A cheery reminder that true magic lies within.
Magic: What’s not to love?
Willow, a young witch, loves her wand, which magically whisks stuff her way when she brandishes it. Everything Willow wants to accomplish, she does. She attributes her very witchiness to it. Alas, the teacher (a mummy in a yellow dress) at the school for cryptids Willow attends confiscates the wand when our witch unfairly uses it to score a goal during a soccer game. Afterward, Willow cleans up, waters the plants, and plays with her mythological schoolmates—a pint-sized Dracula, unicorn, werewolf, and a dragon who uses a wheelchair, among others—without magical intervention. When the wand is returned, Willow claims she’d forgotten about it, realizing she hadn’t needed it. Willow concedes that though her wand’s great, she doesn’t have to use it for everything to be a witch. She seems to understand her own abilities and talents are what’s really magical, and she can be a witch without the wand. Intended to reassure readers about their own strengths, this message may go over more literal-minded children’s heads, who might wonder how someone can be a witch without their powers. The vividly colored digital illustrations fare better: They’re lively and sweetly appealing, and the cryptid students are endearing. Unusually, text is set in all capitals. Exuberant, purple-haired Willow has light-brown skin; other humanoid characters are diverse in skin tone. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A cheery reminder that true magic lies within. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781534497696
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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