Lester, Helen 1936–

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Lester, Helen 1936–

Personal

Born June 12, 1936, in Evanston, IL; daughter of William Howard (a businessman) and Elizabeth Doughty; married Robin Lester (a historian, teacher, and author), August 26, 1967; children: Robin Debevoise, James Robinson. Education: Bennett Junior College, A.A.S., 1956; Wheelock College, B.S., 1959. Religion: Protestant Hobbies and other interests: Cooking, running, drawing, hiking.

Addresses

Home and office—P.O. Box 64, Pawling, NY 12564.

Career

Writer. Elementary school teacher in Lexington, MA, 1959-62; Francis W. Parker School, Chicago, IL, teacher of second grade, 1962-69; Hamlin School, San Francisco, CA, teacher of first grade, 1987-89; Francis W. Parker School, teacher, 1989-92. Full-time school visitor and lecturer at teachers' conferences.

Awards, Honors

Colorado Children's Book Award, 1990, California Young Reader Medal, 1991, and Nebraska Golden Sower Award, 1992, all for Tacky the Penguin; Mon-

tana Treasure State Award, 1997, for Three Cheers for Tacky; Blue Ribbon award, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing designation, New York Public Library, Best Books of the Year selection, Parenting magazine, Notable Book for Children selection, Smithsonian magazine, Capitol Choices selection, and Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts, National Council for the Teachers of English, all 1997, and Not Just for Children Anymore selection, Children's Book Council, 1998, all for Author: A True Story; Parents' Choice Gold Award and Best Books of the Year selection, Parenting magazine, both 1999, Notable Book for Children designation, American Library Association, and Kentucky Bluegrass Award, both 2000, Wyoming Buckaroo and Indian Paintbrush Book designations Washington Children's Choice Picture Book selection and Sasquatch Reading Award, Utah Beehive Award, Colorado Children's Book Award, Delaware Blue Hen Book Award, Maryland Children's Book Award, North Carolina Children's Book Award, and North Dakota Flicker Tale Children's Book Award, all 2001, Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award, California Young Reader Medal, Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award, Missouri Show Me Readers Award, Nevada Young Readers Award, South Carolina Children's Book Award, Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award, and Virginia Young Readers Program Award, all 2002, all for Hooway for Wodney Wat.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

(Self-illustrated) Cora Copycat, Dutton (New York, NY), 1979.

The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1983.

It Wasn't My Fault, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1985.

A Porcupine Named Fluffy, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1986.

Pookins Gets Her Way, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1987.

Tacky the Penguin, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1989.

The Revenge of the Magic Chicken, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1990.

Me First, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1992.

Pick a Pet, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, Scott Foresman (Glenview, IL), 1993.

Lin's Backpack, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Scott Foresman (Glenview, IL), 1993.

Three Cheers for Tacky, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1994.

Katy's Pocket, illustrated by Paul Harvey, Newbridge Communications (New York, NY), 1994.

Hop to the Top, illustrated by Patrick Girouard, Newbridge Communications (New York, NY), 1994.

(With Robin Lester) Wuzzy Takes Off, illustrated by Miko Imai, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

Listen, Buddy, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

The Four Getters and Arf, illustrated by Brian Karas, Addison-Wesley (New York, NY), 1995.

Help! I'm Stuck!, illustrated by Paulette Bogan, Celebration Press (Glenview, IL), 1996.

Wrong Way Reggie, illustrated by Timothy Foley, Celebration Press (Glenview, IL), 1996.

(With Robin Lester) Roy Foy's Special Name, illustrated by Diana Cain Blumenthal, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

Princess Penelope's Parrot, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1996.

The Shy People's Picnic, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Wescott, Celebration Press (Glenview, IL), 1996.

(And illustrator) Author: A True Story, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1997.

Tacky in Trouble, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1998.

Hooway for Wodney Wat, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.

Tacky and the Emperor, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2000.

