Less Oh, the Places You’ll Go and more “Oh, the people you will know.”
Cultivate interest not simply in the world, but also in the people who inhabit it.
Behind the facade of yet another picture book to hand to graduates lies a title with grander ambitions. A kid scooters off into the world to text that relates the wonders to come. Using the letter B (for no apparent reason) as a touchstone, the text catalogs everything from bobsledding to boredom. This is all well and good, but the true treasures come when one realizes, “There’s more to everyone than you think.” Readers are encouraged not merely to look and draw assumptions, but to ask people questions to learn more. Characters introduced early appear later with some context. A bicycling ballerina “misses her grandpa Benny,” and “the bully was bullied” (a sign held by a disembodied hand reads, “That’s how he learned to do it”). Even the endpapers get into the act, featuring balloons that sport questions like “What makes someone smart?” and “What’s the best gift you ever got?” This emphasis on humanity separates this title from books that offer empty aphorisms about getting through life. Meanwhile, the cheery art displays a Seussian sensibility but populates its hopeful world with lots of different kinds of people. The brown-skinned protagonist appears to be biracial, with a White-presenting mom and darker-brown-skinned dad who bid their offspring farewell on the first page. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.3-by-20.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 26% of actual size.)
Less Oh, the Places You’ll Go and more “Oh, the people you will know.” (Picture books. 4-18)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20606-5
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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