, looking for clues and zooming in on any round-ish item they spot at the park and rec center.

There's a ball! But it's a small golf ball, and it's white.

Sorry! Wrong color: their target ball is blue. The big black-and-white soccer ball is too big. The brown football is round in the middle but pointed on both ends.

The billiard ball is the right size, all right, but it lacks one characteristic they seek: it's not soft. Out on the courts, there is a tennis ball that is the right size, but it's fuzzy, not smooth. That basketball over there needs some air. It doesn't bounce at all!

This is a tough case for the two detectives. Will they fail to find the solution?

Hey, wait! What's that in that dog's mouth? Has the canine cracked the case?

"BENJI! MY BALL!"

Despite being out-sleuthed by a pooch, Detectives Fox and Goat take the credit, in Misti Kenniston's The Missing Bouncy Ball: A Fox and Goat Mystery (Fox and Goat Mysteries) (Schiffer Publishing, 2018). A concept book that Sherlock Holmes would love, this board book, with its highly stylized illustrations and careful categorization of the many variations of balls, will appeal to kids who like to apply reason to their calculations.

Although adults may have to explain the trope, Fox and Goat are clearly decked out as detectives, in trench coat and fedora and equipped with magnifying glass and binoculars, but author Misti Kenison pokes a little fun at their stereotypical ratiocinations: ace sleuths Fox and Goat may know what is NOT Emma's bouncy ball, but it takes Benji the Dog's nose to find the missing object. Keniston's appendix, "What Were the Clues to Find the Bouncy Ball?" includes graphics for shape, color, and size, and that quintessential quality--bounciness. This concept book offers many teaching opportunities for parents, teachers, and tots, including the idea of a process of elimination which is "elementary, my dear Watson!"

MEET THE AUTHOR! Look! I Wrote A Book! (And You Can, Too!) by Sally Lloyd-Jones

BASICALLY, you can write ANY book you like.

EXCEPT here's what you have to know: what you're talking about.

For instance, if you're writing about dinosaurs but you don't know any good dinosaur names or even how to spell cretaceous...

no one will believe anything you say.

That takes care of veracity and validity. But even a book stuffed with facts may not be what all readers want.

If you are writing a book for your grandma, a book about trucks loaded with facts may put her to sleep.

Grandmothers love the Olden Days. Or tap dancing.

Well, some of them do, anyway.

Then you need to choose your genre. That means what kind of book you write--Horror Stories, History... or Mystery.

Spiders on the Ceiling (This is a Horror Story!)

You'll want to save the really scary monster stories for older kids. Ditto for fancy words.

And then you'll need--THE PLOT (what happens in the story). You'll need to make it fit your genre and your projected audience. (Books about toy building blocks don't make for good teen romances.) Plots need characters, preferably not boring ones: then they must have a problem for the characters to work out, unexpected complications, and the solution of the problem that makes the reader feel satisfied. Illustrations are optional, but preferable, depending on your audience. Covers, however, are practically essential, or the pages will get dirty and fall out.

Finally, you need to get someone to buy your book. That means you are a published author. If that works, you get to write another book about the same subject-- called The Sequel.

The RETURN of the Spiders on the Ceiling (Sequel)

And noted author (which means she's written a lot of books and sold most of them) Sally Lloyd-Jones also throws in bonus terms like endpapers and blurbs, just so everyone will know you are a professional writer, in her latest, Look! I Wrote a Book! (And You Can Too!) (Schwartz and Wade, 2019). Veteran author Lloyd-Jones' book has an good illustrator (who draws the pictures) named Neal Layton, and a publisher, Schwarz and Wade (who takes care of putting on the page numbers and putting the pages inside the cover in order), who has thoughtfully left several blank pages instead for back endpapers, for beginning a book of your own. Lloyd-Jones puckishly directs reader attention to book biz terms, such as blurb

This one is tailor-made for Read Across America Day or National Library Week.

Sally Lloyd-Jones is a professional, veteran, and published author: And that's a fact.(See my reviews here!)

In the Moment: I'm Worried by Michael Ian Black

Who knew potatoes have anxiety attacks?

Girl and Flamingo are drawn from their basketball game in surprise. WHY?

"Because what if something bad happens?" Potato moans.

ANYTHING is possible in the future, right?

Potato conjures up images of malevolent squirrels, lava-spouting volcanoes, meteor strikes, alien invasions, pop tests, evil clowns, T. Rexes on the rampage.... Yikes!

The girl admits that she can't promise bad things won't happen. Nobody knows that they won't.

Now Flamingo is really worried.

