The pressure of picking a proper gift to exchange at a party makes the holiday season anything but a fava-rite time for the leguminous star of The Cool Bean (2019).Having picked ultra-cool Beanadette J.'s name out of the basket but lacking the bean-bucks to buy anything, the frustrated frijole turns creative, using pens and paints to depict the intended recipient surrounded by tigers and rainbows. Seeing the multicolored guests at the party getting electronics and other expensive fancies only cranks up the anticipated humiliation-but Beanadette loves the picture, and so does everyone else. "I'd created something unique and original. I'd given it away. And it had made somebody happy." If that summation isn't explicit enough for some readers, John's beany bestower leaves the party with a brand-new, hand-knit scarf of their own ("truly a cool-and also warm-gift, indeed") and then ends by boiling the message down to a mushy meme: "When in doubt, just make something." However easy it may be to see as naïve (or at best aspirational) the notion that beans, human or otherwise, are sure to value hand-made gifts over manufactured ones, young children or anyone with no bean-bucks to spend might take it to heart. No specific holidays are identified aside from glimpses of snow, garland, and carolers in the illustrations of anthropomorphized, cartoonish beans. (This book was reviewed digitally.)A solid message for young DIYers, particularly those with more time than bean-bucks. (Picture book. 6-8)

PreS-Gr 3 —A wonderfully written and illustrated book about Cool Bean, who is nervous about the upcoming holiday party. Every year at the party, the beans exchange gifts. This year, Cool doesn't know what to get the bean he selected; he doesn't have the money to buy her something, and he is unsuccessful in finding her a gift. So Cool paints her a picture. He is nervous that he will be laughed at for making his gift and not buying it. But Cool is surprised when everyone loves the gift he made, and he even gets a gift that someone made for him. This wonderful story shows the anxieties and emotions kids and adults can face during the holidays, especially when giving gifts. John does an excellent job describing all the emotions that the beans go through, and Oswald is just as amazing showing the emotions of the bean characters. The beautiful and descriptive pictures are detailed but not super complicated in nature, fitting for the age of children reading this book. VERDICT A fun book for fans of the Cool Bean series.—Dorinda Brown