In this whimsical how-to, a young child in a red dress with white polka dots follows the offstage narrator's instructions, beginning with how to shrink: "Put a rose petal in your pocket at sunrise, near a riverbank where dragonflies live." The girl is cautioned to return to the same spot by sunset or the spell will be permanent. Next, she uses a blade of grass to lasso a well-dressed dragonfly named Priscilla. Together, the two joust with a bumblebee ("thistle spears make good jousting lances"), meet the queen bee, and enjoy tea with fairies since "dragonflies are often invited to parties." There are some close calls: an angry fairy attempts revenge for her stained clothes, and a hungry frog nearly catches Priscilla. Soft watercolor and ink illustrations match the text's fanciful tone; the engaging pond creatures bring liveliness to this magical world. Grace McKinney Beermann

A child takes readers along on an Alice's Adventures in Wonderland–esque adventure.If you want to ride a dragonfly, first you need to shrink yourself, and the narrator has just the way to manage it…and to become big again, but be careful you don't miss the sunset deadline or you'll be tiny forever! Once you're small, it's easy to make a grass lasso and capture a dragonfly to ride (Priscilla in this case). Once astride, you can joust against bees with thistle spears, have a tea party with fairies, dodge hungry frogs, rock out with the Beetle Band, and do some acrobatic trick riding, though none of this is without incident (and the scenes with the bee queen and the fairies can seem a bit judgmental and lacking in evidence: "Bees are sore losers"). The child has blond hair, light skin, and a red-and-white polka dot dress, while Priscilla (at least when the child is tiny) sports a blue shirt and red-and-white striped pants. While the child and fauna in the watercolor-and-ink illustrations are cartoony and delightfully anthropomorphized (the Beetle Band and jiving bugs are highlights), the flora at times looks like the stained-glass scenery panels done by Tiffany, especially the water lilies and the cattails, which provides for an interesting contrast and gives the eye a place to rest. (This book was reviewed digitally.)A beautiful and interesting flight of fancy. (Picture book. 4-8)

Surrounded by the pleasures of a summery meadow, a blond, pale-skinned child in a red polka dot shift shrinks down and takes a dragonfly as a trusty steed. With a little simple magic (“Put a rose petal in your pocket at sunrise”), the child becomes small enough to catch and saddle the eager-eyed insect, which wears a dapper blue jacket and red striped pants. “Let’s call her Priscilla,” suggests the omniscient second-person narrator about the dragonfly. The intrepid duo joust with a bumblebee, attend a mishap-filled tea with two fairies, escape a hungry frog, and boogie with the Beetle Band before returning to the original place of enchantment just in time for the child to avoid staying permanently tiny. Donohoe (There’s Something About Sam) strikes a tone of matter-of-fact commentary about the fanciful scenarios: “I’ll bet you didn’t know that fairies loathe stains and have bad tempers. You’d better hide if you want to avoid being turned into a toadstool.” Thin-lined watercolor and ink illustrations by Wilsdorf, making a picture book debut, combine a Victorian floral sensibility with an action-packed arc, resulting in small-scale-focused visuals that are equal parts magical and impish. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Stephen Fraser, Jennifer De Chiara Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges and April Prince, Studio Goodwin Sturges. (May)