A playful nod to difficult mornings.
A group of impish monsters frustrates a child’s morning routine.
Bartholomew enjoys the monsters that visit nightly—the book opens with a nod to Maurice Sendak as the monsters dance with Bartholomew in a “wild rumpus”—but they are making things difficult in the mornings. The black-and-white illustration on the book’s title page captures the source of the chaos: One monster swallows Bartholomew’s alarm clock. Now in Technicolor, the monsters linger in Bartholomew’s home until morning and intensify the mischief during the child’s morning routine, disrupting tooth-brushing, shoe-tying, breakfast, and even urinating (one monster scares Bartholomew at the toilet, which results in a yellow puddle on the bathroom floor). The wide-eyed monsters, depicted in bright, saturated colors and with rounded shapes, are goofy and fun-loving, never truly frightening. Two of the most meddlesome (small enough to wreak havoc by hiding in toothpaste tubes) are merely fluffy orange and yellow balls of fluff on legs. When Bartholomew breaks down in defeat and tears, Dad saves the day with composure: “Let’s sort you out, Bartholomew.” It can be hard for any child to get going in the mornings, whether the monsters are real or imagined, but when a trusted caregiver can step in to redirect, tears turn to smiles (even if one miniature monster hides in Bartholomew’s backpack, hinting at more mayhem to come). Bartholomew and Dad are depicted with light skin and straight, black hair.
A playful nod to difficult mornings. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-908714-84-8
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Cicada Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
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
All-in-good-fun Halloween scares.
In NSYNC singer Bass’ debut picture book, trick-or-treaters follow their fearless leader down Scary Street in search of sweets, or so they think.
On Halloween night, a mischievous child dressed as a wolf, reminiscent of Max from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (1963), leads a large, racially diverse group of costumed children down Scary Street. The youngster, who narrates, proceeds to bring them to a series of creepy fun house–style homes, including a mansion belonging to a menacingly dapper vampire, who offers “toothy snacks” to the terrified-looking trick-or-treaters, and a gingerbread cottage inhabited by a Cruella de Vil–esque witch, who might prefer to bake little children into her house rather than give them treats. Uh-oh. Now there are only four children following the increasingly unreliable narrator, who ominously repeats, “No tricks allowed, just tasty treats.” As it turns out, the narrator does have a trick in store, which completes the scare and brings the story to a happy conclusion. Bass uses a simple, sometimes uneven rhyme pattern that ranges from interesting combinations (missed is rhymed with resist) to more familiar ones (treats/sweets) with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor. Garrigue’s atmospheric illustrations have a Coney Island sideshow vibe, created with a candy palette that’s both invitingly tasty and garish in just the right way. The narrator, the vampire, and the witch are light-skinned.
All-in-good-fun Halloween scares. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781454952176
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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