MRS. GOODHEARTH AND THE GARGOYLE

There is a certain weirdness to this odd and unfinished-feeling tale, with its very pretty but not always consistent acrylic images. A beautiful old house has many gargoyles, but only one that moves. He’s enchanted by the silver-haired lady, Mrs. Goodhearth, who moves in and takes her breakfast on the upstairs balcony. He drops twigs on the table and crabapples in the cream pitcher, and eventually Mrs. Goodhearth leaves a silver spoon for him. He loves it, and drops it back to her each day, until the cold and snow keep her from coming outside. The saddened gargoyle decides he will just sit “as still as sadness” like the others, but lo, the lady puts a trail of silver spoons out for him, and he creeps inside the French doors to hand her his handful of spoons. What this may mean about old ladies or gargoyles is too bizarre to consider, but the last scene of the lady with the gargoyle in her lap is downright creepy. (Picture book. 6-9)