A VERY SCARY BOOK

The DiTerlizzis follow up A Very Cranky Book (2023) with another tale of an anthropomorphic book.

With horns, fangs, wild eyes, a sickly green book jacket, and purple claws, the title character is frightful—but surprisingly polite, if a bit rusty on the finer points of grammar. “Welcome to me attic,” says Scary, admitting that “it smell musty” and listing further shortcomings: “no rainbows…no snacks…no friends.” Still, “it is home.” Self-aware, solo Scary has learned self-sufficiency (“Me make shadow puppets. Me play dress-up”). “Sure, it would be nice to have a friend, but who wants to be friends with a very scary book?” Then an enticing scent draws Scary down from the attic for the first time. Peering through an ajar door, Scary thrills to see a tea party attended by other books, among them the Cranky book (in character, adamantly refusing to have a good time) and Kitty, a cute board book of few words. When Scary rushes in, the other volumes understandably flee. Exciting developments ensue, until our scary book (briefly a scared book) demonstrates bravery and cleverness; the others finally see past cover appearances, and all ends with friends and cupcakes. The DiTerlizzis pack the emotions of a whole novel into a tale with minimal text: It’s funny, poignant, alarming, heartwarming, and easy to read. As in the earlier installment, photos of actual books are digitally tweaked, imbued with facial features, limbs, and other attributes; dynamic use of perspective gives this tale a dramatic, cinematic flair.

A clever reminder not to judge a book by its cover.