A delicate original fairy tale that will likely appeal to young readers of imagination.
A young white girl in a snowy, onion-domed fairyland setting escapes from her shadow only to find she is not whole without it.
Hortense hates her shadow. It follows her everywhere, it does everything she does, and it grows “tall and dark / and crooked” when night falls. One day, Hortense escapes from her shadow, slamming the window on it, and her shadow is left behind. Hortense feels happy and free without the hated shadow—until the bandits show up. (These bandits are hidden within the illustrations throughout the book for sharp-eyed readers to discover.) When her shadow saves her, Hortense realizes that instead of being a hated nuisance, her shadow is an indispensable part of her, and so, in good fairy-tale fashion, all ends happily ever after. Natalia O'Hara's playful, dreamlike story is written in a lyrical cadence and relies on the poetry of the words themselves more than the reality they outline for meaning: (“she was as sad as an owl”). Lauren O’Hara (the O’Haras are sisters) contributes her own layer to the story’s fanciful mood with her soft illustrations of muted colors, filled with snowy landscapes, looming trees (for the scary bits), and storybook, folkloric buildings whose interiors show whimsical decorative details.
A delicate original fairy tale that will likely appeal to young readers of imagination. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-44079-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Combine monsters, ridiculousness, and audience participation for a delightfully raucous result.
Though this book is all about monsters’ bedtime routines, don’t be fooled—this will induce not sleep but its opposite.
Young readers see each step the monsters take in getting ready for bed and are asked to guess which of several items they might eat for a bedtime snack, use to take a bath and brush their teeth, wear as pajamas, snuggle with, and kiss. The very simple sentences and clues in the bright illustrations allow even the youngest children to “read” this very quickly. “MONSTERS eat bedtime snacks. / Which snack do MONSTERS eat?” A glass of milk, a carrot, a piece of bread, or an umbrella? A turn of the page reveals “MONSTERS eat UMBRELLAS!” Similarly, monsters ignore the rubber ducky, shampoo, and bar of soap in favor of bathing in chocolate pudding. By the third question, most children will have caught on and will be happily blurting out the most ridiculous item on the page, which also happens to stand out clearly from the other three. Helpfully, the author breaks this pattern when it comes to potty time. In his ink, brush, and Photoshop illustrations, Zenz uses bright, plain backgrounds to keep the focus on the characters and their choices. The monsters are adorable and wonderfully diverse in all their multilimbed and -eyed glory, featuring sprouts of hair, horns, tails, and spikes.
Combine monsters, ridiculousness, and audience participation for a delightfully raucous result. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1653-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Appealing and interactive, kid-friendly spooky fun.
Readers are invited to help the Boo Crew save the Monster Ball on Halloween.
Luna, Bones, and Fang—respectively, a wispy, gray-tinged ghost; a skeleton in a top hat and scarf; and a brown-skinned vampire—are the Boo Crew, working to fix disasters, from a witch’s malfunctioning broom to some smashed pumpkins, in time for the Monster Ball. Each page asks readers to assist: There are switches to push, candles to blow out, and claps of encouragement to give. After readers lend a hand, helping all the spooky creatures and getting materials fixed and ready, the Monster Ball goes on as planned. The rhyming text and interactive requests make this a worthy lapsit read-aloud. The Boo Crew are darling and kid-friendly, as are all of the illustrations. There are lots of charming details—the witch’s ride is a high-tech gadget labeled the Vroom Broom 5000; Frankenstein's monster is the proprietor of a boutique called Frank’s Frocks. The big-eyed, sweet-faced creatures are adorable, not scary; a teeny-tiny frog tucked into an eye socket makes even a skull look cute. Like Hervé Tullet’s Press Here (2010), this one encourages readers to turn the book, press buttons, and applaud. These inclusions are popular for a reason: Kids love them. This title will be no exception. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Appealing and interactive, kid-friendly spooky fun. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728264561
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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