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
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available.
A ghost learns to appreciate his differences.
The little ghost protagonist of this title is unusual. He’s a quilt, not a lightweight sheet like his parents and friends. He dislikes being different despite his mom’s reassurance that his ancestors also had unconventional appearances. Halloween makes the little ghost happy, though. He decides to watch trick-or-treaters by draping over a porch chair—but lands on a porch rail instead. A mom accompanying her daughter picks him up, wraps him around her chilly daughter, and brings him home with them! The family likes his looks and comforting warmth, and the little ghost immediately feels better about himself. As soon as he’s able to, he flies out through the chimney and muses happily that this adventure happened only due to his being a quilt. This odd but gently told story conveys the importance of self-respect and acceptance of one’s uniqueness. The delivery of this positive message has something of a heavy-handed feel and is rushed besides. It also isn’t entirely logical: The protagonist could have been a different type of covering; a blanket, for instance, might have enjoyed an identical experience. The soft, pleasing illustrations’ palette of tans, grays, white, black, some touches of color, and, occasionally, white text against black backgrounds suggest isolation, such as the ghost feels about himself. Most humans, including the trick-or-treating mom and daughter, have beige skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-16.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 66.2% of actual size.)
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6447-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Chilling in the best ways.
When a young rabbit who’s struggling in school finds a helpful crayon, everything is suddenly perfect—until it isn’t.
Jasper is flunking everything except art and is desperate for help when he finds the crayon. “Purple. Pointy…perfect”—and alive. When Jasper watches TV instead of studying, he misspells every word on his spelling test, but the crayon seems to know the answers, and when he uses the crayon to write, he can spell them all. When he faces a math quiz after skipping his homework, the crayon aces it for him. Jasper is only a little creeped out until the crayon changes his art—the one area where Jasper excels—into something better. As guilt-ridden Jasper receives accolade after accolade for grades and work that aren’t his, the crayon becomes more and more possessive of Jasper’s attention and affection, and it is only when Jasper cannot take it anymore that he discovers just what he’s gotten himself into. Reynolds’ text might as well be a Rod Serling monologue for its perfectly paced foreboding and unsettling tension, both gentled by lightly ominous humor. Brown goes all in to match with a grayscale palette for everything but the purple crayon—a callback to black-and-white sci-fi thrillers as much as a visual cue for nascent horror readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Chilling in the best ways. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6588-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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