I am really quite fond of all of the illustrators of Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read. I’ve told you a bit about a few of the illustrators, and now I’m back for more. Each one of these extraordinary people should be celebrated for the humor, suspense, and intrigue they added to the storybooks.

In Good Job, Dennis, a town square goes haywire when pets escape from Lin’s Pet Shop. The only person who can save the day is Dennis the traffic cop. Marcos Calo’s illustrations add so much detail to the chaos of the scene. (And the pets are pretty adorable.)

How Do We Get There from Here? is a very fast moving tale, and the illustrations by Jimmy Holder capture the crazy surroundings as they whiz by while Darleen and her young friend go to the airport. The images are as surreal as Margaret Crocker’s imaginative text.

In The Puppy Look, Terri Murphy shows what it looks like when a boy decides to become a dog. There’s a real sweetness to her illustrations that put you right in the heart of Bucky’s family life.

Carolyn Crimi’s book, The Swish-Smacker Dirt Hacker was illustrated marvelously by Stephen Gilpin. Victor is a young inventor, determined to make the best vacuum cleaner there ever was. Fortunately for us, Stephen Gilpin’s imagination is as rich as Victor’s and he fully brings Victor’s inventions to life. What does it look like when a giant vacuum can suck up a neighborhood? Read the book and you’ll see.

And lucky for us, we had the artistic stylings of Shawn Finley. In Lucky for Me, he sells us on the boy’s made up pirate tale. Shawn also provided us with the look of the Hooked on Phonics characters. The charm of Cat and Pig and Pop Fox is his doing, and we love them.