Score One for the Sloths, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2001.

Tackylocks and the Three Bears, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2002.

Something Might Happen, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2003.

Hurty Feelings, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2004.

Tacky and the Winter Games, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2005.

Batter up Wombat, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2006.

The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger (Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2007.

Lester's books have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Hungarian, and Japanese.

Adaptations

Hooway for Wodney Wat was adapted for audiobook, read by Cheryl McMahon, Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

Sidelights

A popular writer for children aged three to six, Helen Lester is the creator of Tacky, an offbeat penguin protagonist who dresses in a gaudy Hawaiian shirt instead of the prim tuxedo-like outfits sported by other penguins. In the course of several picture-book collaborations with illustrator Lynn Munsinger, Lester has established Tacky as a waddling symbol of the humorous refusal to join in the sameness of things. Tacky is no rebel, however; instead, he displays what Horn Book contributor Christine M. Heppermann described as a "sweet obliviousness" to the mainstream notion of how things should be done.

Tacky is just one of several characters Lester has created in her stories, tales she once described to SATA as "humorous approaches to a message." Often working with Munsinger, she populates her prose with wizards, porcupines, wombats, penguins, chickens, pigs, rabbits, and rodents, as well as with little boys and girls. Her stories explore themes such as cooperation, feelings of guilt, clumsiness—things that form the center of a childhood universe. "When I was a mother of young children I felt a need for more short but satisfying bedtime stories," Lester once told SATA. "That need spurred me into writing…. Life's pretty serious sometimes, and I feel the heavier concepts are better received if given a lighter touch."

Lester grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and shared the family preoccupation with sending letters both humorous and "voluminous" to other family members. After training as a teacher, she found a job, married, and had two children. Taking a leave from teaching to care for her sons, she rediscovered her love of words while reading them bedtime tales. Every once in a while one of these books would appeal to Lester as much as to her two boys, and she decided that "the world needed more books that would amuse both adults and children," as she wrote on the Houghton Mifflin Web site. Initially, she believed she could contribute best as an illustrator, and in her early efforts with children's books her text was secondary to the pictures. As a busy mother with two active children and a decade of teaching experience with all sorts of second-grade antics to draw from, Lester had ideas galore.

Lester's first book, the self-illustrated Cora Copycat, was published in 1979. In this book readers meet a little girl whose copycat antics drive her family wild. One day, however, a Wild Woolly Wurgal, freshly escaped from the zoo, cures Cora of her annoying habit. Lester illustrated this first book herself, and a Kirkus Reviews critic noted both the "funny, comix-style cartoons" and Lester's "snappy text." Lester's next book, The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken, marked the first collaboration with Munsinger, as author and illustrator present a story of three sorcerers who are trying to outdo one another. When the competition escalates to creating monsters, the sorcerers form a nasty alliance in order to cooperate. "Little kids will be all agog when they discover what happens next," concluded a Publishers Weekly critic in a review of The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken, while in Booklist Ilene Cooper deemed the book "a winner for kids and the adults who'll be reading it again and again." The squabbling trio return in Revenge of the Magic Chicken, which Cooper dubbed "as zany as ever."

A little boy who refuses to accept blame forms the core of It Wasn't My Fault. While Murdley Gurdson is out for a walk one day, an egg land on his head. Although a round-robin of animals blames one another, Murdley is finally forced to admit that it is his fault. A Kirkus Reviews contributor found the story "deftly contrived, and comical without overstraining," while a Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books reviewer commented that It Wasn't My Fault is "bright, sunnily nonsensical, capably structured and told." Names are at the center of the whimsically titled A Porcupine Named Fluffy, and it is only when Fluffy meets a rhino named Hippo that things look up for the misnamed porcupine. A Publishers

Weekly reviewer noted that in A Porcupine Named Fluffy Munsinger and Lester "tell a sweet story with joyful exuberance."

