Bewitching and beguiling.
A boy wants to know: If it looks like a witch’s house, does that make it a witch’s house?
Felix, a tan-skinned youngster with black hair swept back into wings, and his Toto-look-alike terrier, Spike, are walking through the woods one morning when they happen upon an ominous-looking house. Felix wonders if a witch lives there. A witch enthusiast, he has a pertinent book at hand: 23 Witchy Clues To Spot. Sure enough, Clue #1 is “a tall black house in the middle of a forest.” Felix and Spike poke around the house—no one seems to be home—ticking off clues. By the time the pair reach the final clue—a potions room—they’re feeling at home enough to whip up their own concoctions. When they’re through, they pack up their potions, don one pointy black hat each, hop on a broomstick, and head home. That grim-looking house they just visited may or may not have a witchy occupant, but now Felix’s house does: It’s him! There’s something subtle and sweet here about the wrongheadedness of jumping to conclusions about people based on superficial characteristics, although it’s possible that Dickson has playfulness rather than a message in mind. (Nothing wrong with that.) While the story isn’t tied to any particular time period, Gilbuena hews to a subdued palette evoking the medieval era, and her clean-lined digital illustrations are admirably orderly for all the witchy paraphernalia they must accommodate.
Bewitching and beguiling. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781250792587
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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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