The two recall that time Potato got a booboo when the cat pushed him off the table. Ouch!

And then there was the time Flamingo got his beak stuck in the peanut butter jar. Not pretty.

How about the time the girl fell from the climbing bar and got a broken arm? But then, she reminds the two nervous Nellies, she got a scratch-and-sniff sticker from the doctor and Potato and Flamingo drew cool doodles all over the cast! It wasn't all bad!!

Still Flamingo and Potato are fearful. The two wrap themselves in protective bubble wrap. Better safe than sorry, right? But extreme security protocols have their problems, too!

"It's getting hot in here!" says Potato.

"I can't move," complains Flamingo.

Well, then.... All that worrying didn't really help, did it? the girl points out!

See? Maybe the most sensible thing is just to enjoy the moment, advises the sage girl, in Michael Ian Black's hilarious worry wart picture book, I'm Worried (The I'm Books) (Simon and Schuster, 2019). Enjoying the good times (while perhaps keeping your beak out of peanut butter jars) is the upbeat message of this one in Black's I'm series, assisted ably by artist Debbie Ridpath Ohl's clever and comic blackline drawings.

Share this one with Todd Parr's The Don't Worry Book and Caldecott winner Kevin Henkes' best-selling classic,  Wemberly Worried.

Be Wary, Larry! Don't Push the Buttons: A Halloween Treat by Bill Cotter

WOW! We did such a good job of trick-or-treating.

We have so much candy!

This is the only house left.

Larry, be wary! This house is rumored to be the residence of monsters. Should he quit while he's ahead?

Please! Don't ring that doorbell!!!

But Larry, that cute little lavender monster, has never met a push button he didn't love, and this spooky, dark, haunted house is no exception.

So of course he pushes that button!

EEK! MONSTERS!

Larry is going to need lots of help from his young fans on the way to a big surprise beyond that final BIG RED BUTTON, in Bill Cotter's latest interactive book for young fans, Don't Push the Button! A Halloween Treat Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018). Great for toddlers just discovering the joys of books as well as just right for emergent readers who will delight in its easy-reading interactive style with plenty of pushing, shaking, and noise-making that invite kids to get into a book in a fun way. Cotter's bold graphics will lead youngsters through the actions even if they can't quite read the brief text, and this one is a fun way for the grown ups to get in on the Halloween-themed action.

More metafictional Larry adventures by Bill Cotter are Don't Push the Button! Don't Touch This Book! and Don't Push the Button! A Christmas Adventure.

Fly High! Rosie and Rasmus by Serena Geddes

Rosie lives in a little village with cobblestone streets, a fountain, and an ice cream stand.

Every day Rosie watches as the others play.

She wishes someone would see her.

But one day, as a lonely Rosie is sitting under a tree gazing out to sea, someone in the tree reaches down and hands her a rose.

It is Rasmus, a lonely but not little dragon who wishes he had wings so he could fly.

Rose understands wishing, so she tries to help Rasmus fly. She tries tying him to a big kite. She tries bunches of balloons to float over the sea. She reads him books about soaring dragons. She brings him goggles to inspire his confidence. Rasmus can't seem to get off the ground, but he and Rosie become fast friends.

And then, one day, Rasmus' little wings unfurl and... Rasmus can fly! He can fly to the land of the dragons! But, that means...

...Rosie and Rasmus must say goodbye.

Rosie is alone again. Will she remember how Rasmus befriended her? There are plenty of flowers blooming all around, in Serene Geddes' Rosie and Rasmus (Aladdin Books, 2019), and Rosie finds a way to make another friend. Who doesn't love a gift of a flower and an invitation to share an ice cream cone? In author Geddes' gentle and sweet story of finding friends, the author shows the value of making that first move toward friendship, and artist Geddes' charming seaside illustrations in soft pastel palette show the good things that can come of a small act of kindness.

Who's DA MAN? The Crossover: The Graphic Novel by Kwame Alexander

JB AND I
are almost thirteen.

TWINS, two BASKETBALL
GOALS, at opposite ends
of the COURT.

I'm an inch taller with
DREADS to my NECK.

He gets his head SHAVED
once a MONTH.

I want to go to DUKE.
He flaunts
CAROLINA BLUE.

If we didn't LOVE each other
We'd HATE each other.

Basketball and competition run in the Bell Family. Famous locally as an international basketball star, his dad, know as "Da Man," Chuck Bell boasts that he "balled with Magic Johnson." The dreadlocked Josh goes for the flying slam dunk, and Jordan is the cool crossover shooter who makes all the threes. Together Josh and Jordan take their team to the playoffs for the championship game, but their unconcealed rivalry leads to a bet in which Josh forfeits his dreads and like Samson, fears he's lost his mojo.