A pig, a parrot, and a rabbit are fellow protagonists in a trio of books examining the consequences of selfishness, rudeness, and inattention. Greedy Pinkerton the pig mistakes a Sandwitch for a sandwich at a beach picnic in Me First, and is quickly up to his snout in trouble as the witch obliges him to do chores for her. "The Sandwitch is just the corny joke to amuse most children," Carolyn Jenks noted in Horn Book. Reviewing that same title, a contributor for Publishers Weekly called the work "another successful joint effort," as well as a "funny, fetching tale."

An unusual birthday gift in Princess Penelope's Parrot provides the comeuppance for the nasty little princess to whom it is given. After spending a few yours with his petulant new owner, the gifted parrot utters the rude remarks it has learned from the uppity royal, speaking them at inappropriate moments. Sally R. Dow, writing in School Library Journal, commented on the "delightfully droll humor" in the book as well as on Munsinger's "whimsical" illustrations, and in Horn Book Ann A. Flowers described Princess Penelope's Parrot as "another small funny lesson in correct behavior from a well-known pair of collaborators." In Publishers Weekly a critic wrote that Lester's tale "calls to mind the dry wit of … [James] Thurber," while Booklist reviewer Stephanie Zvirin noted that "the comical overlay makes the [story's] obvious message go down easily."

In Listen, Buddy the eponymous bunny has trouble concentrating on what is said to him, despite his enormous ears. An adventure with Scruffy the Varmint helps Buddy to sharpen his listening skills, resulting in a "sprightly paced tale [which] amiably nudges kids whose direction-following skills need some honing," according to a reviewer for Publishers Weekly. Similarly, Hazel Rochman wrote in Booklist that "kids will enjoy the slapstick and the word jokes." Virginia Opocensky, reviewing Listen, Buddy for School Library Journal, concluded that the Lester-Munsinger collaboration is "sure to bring laughs at story time."

Lester and Munsinger focus on Antarctic-type antics in the award-winning Tacky the Penguin and its sequels, including Three Cheers for Tacky, Tackylocks and the Three Bears, and Tacky and the Winter Games. Wearing Hawaiian shirts and a purple bow tie, Tacky stands out from his black-tie cousins. However, the iconoclast penguin ultimately saves his more conservative penguin friends from predatory hunters in Tacky the Penguin, which Booklist critic Phillis Wilson praised for its "perceptive text about being different." In Three Cheers for Tacky the rumpled penguin returns, this time in a story that "reinforces the message that there is nothing wrong—and quite a bit right—with being different," according to a contributor for Publishers Weekly. The same reviewer praised Lester's "pithy" text and Munsinger's "winsome" illustrations in the "entertaining" installment, which finds Tacky engaged in a cheering contest. The feathered free spirit is hopelessly out of step and seems to be no competition for the other teams, with their color-coordinated members who cheer right on cue. On the day of the competition, however, Tacky's bungling endears itself to the judges, who award the penguin and his team first prize: a new bow tie. Reviewing Three Cheers for Tacky, Ann A. Flowers concluded in Horn Book that the story is "a great comfort … to nonconformists," and Booklist reviewer Kathryn Broderick wrote that "Lester's clever writing and the slapstick humor of the story make this a funny, funny, picture book."

With Tacky in Trouble Lester presents the penguin's "goofiest escapade yet," according to Zvirin. Tacky's unerring sense for making mistakes once again comes to his rescue when he is blown off course while surfing when his Hawaiian shirt catches the wind. Soon he travels far away from his iceberg home and ends up on a tropical island where he mistakes an elephant for a big rock. In an effort to prove to the giant pachyderm that he is a bird and not a big bouquet of flowers, Tacky engages in a typical penguin dive. Fortunately, he is saved at the last minute because the elephant likes the mess Tacky has made. Tacky in Trouble "will appeal to children who know that making a mess can cause trouble," commented Marty Abbott Goodman in School Library Journal, and Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books critic Pat Matthews called Lester's penguin hero "one nonconformist everyone will want to be like."

