A hauntingly funny tale of family love.
With a bit of perspective, a ghost learns to accept a baby sibling.
Big Boo, who narrates, enjoys a blissful few early months with Little Boo, “a sweet and adorable baby.” Things are easy enough when Little Boo is too small to do much of anything; Little Boo listens as Big Boo talks, and Big Boo ferries the younger spirit around. Then comes the day when Little Boo learns to crawl, then float, and, at last, talk. Little Boo becomes an annoying, constant presence whose declarations of love are trying. Big Boo’s werewolf friend Howl, on the other hand, has a sibling who seems enviably calm (and who shares Big Boo’s love of literature). Howl points out that “Little Howl is a little monster,” but Big Boo nevertheless accepts a sibling trade. Oops…what a mistake! Maybe Little Boo isn’t such a trial after all? The cute and relatable plot is only half the attraction. Readers will pore over countless details in the Boo household: the alligator chairs and dining table, Little Boo’s owl highchair and hollow-pumpkin bassinet, the snake chandelier, the Venus fly trap desk lamp, the bat bathmat, and the candy corn–chomping squirrels rapturously hailed by Little Boo as “Kitteez!!!” Graphic novel–esque panels and speech bubbles, as well as simple but frenzied linework, give Frost plenty of scope for clever comic effects to fuel rereading.
A hauntingly funny tale of family love. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780063267831
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
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
All-in-good-fun Halloween scares.
In NSYNC singer Bass’ debut picture book, trick-or-treaters follow their fearless leader down Scary Street in search of sweets, or so they think.
On Halloween night, a mischievous child dressed as a wolf, reminiscent of Max from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (1963), leads a large, racially diverse group of costumed children down Scary Street. The youngster, who narrates, proceeds to bring them to a series of creepy fun house–style homes, including a mansion belonging to a menacingly dapper vampire, who offers “toothy snacks” to the terrified-looking trick-or-treaters, and a gingerbread cottage inhabited by a Cruella de Vil–esque witch, who might prefer to bake little children into her house rather than give them treats. Uh-oh. Now there are only four children following the increasingly unreliable narrator, who ominously repeats, “No tricks allowed, just tasty treats.” As it turns out, the narrator does have a trick in store, which completes the scare and brings the story to a happy conclusion. Bass uses a simple, sometimes uneven rhyme pattern that ranges from interesting combinations (missed is rhymed with resist) to more familiar ones (treats/sweets) with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor. Garrigue’s atmospheric illustrations have a Coney Island sideshow vibe, created with a candy palette that’s both invitingly tasty and garish in just the right way. The narrator, the vampire, and the witch are light-skinned.
All-in-good-fun Halloween scares. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781454952176
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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