THE GREAT GRRRRR

Name: THE GREAT GRRRRR
Author: Marie-Sabine Roger
ISBN: 9781636550565

by Marie-Sabine Roger ; illustrated by Marjolaine Leray ; translated by Angus Yuen-Killick ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2023

Gets into the neighborhood of interesting but doesn’t deliver.

bookshelf

A determined and short-fused monster unites a package with its recipient.

The Great Grrrrr, a black creature with a head of spikes, hairy ears, and expressive cartoon eyes, drives a delivery truck. He makes several attempts to deliver a small gift, but each time he rings the doorbell of a quiet rural cottage, he gets no response—even after scratching and tapping. It starts to rain, and frustration builds and bubbles into destructive anger until finally the Great Grrrrr crushes the home to pieces. But it turns out that the 99-year-old grandma who owns the home is simply out on an errand, and when she returns, she teaches him a lesson in patience. The spare, black-and-white illustrations, rendered in childlike scrawls, are punctuated with pops of pink for objects such as the cottage, the package, and the grandma’s poncho. With few colors and minimal text, there’s little in this French import to hold kids’ attention on rereads, and the house is nearly always slightly off the page, which may confuse some readers. Adults may dislike the fact that the Great Grrrrr never actually apologizes for destroying the house—though he does make amends by rebuilding it. The grandmother has skin the white of the page. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Gets into the neighborhood of interesting but doesn’t deliver. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023

ISBN: 9781636550565

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Red Comet Press

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL

- BOOK REVIEW
OF COURSE THEY DO!
by Marie-Sabine Roger ; photographed by Anne Sol

bookshelf

LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

bookshelf

Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BUG?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FIRST I SEE YOU
by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle

bookshelf

IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

bookshelf

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)