In Tacky and the Emperor the penguins are busy preparing for the visit of the penguin emperor. Tacky's job is preparing the balloons, but of course he gets carried away—literally. Soaring off with one of the balloons, he lands near the emperor's palace. After discovering a pile of the emperor's fancy clothes, Tacky puts them on and returns home, where all his friends greet him as the emperor. "Lester hits the mark again," commented Martha Link in a School Library Journal review of Tacky and the Emperor, "tapping right into the humor of the primary set, and proving once more that it's cool to be tacky." Tim Arnold, writing in Booklist, had similar praise, concluding that the Lester and Munsinger once again bring to life "a delightful Antarctic-of-the-imagination, where comfy conformity is the rule but a very funny misfit saves the day."

In Tackylocks and the Three Bears "pomposity gets one on the snoot," according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. When the other "perfect" penguins decide to stage a school play, Tacky is cast as Goldilocks. After numerous rehearsals, the cast perform in front of a class of younger penguins. Marching to his own drummer, Tacky forgets his lines and eats all the porridge, then goes off to sleep in baby bear's bed. While his cast members try to cover for him, Tacky needs no such help; a pillow fight leads to unexpected audience participation and all the little penguins think this is the best play ever. Cold-weather sports are is the focus of Tacky and the Winter Games, as Tacky and his penguin friends train to compete in the Winter Games. Tacky's ideas about training involve overeating and napping, much to the chagrin of his teammates, but ultimately he paves the way for an Olympic win during the ice-skating relay race. In reviewing Tackylocks and the Three Bears the Kirkus Reviews critic described Lester's story as "another victory for oddfellows everywhere," while Marlene Gawron wrote in School Library Journal that the book's "silliness will delight Tacky's loyal fans and win a lot of new devotees." In Tacky and the Winter Games author and artist serve up what School Library Journal contributor Lisa S. Schindler called "a fresh, lively, and totally engaging read-aloud from start to finish."

Lester and Munsinger turn to another character in their "celebrations of differences," as a reviewer for Horn Book wrote in a review of Hooway for Wodney Wat. Due to a speech impediment, Rodney Rat has trouble pronouncing his own name. Teased by his classmates, Rodney is so embarrassed that he hides inside his jacket. The rat's status changes, however, when he is able to best a new school bully at a game of Simon Says; his "w" for "r" substitution suddenly becomes his strength as he sends the bully to "wake the leaves" and "go west." A critic for Publishers Weekly noted that "Wodney's transformation from forlorn to triumphant will have children cheering," and Zvirin noted that Lester's "comical story … will not only make kids laugh but also hearten those who feel they'll be outsiders forever."

Another nonconformist takes center stage in Score One for the Sloths, in which Sparky tries to put some oomph in her fellow students at Sleepy Valley Sloth School. She gains some help when a visiting representative of the Society for Organizing Sameness complains of the low test scores and threatening to close the school. "Score one against rigid school standards," declared Rochman, and a Publishers Weekly critic called Score One for the Sloths a "comic caper with a subtly delivered moral."

Another school story with a quirky moral, The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing finds Ewetopia hoping to impress the crowd at the Wollywones costume ball with her fashion sense. However, when she arrives in a wolf costume, Ewetopia causes turmoil, but also saves her sheep friends Ewecalyptus and Ewetensil when a real-life hungry wolf shows up, disguised as a sheep. In School Library Journal Judy Chichinski praised Lester's "clever" and "pun-filled tale," while Gillian Engberg

wrote in Booklist that young readers of The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing "will relate to the idea of using clothes to gain confidence."

