Keeps students up-to-date on this burgeoning genre; reflects current surge in picture books at this level; offers satisfying targets for analysis due to these books inherent charm and visual appeal.

Makes “ready to-go” units future teachers can take right into their first classroom, or use as a springboard for creating their own.

Ensures students are abreast of the most recent entries in the annals of children's literature.

Extends students' repertoire of evaluative markers and encourages a view of evaluation as a multi-criteria task.

Prepares students for likely standards of their first classrooms; groups non-fiction as it is in most school syllabi.

Provides students with a valuable resource for using and adding to their own children's literature database.

Provides future teachers' knowledge of the diversity of children's literature, helping them to create classrooms that reflect the diversity of today's children.

Provides core information on reviewing and evaluating children's literature without overwhelming students as anthologies sometimes do.