This ghostly tale proves that anyone can have a happily-ever-after.
Poor Gustavo—everyone looks right through him.
Whether he shows up as a paint canvas or a soccer ball, no one seems to notice. Of course, it doesn’t help that he’s timid—or a ghost. He literally blends into the background. He can’t even get up the courage to buy an “eye-scream,” much less approach his crush. What’s a shy, violin-playing ghost in love supposed to do? Finally tired of feeling left out, Gustavo decides to invite all the monsters to a violin concert at the annual Day of the Dead party in the cemetery. Surrounded by decorated altars, Gustavo sadly realizes that no one is coming. He picks up his instrument anyway and lets the music carry him away. As he plays, he begins glowing brightly with happiness and confidence, eventually noticing that the graveyard is filled with all his invited guests from the neighborhood, who can see him for the first time. Mexican-born author/illustrator Drago sweetly captures the angst-y little ghost’s perpetual perturbation. His true love, Alma, is a bespectacled invisible girl—appropriately named, as “Alma” means soul or spirit in Spanish. Iconic images of Mexican culture cleverly pepper the scenery. With the papel picado banners, panes de muerto, and Catrinas, Drago provides a festive environment for Gustavo’s laments. Decorated skulls peek out from around every corner; even the family goldfish is a smiling skeleton.
This ghostly tale proves that anyone can have a happily-ever-after. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: July 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1114-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Disconcerting and possibly deadly dealings are afoot; certain to charm younger fans of the macabre.
In the latest installment of the delightfully disturbing chapter-book series, the mundane once more takes on supernatural qualities, this time in the form of veggies.
With this follow-up to Troubling Tonsils! (2025), our host, Jasper Rabbit, once more channels Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. As Jasper narrates, we meet our heroes: fourth graders Thaddeus Badger and Oliver Possum, who love nothing more than eating junk food, particularly the hamburgers at Hurt-A-Burger (a mildly brilliant corporate name on the author’s part). When Oliver’s parents trick the two into a dinner of salads at their favorite fast-food joint, Thaddeus feels betrayed, but Oliver experiences something a little more dire. Soon after, Oliver starts acting strangely, and his parents begin behaving even more oddly. What’s going on? And does it have anything to do with the full moon? Tone is the true star of the show in this series; the mystery unspools thanks to the buildup of unnerving moments. Reynolds combines suspense with a keen ability to artistically frame both sunny innocent sequences and those rich with dark foreboding. Notably, this is no morality tale about eating your vegetables—this tale is fully on the side of its child readers. Brown’s black-and-white images, punctuated with eerie pops of green, heighten both horrifying and comedic moments.
Disconcerting and possibly deadly dealings are afoot; certain to charm younger fans of the macabre. (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781665961110
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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