A little red-haired girl observes that many of the people in her neighborhood and school seem a “little bit scary.” There’s the big boy on the skateboard who plays loud music, the bus driver who demands exact change, the imposing school principal with the long fingernails and the wacky music teacher who picks on kids who can’t sing in tune. But are they actually scary? That cafeteria lady who limits kids to one milk probably jogs after school, singing out loud to show tunes on her headphones, and the school nurse who applies stinging lotion must play the piano as his kids “pile on his lap and pull on his ears” after work. The little girl realistically concludes that in their private lives and once you get to know them, these people probably aren’t scary at all. Boiger’s humorous watercolor-and-line illustrations capture the potentially scary characters from a variety of visual perspectives that reinforce the message that there’s more than one way to see things. An amusing reality check for the easily intimidated. (Picture book. 3-6)