And as the rivalry proceeds, Josh and Jordan find that they like the same girl, Alexis in the pink sneakers, but she chooses the fast-talking Jordan. Angry, Josh smolders until in the playoff his jealousy reaches the tipping point.

The crowd is screaming,
PASS THE BALL!

I see Jordan.
You want it that BAD?
HERE YA GO!

I pass it so hard it levels him, the BLOOD
from his NOSE still
SHOOTING long after the
shot-clock buzzer goes off.

Josh is suspended from the team, and still angry, he bets his dad, Da Man, that he can beat him in a quick one-on-one. Dad gets competitive, goes for a high-flying dunk, and collapses with a heart attack, foreshadowed by symptoms he's been keeping from the family.

The ball is passed to Josh and Jordan in a way they both didn't quite see coming.

Now who's going to have to be DA MAN?

In his new adaption of his 2015 Newbery Award winner, The Crossover (Graphic Novel) (The Crossover Series) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019), Alexander's 2017 Newbery Award winner is a natural for a graphic novel. Author Alexander brilliantly makes the crossover and proves that he can rebound, too, in this powerful reexamination of what it means to have GAME. Alexander's writing in this graphic revisioning of his free-verse best-selling novel is equally powerful in its examination of the bravado up-and-down sides of the winning-is-all mystique, as he reworks his poetry into smart dialogue which heightens the conflict between the twins' competition as mirrored by their on-the-court conflict. The Emmy-winning artist Dawud Anyabwile's dramatic and insightful graphic art gives the story a flow which heightens the conflict inherent in this sports metaphor, making this almost mythic tale of rival fathers and sons accessible to a whole new audience for his earlier The Crossover (The Crossover Series) (see review here)

As I called it the first time--another SLAM DUNK for Kwame Christopher.

Other riveting middle-reader novels by Kwame Alexander include his novel about the twins' father's eighth-grade school days, Rebound (The Crossover Series) and the soccer novel Booked (The Crossover Series).

A Diminished Fifth: Emmy in the Key of Code by Aimee Lucido

In her immensely musical family, Emmy has always felt like a changeling.

Dad's a pianist.

Mom's an opera singer.

I can't remember a time before music.
Music swims in my bloodstream.

But after trying piano, flute, violin, saxophone, drums, bass, and guitar, Emmy realizes that she can't get the music inside her... out.

When we moved to San Francisco we gave up.

Turns out loving music
Isn't the same as being a musician.

At her new school, in her gray Green Bay Packer's hoodie and withher sack lunch, Emmy feels even more like a wrong note. All the kids look like they're dressed for a photo shoot and carry their lunches of weird grains in sleek reusable containers. Right away she has to decide on an elective--cooking around the world, the winter play, orchestra and choir, computer science. Undecided, she listens to the girl with braids across the aisle, whose friends say she has to sign up for choir if she wants to make the Honey Bees chorus in eighth grade, and, turning away, Emmy knows choir is not for her and resolutely checks the box for computer class.

But there are two surprises in computer programming--the girl with braids, Abigail, shows up there, and their teacher-- Ms. Frankie Delaney-- has a big, bright smile and tells them they are going to learn her favorite computer language, Java. Still, Emmy has fears.

What if I'm just as awful as a computer scientist as I am a musician?

What if the girl in braids is mad that I caught her changing her elective?

"I'm Abigail. What's your name?"

"Hi, I'm new here. My name is Emmy."

As the semester goes by, Emmy finds both a friend and the keys to make the music in her head coming back, dancing, singing inside her, and when it's her turn to show her computer program onstage, she hits the play button and sings with her program, her own song in her own, new voice.

I'm not singing a solo anymore.

Even back in Wisconsin, Emmy had felt out of tune with her family, like an unexpected diminished fifth chord at the end of the measure. But in Aimee Lucido's forthcoming novel, Emmy in the Key of Code (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019), the chord is resolved when she discovers that she can compose her music in computer code. Written in a sort of poetic coding, this middle-school story marches to a different drummer, one which celebrates the many ways to be in harmony with yourself at a hard time in life. With an underscoring of the need for girls in tech subjects, author Lucido's story composes a coda that celebrates finding your own melody inside yourself and the language to set it free.

Passing It On: The Traveler's Gift by Danielle Davison

Liam's father was a sailor. After returning from sea, he'd weave tales for Liam of the faraway places he'd been.

His father's words fire Liam to imagine the glorious adventures, the exotic places, and strange creatures he will see with his father when he, too, is old enough to go to sea.

