Since young readers' interest in superheroes begins before they are typically ready for comic books, this lovely if thinly...
Muth has earned admiration as a picture-book author/illustrator and as a comic-book artist; here, he expands the Dark Knight's origin story for a picture-book audience.
After a night at the movies, Bruce Wayne and his parents (inexplicably) walk through a dark alley, where Bruce's parents are shot and killed. (The violence is indicated by Bruce's surprised face, illuminated by the flash of gunpowder, and his parents' fallen hat and scarf.) The lonely boy is tended by the loving butler Alfred, who keeps Wayne Manor lit day and night to hold his young master's newfound fear of the dark at bay (presumably the titular dark secret). One day Bruce falls into a cavern beneath his property, where he faces down a ludicrously monstrous bat and finds bravery and his life's work. The story's logic suffers with its spurious expansion. How does facing the bat help Bruce conquer his fear of the dark? If it’s meant to be a symbolic embodiment of that fear, that’s not clear. The pages between his parents' murders and his confrontation with the bat are filled with grieving, not a burgeoning need to bring justice to a crime-filled world. But Muth's watercolors are breathtaking.
Since young readers' interest in superheroes begins before they are typically ready for comic books, this lovely if thinly plotted picture book fills an important niche—though they may wonder where the action is. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-86755-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
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
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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