Sports of all sorts provide a backdrop for many of Lester's books. In Hurty Feelings readers meet a hippopotamus named Fragility, whose feelings are so easily injured that all her schoolmates avoid talking to her for fear of saying the wrong thing. When Fragility meets up with Rudy the rude elephant on the soccer field, her extreme sensitivity finds a good use: Rudy's testy talk puts the bulky hippo on the path to an emotional collapse in the middle of the field. The action moves to Australia in Batter up Wombat, as a literal-minded wombat joins a local baseball team even though he knows nothing about the game. Fortunately, Wombat's natural skills help the Champs baseball team survive a crucial challenge: a tornado strikes the playing field during a National Wildlife League game and Wombat saves everyone from disaster. Reviewing Hurty Feelings for Kirkus Reviews, a critic praised Munsinger's watercolor art for containing "a brace of good cheer and well-tempered comedy," and in School Library Journal Julie Roach wrote that Lester's "punchy story line will keep children laughing." The story features "a satisfying slapstick humor that's beautifully extended in Munsinger's hilarious, wildly expressive illustrations," concluded Engberg in her Booklist review. Writing in the same periodical, Cooper called Batter up Wombat an "amusing piece of sports-themed wordplay" that serves as "another brick in Lester and Munsinger's strong, sturdy collaboration," and Lynn K. Vanca concluded in School Library Journal that the upbeat story "will hold children's attention and send … the message that everyone is good at something."

Ideas come to Lester from many sources: from her own career as a teacher, from her children as they were growing up, from jokes and nonsense rhymes. "I am usually moved to write a book when an idea pops into my head," she once explained to SATA. "And an idea pops into my head usually when I'm in the middle of an unexciting task—doing such things as standing in bank lines or washing spinach…. Once an idea comes into my head it usually takes one or two months of misfires and charging up blind alleys until the story is completed."

An unusual species is the star of Something Might Happen, in which a wide-eyed lemur named Twitchly Fidget is afraid of everything, including his sneakers. Ultimately Twitchly gets a "fixin" from his Aunt Bridget Fidget and sets out with confidence to see the wide, wonderful world. As Lester told SATA, "I wrote Something Might Happen in response to the events of 9/11 and dedicated it to our son Robin, who chose to be there when something happened'—he volunteered on the site of Ground Zero for several days. His brother Jamie, to whom Hooway for Wodney Wat was dedicated, suggests that since Wodney has won so many awards perhaps all my future books be dedicated to him!"

Author: A True Story is inspired by Lester's long career. "In the … years since I left teaching," the author once told SATA, "I've visited over two hundred schools, encouraging children to write. Author is based on what I tell them during these visits. The enthusiasm for writing I encounter on these visits is most encouraging—both students and teachers are so much more involved than I was years ago." The book documents Lester's own difficulties as a child with learning disabilities as well as her persistence in getting published, overcoming multiple rejections. Self-illustrated, the book is at once "wry [and] funny," according to Rochman in Booklist. A contributor for Publishers Weekly described the autobiography as a "lighthearted look at how [Lester] came to write children's books," and one that "will give aspiring authors of any age a lift." Similarly, Flowers dubbed the work "disarming and very funny" in her Horn Book review. As Lester concluded on the Houghton Mifflin Web site: "How fortunate I am to have backed into this wonderful field."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1983, Ilene Cooper, review of The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken, p. 907; April 1, 1988, Phillis Wilson, review of Tacky the Penguin, p. 1351; March 1, 1990, Ilene Cooper, review of The Revenge of the Magic Chicken, p. 1344; February 15, 1994, Kathryn Broderick, review of Three Cheers for Tacky, p. 1092; October 15, 1995, Hazel Rochman, review of Listen, Buddy, p. 412; September 1, 1996, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Princess Penelop's Parrot, p. 143; March 15, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of Author: A True Story, p. 1246; April, 1998, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Tacky in Trouble, pp. 1331-1332; May 1, 1999, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Hooway for Wodney Wat, p. 1600; August, 2000, Tim Arnold, review of Tacky and the Emperor, p. 2148; August, 2001, Hazel Rochman, review of Score One for the Sloths, p. 2131; October 1, 2002, Kathy Broderick, review of Tackylocks and the Three Bears, p. 337; September 15, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Something Might Happen, p. 246; September 15, 2004, Gillian Engberg, review of Hurty Feelings, p. 251; September 1, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Tacky and the Winter Games, p. 120; September 15, 2006, Ilene Cooper, review of Batter up Wombat, p. 68; October 1, 2007, Gillian Engberg, review of The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing, p. 66.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, June, 1985, review of It Wasn't My Fault, p. 188; January, 1997, Janice M. DelNegro, review of Princess Penelope's Parrot, p. 179; May, 1998, Pat Matthews, review of Tacky in Trouble, p. 327; December, 2002, review of Tackylocks and the Three Bears, p. 164; November, 2004, Timnah Card, review of Hurty Feelings, p. 133; November, 2005, April Spisak, review of Tacky and the Winter Games, p. 144; October, 2007, Hope Morrison, review of The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing, p. 94.

