DILLWEED'S REVENGE

Well-deserved woe unto adults who do Dillweed wrong! His parents are off voyaging, and he’s poetically jealous: “Dillweed liked to go places. He liked to have adventures. He liked to have a good time. His parents went places. His parents had adventures. His parents had a good time. The parents. Not Dillweed.” Using ink and gouache, Ellis paints the minimalist gothic mansion in low-intensity rust, brown and gray; adorable pet reptile Skorped is a refreshing pale blue. Garishly distorted bodies and faces reveal the odiousness in nasty servants Umblud and Perfidia and their guests. Heide and her family’s text is elegantly understated: “Dillweed did something”—the illustrations show that Dillweed conjures gray ghouls; “Umblud made a foolish mistake”—Umblud drinks lethal poison that Perfidia meant for Skorped; “Perfidia made a foolish mistake”—Perfidia gets crushed under a wardrobe by a gray ghoul. Even subtler is Dillweed’s revenge against Skorped’s next attackers. Dillweed and Skorped “wished the parents would go away," and lickety-split, a black wreath adorns the manor’s door while boy and pet depart for their long-denied adventures. Good, macabre fun. (Picture book. 9 & up)