An entertainingly ghostly story with a decidedly gentle tone.
A familiar tale gets a spooky twist.
While playing in the woods, Ghouldilocks, a wide-eyed, wild-haired, yellow-skinned creature, discovers an abandoned mansion. Inside she finds three chairs of differing degrees of hardness, three bowls of—what else?—“ghoulash” of varying temperatures, and three beds of disparate sizes. The tale matches “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” beat for beat as our protagonist sits in every chair and breaks the littlest one, samples all the ghoulash and devours the smallest bowl’s contents, then falls asleep in the smallest bed. When the mansion’s ghostly residents return, they discover Ghouldilocks still slumbering. Mistaking her for a mummy, they’re terrified, and the hubbub awakens the interloper, who, in turn, becomes scared of them. Everyone scrambles for the door. Outdoors, the ghosts realize their error and explain that they’re friendly but that they believed Ghouldilocks wanted their sheets for her wrapping. Mistaken identities are now resolved—with a couple of funny visual and textual puns thrown in—and new relationships are forged. Ghouldilocks is invited to stay, learns to cook ghoulash, becomes besties with Baby Ghost, and promises never to enter anyone’s house uninvited. Children who enjoy the source material will giggle over this humorous take, which emphasizes friendship and goofy antics rather than scares; they’ll pore over the comedically energetic cartoon illustrations and appreciate the satisfying ending.
An entertainingly ghostly story with a decidedly gentle tone. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9780593709603
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 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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