But one day, his father didn't return.

Liam is lost, his future gone. Other sailors' tales do not fill the void.

But then a very old white-bearded man named Enzo, disembarks.

The other men call him "the Traveler."

When the Traveler spoke of his voyages, a peculiar thing happened. His beard grew.

As Enzo recounts his travels, his beard seems to grow longer and longer like a tapestry filled with fantastic images. And Liam is thrilled when one day the old man invites him along on a final voyage, to be the teller of their adventures.  Liam cannot believe his fortune and his heart swells. It is almost as if he is taking the voyage he always dreamed of with his own father. As they share their experiences, the old man teaches Liam his wisdom.

Enzo taught him to really listen.

He taught him to see truly see things, with more than his eyes.

Time passes and Liam is happy, but when Enzo comes to the end of his days, he asks Liam to become the Traveler, the new teller of stories. Liam is overcome with sadness, but eventually he finds his own voice and he sees the future ahead of him, in Danielle Davison's forthcoming The Traveler's Gift: A Story of Loss and Hope (Page Street Books, 2019). Everyone has his or her own story, and wisdom is really seeing and hearing the story of everyone and everything. We are our own stories and those of others, and this book, whimsically and symbolically illustrated by Anne Lambelet, turns on the value of the work of the storyteller in life.

Once Upon a Spring Break! The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser

When her phone rang, Mom weaved through kids, pets and stacks of books. The Vanderbeekers heard her say, "Really?" and "That would be wonderful!"

"That was Perch Magazine!" Mom reported. "They want to feature me and my business in their October issue! There will be a whole magazine spread about my cookies. They're going to send a photographer to the brownstone!"

Mom was going to be a celebrity!

The Vanderbeeker kids' calendar for spring break had already been full, with Isa's violin audition for the community orchestra, constructing Oliver's tree house with Uncle Arthur, and Mom's birthday on Saturday. Now their schedule is interrupted by Mom's interview and the nightly appearance of homeless animals left at their back door--first five tiny kittens, then two guinea pigs, a long-eared dog, and six chickens.

Even the Vanderbeekers, who already have a fat cat named George Washington, a dog named Franz, and a rabbit named Paganini, know they can't keep them all, but when all the animal shelters turn out to be full, the kids put up giveaway flyers all over their neighborhood. There are no takers, but the Vanderbeekers soon receive a fine notice of $450 for unauthorized postings. Trying to get back in her good graces, the kids stay up all night to paint the living room for Mom's big photo shoot, only to discover that what looked like lovely shade of rose at night is a downright scary fuchsia by day.

And then things really get serious, when a grumpy health inspector makes a surprise visit to inspect the premises. Apparently, a Home Processors' License requires a separate kitchen for products for sale and forbids any animals on the premises. An apartment with two dogs, six cats, two guinea pigs and six feather-shedding chickens is way beyond the pale. Mom realizes she's been operating an illegal baking business and sadly drags out her old accounting textbooks to prepare to go back to her former job.

Obviously the Vanderbeeker kids must find a new place for their mother's promising career in the bakery business, not to mention finding homes for their new menagerie. But the upbeat Vanderbeekers take on the job with their usual elan and find a fitting joint solution to both problems in the third volume in Karina Yan Glaser's just-published The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). Like her two earlier best-sellers, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (1) and The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden (2) (read reviews here) have been hailed for their return to family stories of adventurous and resourceful children in a diverse, but close-knit community where they have free range. Often likened to such family-centric classics as Eleanor Estes' The Moffats, Bevery Cleary's Beezus and Ramona, and Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks,. the Vanderbeekers are like a breath of fresh air among fiction for middle readers, a close bunch of siblings who rely on each other and their neighborhood relationships to make their own way in solving problems. Authentic and charming, these contemporary stories of Isa, Jessie, Oliver, Hyacinth, and Laney are realistic and yet funny, lively and hopeful, and as sweet and satisfying as one of Mom's chocolate sea salt caramel cookies.

Watch for the promised fourth book in this popular series, The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found.

Down to the Sea in Subs: Bitty Bot's Big Beach Getaway by Tim McCanna

AT THE BEACH AT BOTCO BAY,

ROBOTS LOVE TO SPLASH AND PLAY.

But Bitty Bot has qualms about the likelihood of rust in his grippers and sand in his gears. From their floats in the surf, his parents provide advice:

"YOU NEED RUSTPROOF ROBOT OIL.

COVER EVERY COG AND COIL."