Horn Book, November-December, 1992, Carolyn K. Jenks, review of Me First, p. 717; October, 1994, Ann A. Flowers, review of Three Cheers for Tacky, p. 578; November-December, 1996, Ann A. Flowers, review of Princess Penelope's Parrot, p. 727; May-June, 1997, Ann A. Flowers, review of Author, p. 341; July-August, 1999, review of Hooway for Wodney Wat, p. 457; November-December, 2000, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Tacky and the Emperor, p. 748; September-October, 2001, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Score One for the Sloths, p. 576; November-December, 2005, Kitty Flynn, review of Tacky and the Winter Games, p. 708.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1979, review of Cora Copycat, p. 1142; March 1, 1985, review of It Wasn't My Fault, p. 8; July 15, 2002, review of Tackylocks and the Three Bears, p. 1037; September 1, 2003, review of Something Might Happen, p. 1126; July 1, 2004, review of Hurty Feelings, p. 632; October 15, 2005, review of Tacky and the Winter Games, p. 1141; July 1, 2006, review of Batter up Wombat, p. 679; September 1, 2007, review of The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing.

Publishers Weekly, May 27, 1983, review of The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken, p. 68; April 25, 1986, review of A Porcupine Named Fluffy, p. 73; February 27, 1987, review of Pookins Gets Her Way, p. 163; August 3, 1992, review of Me First, p. 71; December 20, 1993, review of Three Cheers for Tacky, p. 71; July 24, 1995, review of Listen, Buddy, p. 64; October 7, 1996, review of Princess Penelope's Parrot, p. 74; February 3, 1997, review of Author, p. 105; April 19, 1999, review of Hooway for Wodney Wat, p. 72; July 30, 2001, review of Score One for the Sloths, p. 84; August 19, 2002, review of Tackylocks and the Three Bears, p. 92.

School Library Journal, November, 1995, Virginia Opocensky, review of Listen, Buddy, p. 76; October, 1996, Sally R. Dow, review of Princess Penelope's Parrot, p. 101; May, 1998, Marty Abbott Goodman, review of Tacky in Trouble, pp. 119-120; November, 2000, Martha Link, Tacky and the Emperor, p. 126; October, 2001, Robin L. Gibson, review of Score One for the Sloths, pp. 123-124; September, 2002, Marlene Gawron, review of Tackylocks and the Three Bears, pp. 197-198; September, 2003, Be Astengo, review of Something Might Happen, p. 183; February, 2004, Shauna Yusko, review of Hooway for Wodney Wat, p. 74; October, 2004, Julie Roach, review of Hurty Feelings, p. 120; October, 2005, Lisa S. Schindler, review of Tacky and the Winter Games, p. 118; October, 2006, Lynn K. Vanca, review of Batter up Wombat, p. 115; September, 2007, Judy Chichinski, review of The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing, p. 169.