A superior alternative to Goosebumps for elementary-age chill-seekers.
A monster allergy may ruin Alex’s visit to his grandparents’.
Alex and his cousin Sarah are spending a week visiting their grandparents in their grandparents’ new house…except the house is very old. It is likely haunted, and that was actually a selling point for Alex’s writer grandmother and artist grandfather, who together write the twisted and scary comic book Little Grendella. The whole family appears to be white. When he enters his room, Alex has an immediate allergic reaction…but when he tries to duplicate the reaction in front of Sarah and his grandparents, nothing happens. The strange rash on his arms reappears later, and it becomes obvious he is allergic to a ghost that’s haunting the house. Only Sarah and Alex can see the strange phantom, and it can write in the rash on Alex’s arm (unsurprisingly, this does not feel good). The duo decides to clear up the business that is keeping the ghost on Earth. Can they do it alone? This ghost story kicks off Lubar’s new series of light spooky tales à la his Monsterrific Tales, though for a younger audience. Customarily excellent writing at the sentence level unspools an undemanding adventure carefully pitched to his audience. What’s light, foolish, and transparent to adults will be enjoyable to youngsters seeking slight chills with a smile or two along the way.
A superior alternative to Goosebumps for elementary-age chill-seekers. (Fantasy. 6-9)Pub Date: June 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-87348-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Quirky, informative, and far from soporific.
The first page warns readers to quiet down since the animals in the book are sleepy and need to rest. A few more brief sentences conversationally introduce the book’s premise. However, the book is far from a bedtime story. Even that initial page sports vividly colored sleepy animals, and they are yawning and stretching over a background that is several shades brighter than lavender. The facing page sets up a pleasant, repeating pattern. Instead of the full bleed of the verso, stark white frames a roughly hewn oblong, within which a cartoon child snuggles in a bedroom in solid hues of cool-palette colors. “While you cover yourself with a blanket…” begins the litany, “…an otter wraps itself in seaweed,” proclaims black print over a background of rippling blues upon the page turn. Three seaweed-swaddled sea otters drift below a short, informative paragraph that compares the use of the seaweed to both a blanket and a boat’s anchor. The text’s tone is lighthearted, with humorous word choices conveying fascinating facts. How imaginative to compare a child pulling on pajamas to a parrotfish nightly “burping up” its protective coating of slime! Upbeat graphics provide a wide range of human diversity, including one White child who uses a wheelchair and a family that appears to be multiracial.
Quirky, informative, and far from soporific. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77147-404-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
The gimmick may prove a draw, but topicwise there are some major holes.
Acetate-covered cutout windows invite fledgling readers to take peeks at human body systems.
It’s a select tour, featuring just the five basic senses, bare nods at the endocrine and immune systems, and no mention of reproduction at all. The uncredited writer makes clear efforts to keep the descriptive notes nontechnical, with uneven results. Most eyebrow-raising are a claim that “you have tiny hairs all over your body to keep you warm” and contradictory information about whether heart muscles contract with or without commands from the brain. Still, the focus on function rather than terminology properly lays a sturdy foundation for more extensive inquiries children may pursue in the future. Along with inside views and close-ups of isolated organs, Alice’s schematic illustrations feature a carefully diverse cast, including a child in a wheelchair and an older adult with a cane on a page leadingly titled “The Same Inside.” The body-shaped windows, acetate printed on both sides to present front and back views, are stacked to suggest how at least some of the seven systems are “always working together, like a machine,” and a final appeal to keep that machine ticking by eating properly and exercising ends the tour on a cogent note.
The gimmick may prove a draw, but topicwise there are some major holes. (Informational novelty. 6-8)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1725-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
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