A fun, if not groundbreaking, introduction to holiday frights for younger kids.
Curtin brings a Halloween scarecrow to life in this debut picture book that walks a fine line between being playful and scary.
What happens when a scarecrow can’t do his job? It’s a question that has sparked many stories, and in this one, set on Halloween night, a farmer finds his farm overrun with raccoons, possums, crows and other critters. A ragged old scarecrow named Spookety Boo hangs imperturbably on his post, letting the animals nibble his toes. Desperate, the farmer yanks off the scarecrow’s head and replaces it with a jack-o’-lantern. The story looks like it might turn very dark, as Spookety’s new eyes—lit with magic candles—start to throw off sparks and he jumps down off of his post. (The illustration on this page, just frightening enough for little kids without being the stuff of nightmares, is among the best in the book.) Will Spookety turn into a monster, rampage through the town, and ruin Halloween? Nope: The scarecrow, to the farmer’s great disappointment, turns out to be a sweet jokester who just wants to see the Halloween sights and go trick-or-treating with the kids in town. This, the farmer insists, just won’t do: The scarecrow has work to do at the farm, which is quickly becoming a zoo. So, despite his fading candles, Spookety puts on his scariest face and, with the help of the costumed kids, saves the farm. Curtin tells the story from the farmer’s point of view, in rhyming couplets and rolling anapests (“On Halloween night, with things looking grim, / I stomped out to my scarecrow and glared up at him.”). The rhythm runs the gamut from fun and natural to herky-jerky—and, as such, it may sometimes be hard to read out loud. Reyes uses a dark, appropriately Halloween-y color palette in his illustrations, and conjures a scarecrow who’s floppy and sweet in some images and more than a little menacing in others.
A fun, if not groundbreaking, introduction to holiday frights for younger kids.Pub Date: April 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1483610115
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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