Appealing, for Halloween or anytime.
Cartoonist Misdea constructs a quest replete with Halloween motifs in this nearly wordless, picture book–graphic novel hybrid.
Troubled at bedtime by imagined scary beings—a skeleton, a green-skinned witch, a ghost, and even more monsters under the bed—a personified little jack-o’-lantern finds comfort with a treasured toy mouse. Next day, a whooshing wind separates the protagonist from the toy, engendering a seek-and-follow adventure. The Jack-child spies a black, fanged cat with the pilfered toy and pursues the feline in a motorboat across a river where a giant octopus makes its home. Reaching land, the child reunites a skull with its bones. The protagonist tucks the skull under their arm like a football and runs toward the skeleton with it; comically, the skeleton repays the favor in kind, kicking the Jack-child into the air for a temporary flight with a squad of ghosts. Landing in a cauldron, our hero finds a witch bawling disconsolately over a flyer for a lost cat. Realizing that the missing feline is also the thief, the Jack-child’s off again to put things right. Misdea’s narrative can be read as a child’s dream or a hero’s fulsome adventure. Featuring a muted palette of charcoal gray with orange, yellow, and blue tints, this debut’s round-edged panels compress zigzagging emotions into an adroitly constructed tale using classic folkloric tropes. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Appealing, for Halloween or anytime. (Picture book/graphic fiction hybrid. 3-7)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9780593521625
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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