Good, righteous, slightly disgusting fun.
A human baby is welcomed (really!) by a family of ogres.
Mama and Papa, who could pass for Shrek’s cousins, are overjoyed when their “new batch of baby ogres” start emerging from the swamp. The first two are green and fugly (Mama and Papa couldn’t be more delighted), but the third baby is pink and human-looking. Mama and Papa love her anyway and name her Mary Beth, and the family accepts her even as she becomes a little girl who is (blech) “as delicate and graceful as a water lily.” Mary Beth doesn’t mind being different, but she doesn’t want to be treated as though she is, and she longs to give scaring someone a whirl. “Honeysuckle, you can’t startle a rabbit,” says Papa. But when the dastardly Prince Royally Greedy entraps Mary Beth’s family in hopes of making off with their magic goose, she finally gets a chance to prove her mettle. The message here: Don’t underestimate little girls, and, more generally, don’t judge people (or ogres) by their appearances. The one-of-these-family-members-is-not-like-the-others story has certainly made the picture-book rounds, but DiPucchio and Bynum infuse the premise with inspired ickiness and extra oomph (Mary Beth’s dim brothers’ non sequiturs are hilarious). Bynum’s medieval-times-set mixed-media illustrations are light-handed and play out in a verdant outdoors—a bucolic landscape against which the sight of a vomiting ogre may come as a surprise.
Good, righteous, slightly disgusting fun. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 23, 2026
ISBN: 9781250369963
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This magical wisp of a story has an imaginative message for both planners and improvisers.
Julia decides to pack up and move her House for Lost Creatures, creating a host of problems with unexpected results.
Julia has taken in a cacophony of lost creatures: dwarves, trolls, and goblins, a singular rarity of a mermaid, and a patchwork cat, among others. But now, the house feels ready for a move. As the ghost starts to fade and the mermaid languishes, Julia puts her plan into action—packing books and stacking boxes. The move quickly turns into a series of catastrophes. Trying to retain the facade of control, Julia is dismayed to see her plans making things worse. Knowledge of the previous title, Julia’s House for Lost Creatures (2014), is a helpful introduction, as Hatke turns the solution of the first book into the problem for this one. With skillful pacing, the story has messages for both planners and creatives. The problems seem beyond resolution, keeping readers in gleeful suspended tension. While the first book introduced readers to the gnomish folletti, a hedgehoglike ghillie comes to a dramatic rescue here. There are two disparate messages in one story: Kindness will be returned, and it is OK to not have a plan. Connecting them together are lush illustrations that stretch the mind and add details to mythic beasts. Julia presents white. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.5-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 25% of actual size.)
This magical wisp of a story has an imaginative message for both planners and improvisers. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-19137-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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