An amusing tale of sibling love and mischief.
Two trickster Korean goblins—or dokkaebi—struggle to adjust to life in New York City.
Siblings Doki and Kebi are “settling into their new old house” after moving to the United States, as depicted in The Goblin Twins (2023). Orange-skinned, purple-haired Doki tries to enjoy a book, but blue-skinned, double-horned Kebi is perturbed because he has no friends in their new city. A hilarious sequence depicts Kebi’s unsuccessful attempts to connect with other ghoulish creatures, among them vampires and a Wednesday Addams–esque child. “Why don’t you go play some tricks on humans?” Doki suggests. Kebi confesses that it’s especially difficult to provoke the residents of their new city. Boldly colored and textured illustrations dotted with ghosts—unseen by humans—portray Kebi’s failed efforts to scare jaded New Yorkers. His oversize head and tiny body imbue his shenanigans with charm. He mixes up the trains in the subway, breaks traffic lights, and fills the streets with frightening “dokkaebi smoke,” but the city’s residents remain unfazed. Curious, Doki joins in and ups the ante by floating the sphere off the Atlas statue at Rockefeller Center, making tables levitate in restaurants, and shrinking the Statue of Library—still nothing. But eventually the two realize that all they need is each other. Cha and Kim infuse their tale with both child-friendly chaos and a touch of sweetness. Human characters are racially diverse.
An amusing tale of sibling love and mischief. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593480267
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Chilling in the best ways.
When a young rabbit who’s struggling in school finds a helpful crayon, everything is suddenly perfect—until it isn’t.
Jasper is flunking everything except art and is desperate for help when he finds the crayon. “Purple. Pointy…perfect”—and alive. When Jasper watches TV instead of studying, he misspells every word on his spelling test, but the crayon seems to know the answers, and when he uses the crayon to write, he can spell them all. When he faces a math quiz after skipping his homework, the crayon aces it for him. Jasper is only a little creeped out until the crayon changes his art—the one area where Jasper excels—into something better. As guilt-ridden Jasper receives accolade after accolade for grades and work that aren’t his, the crayon becomes more and more possessive of Jasper’s attention and affection, and it is only when Jasper cannot take it anymore that he discovers just what he’s gotten himself into. Reynolds’ text might as well be a Rod Serling monologue for its perfectly paced foreboding and unsettling tension, both gentled by lightly ominous humor. Brown goes all in to match with a grayscale palette for everything but the purple crayon—a callback to black-and-white sci-fi thrillers as much as a visual cue for nascent horror readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Chilling in the best ways. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6588-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
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