Long ably proves that “when it comes to scaring, the more the merrier.” (Picture book. 4-8)
The members of Fright Club are in for a surprise when a crew of cuddly critters wants to join and participate in Operation Kiddie Scare.
On the night before Halloween, Vladimir the vampire attempts to coach his fellow scary creatures on “The 3 Traits of Highly Successful Monsters.” But there’s a knock at the door: an innocuous bunny politely requests to join the club. But Vladimir shoos the rabbit away, saying “Fright Club is for monsters only!” In the meantime, the club members are hopelessly not scary. When Vladimir responds to a second knock, he finds the bunny has brought her attorney, Frances Foxx, to plead her case. Vladimir sends them off because only monsters are frightening, not sweet woodland creatures. Opening the door to a third knock, the vampire encounters a gang of animals chanting, “HISS, MOAN, BOO! WE CAN SCARE TOO!”—and proceeding to prove it. How can the monsters turn them down now? Long delivers an original story full of droll humor while also introducing the concept of questioning stereotypes and rules. His gray-toned cartoon illustrations are touched with just tinges of color (green skin, brown fur, the bunny’s cute, pink eyes), and he adds details sure to amuse, such as Frances’ glasses and briefcase and the monsters’ absurd expressions.
Long ably proves that “when it comes to scaring, the more the merrier.” (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6196-3337-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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