Yurghh! Easy, Greasies! Bitty Bot opts for recruiting a couple of robot tots, rounding up some metal flotsam and jetsam, and building an under-the-bay submarine, and after the launch, captain and crew cruise beneath the sea and peruse the underwater beings.

CRABS AND SNAILS,
SHARKS AND WHALES!

A SUNKEN SHIP!
WHAT A TRIP"

It's Captain Bitty's kind of day at the beach until the sub springs a leak. YEEK!

But a bevy of beautiful mermaids help the hapless bots rise to the occasion, and soon Captain Bitty and his crew, Clank and Smitty, have their treads firmly back on the beach and are ready to roll! Bitty even begs his parental cyborgs for more fun in the sun and sand with his new surfside bot buddies, and in Tim McCanna's Bitty Bot's Big Beach Getaway (Simon and Schuster, 2018), his summery sequel to his first bot book, Bitty Bot, artist Tad Carpenter provides plenty of sunny yellow hues for his seaside scenes and contrasting watery shades for his charming little surfside robots' undersea explorations in a somewhat different "Come on in! The water's great!" story for young novice beach goers.

Always quick with a quip, Kirkus Reviews says “A delightful sea-quel.”

What? Me Worry? The DON'T WORRY Book by Todd Parr

Easy for you to say!

To a small child it must seem as if the world is coming at them with the force of a fire hose. New sights, loud sounds, new people, new words, strange places, strong feelings, scary news.

Worrying happens when you think too much about a problem or feel afraid that something bad is going to happen.

You have to go to places you don't choose--school, the doctor's office, or on big, noisy vehicles. It gets dark, even in your own room. People get angry, sometimes at you! You have so much to do!

Todd Parr's latest little mental health picture book recognizes some of the sorts of events young children encounter, The Don't Worry Book (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), and he offers some coping strategies that are good to know about when you need them:

Keeping yourself busy, like talking to someone special.
Exercising.
Reading a book.
Wearing underwear on your head.

(And remember: you can wear underwear on your head while exercising, reading a book, and talking to a friend!)

Parr advises talking about worries with people who love you and remember to have fun--and DO SOMETHING, good advice for people of all ages (even being silly occasionally, all the while using his jolly faux naif blackline drawings of kids taking that advice done in bright primary colors.

Other books by Todd Parr include The Goodbye Book, It's Okay To Be Different, (Todd Parr Classics) The Feelings Book and among others, a good one for this time of year, The School Book.

The Wolf at the Door! The Wolf Will Not Come by Myriam Ouyessad

It's bedtime and Mama Rabbit is trying to tuck in Little Rabbit, but the windows are dark and scary. And Little Rabbit seems to have the wolf-at-the-door willies.

"Are you sure the wolf will not come?" he asks.

"There are no more wolves. The hunters have chased them all away!"

But little Rabbit is not so easily convinced. What if one wolf sneaked through the forest and into the woods nearby? What if he were sneaky enough to make his way to the Rabbit's street by pretending to be a dog? What if he dodged all the cars and made his way through the maze of streets to the Rabbits' apartment door?

"He could not get in. The wolf does not know the code to the door," Mama points out.

"Father Pinaud has the code," Little Rabbit persists. "Also, he never notices anything!"

Mama seems to be getting exasperated with all this wily wolf talk. After all, wolves don't take elevators to the fifth floor of apartment buildings.

"Listen, Rabbit," says Mama. "Even if a wolf came up the elevator, he would not get in here. Good night, my rabbit!"

Mama Wolf gives him a final firm kiss, turns off the light, and closes Little Rabbit's bedroom door.

But then there is a knock ...

In Myriam Ouyessad's hilarious tale of a unlikely wolf at the door, The Wolf Will Not Come (Schiffer Publishing, 2019), the wolf turns out to be an expected but early guest to Rabbit's birthday party. Little Rabbit bounces out of his bedroom to open the door and hugs the wolf!

"I was sure you would come!"

All ends well with with an apparently well-planned birthday party, with balloons and banners and a big birthday cake. Author Myriam Ouyessad sets this story up cleverly, with Rabbit and Mama Rabbit pictured, spot-art style,  on the verso pages and the wolf's covert progress from woods through city streets to elevator shown full-page on the recto. Mama Rabbit calmly deadpans all the reasons why a wolf will not find his way to their door, while artist Ronan Badel's illustrations portray the stealthy wolf's progress from woods to party which fill the recto pages. Youngsters will love the closing twist, ending with a beautifully wrapped wolf toy for Rabbit and a hug and big slice of birthday cake for Wolf. A tongue-in-cheek birthday tale that leaves a very sweet taste!