Monstrous good fun to share with your own favorite beast.
Monster parents aren’t all that different from human ones.
Each digitally rendered spread portrays a different type of monster, but collectively, they tell the tale of a day spent together. A Godzilla-like child wakes the parent “with a monstrous roar,” and it’s nonstop action from then on: from catch and tag (skeletons) and tickle fights (Frankenstein’s monsters) to running and fishing (creatures from the black lagoon) and noise-making (ghosts—each with four eyes). “The secret hideout that we built / was awesome to behold. // My face turned red with laughter / from the silly jokes you told.” Two bigfoots grab a snack (much to two campers’ dismay), and a wolf parent with two cubs observe the rising moon (and a girl in a red cape). A mummy parent chases the child into bed, a colossal ape gives hugs (a real helicopter clutched in the child’s hand like a toy), and a vampire bat gently folds the child’s wings. The creepy and silly balance each other out, though readers will likely agree that being a human in this monster world might be precarious. Though the title indicates that this is a book about monster dads and their sons, nothing in the illustrations spells out gender, and the text, first person from the parent’s point of view, says “son” only once (and though that is a necessary word for the end rhyme, it could so easily be changed to “one”).
Monstrous good fun to share with your own favorite beast. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2937-2
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
Chilling in the best ways.
When a young rabbit who’s struggling in school finds a helpful crayon, everything is suddenly perfect—until it isn’t.
Jasper is flunking everything except art and is desperate for help when he finds the crayon. “Purple. Pointy…perfect”—and alive. When Jasper watches TV instead of studying, he misspells every word on his spelling test, but the crayon seems to know the answers, and when he uses the crayon to write, he can spell them all. When he faces a math quiz after skipping his homework, the crayon aces it for him. Jasper is only a little creeped out until the crayon changes his art—the one area where Jasper excels—into something better. As guilt-ridden Jasper receives accolade after accolade for grades and work that aren’t his, the crayon becomes more and more possessive of Jasper’s attention and affection, and it is only when Jasper cannot take it anymore that he discovers just what he’s gotten himself into. Reynolds’ text might as well be a Rod Serling monologue for its perfectly paced foreboding and unsettling tension, both gentled by lightly ominous humor. Brown goes all in to match with a grayscale palette for everything but the purple crayon—a callback to black-and-white sci-fi thrillers as much as a visual cue for nascent horror readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Chilling in the best ways. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6588-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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