A humorous adaptation of a Spanish story similar to Verna Aardema's retelling of The Riddle of the Drum (1978, o.p.), although Kimmel (Onions and Garlic, 1996, etc.) cites Ruth Sawyer's Picture Tales from Spain as his source. The king of Spain insists that a louse that has bitten him must be treated royally, since it now has royal blood. The indulged insect grows to an enormous size, and when it dies, the king secretly has a guitar fashioned from its carcass. He invites all and sundry to guess the marvelous substance of which his guitar is made, offering marriage to one of his daughters as the prize. A peasant ventures to Madrid to try his luck, and a flea he has befriended solves the mystery. Each of the three princesses, horrified at the prospect of having to marry the peasant, bribes him not to choose her, and he departs with immense treasure and a strong mule (more valuable than a lazy princess). The flea remains at court, working his way up the ranks until he can bite the king. Kimmel's retelling, with judiciously chosen details, is good for reading aloud to kids who relish a bit of grossness in their story- hour diet. Rayevsky's boldly outlined illustrations are as earthy as the tale. (Picture book/folklore. 6-10)
Pub Date: May 15, 1997
ISBN: 0-8234-1299-7
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1997
Extraordinary introductory terror, beautiful to the eye and sure to delight younger horror enthusiasts.
What terrors lurk within your mouth? Jasper Rabbit knows.
“You have stumbled your way into the unknown.” The young bunny introduced in Reynolds and Brown’s Caldecott Honor–winning picture book, Creepy Carrots (2012), takes up Rod Serling’s mantle, and the fit is perfect. Mimicking an episode of The Twilight Zone, the book follows Charlie Marmot, an average kid with a penchant for the strange and unusual. He’s pleased when his tonsils become infected; maybe once they’re out he can take them to school for show and tell! That’s when bizarre things start to happen: Noises in the night. Slimy trails on his bedroom floor. And when Charlie goes in for his surgery, he’s told that the tonsils have disappeared from his throat; clearly something sinister is afoot. Those not yet ready for Goosebumps levels of horror will find this a welcome starter pack. Reynolds has perfected the tension he employed in his Creepy Tales! series, and partner in crime Brown imbues each illustration with both humor and a delicate undercurrent of dark foreshadowing. While the fleshy pink tonsils—the sole spot of color in this black-and-white world—aren’t outrageously gross, there’s something distinctly disgusting about them. And though the book stars cute, furry woodland creatures, the spooky surprise ending is 100% otherworldly—a marvelous moment of twisted logic.
Extraordinary introductory terror, beautiful to the eye and sure to delight younger horror enthusiasts. (Early chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781665961080
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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