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This is the last batch. Coincidentally not a strong one, but what can you do.
Title: Heckedy Peg
Author: Audrey Wood
Illustrator: Don Wood
Published: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 336,600
Text Number: 1227
Read Because: on this list of scary picture books, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: I confess that I don't get on well with detailed illustrations of children's faces—they're uncanny but caricatured in a way I find unsettling, which isn't the intent here. The paintings of the witch and her magics and abode are where the art truly succeeds—they're detailed, evocative, and intentionally unsettling. But there's no contrast between the bright, good family and the evil witch. More's the pity, as I think the plot could work for me: it has a fairytale vibe with distinctive imagery, and turning the children into food items rather than threatening to cook them outright is ironically but effectively more upsetting for being less familiar.
Title: The Darkest Dark
Author: Chris Hadfield and Kate Fillion
Illustrator: Terry Fan and Eric Fan
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2016
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 336,640
Text Number: 1228
Read Because: on this list of scary picture books, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: I'm fond of narrative identity and inner landscapes, and the best parts of this book are of that vein: the dark and alien-beasties, space and astronauts, childhood fears being conquered by ambitions all creating a coherent personal narrative. The "aliens" are also the best part of the art, shadowy and indistinct, but carefully balanced between charming and scary. But this has both an ending moral and an afterward about the author and the story's real-world inspiration, and it's too much. It strips away all the magic and fills the places where the reader could project into, and suddenly the workmanlike language and bad character art are impossible to ignore. It's not too much to ask that a picture book have a lighter touch—plenty do, and are better than this on account.
Title: Leo: A Ghost Story
Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator: Christian Robinson
Published: Chronicle Books, 2015
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 308,460
Text Number: 1045
Read Because: this list of spooky picture books, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: This is more successful than the average picture book where a speculative concept is a metaphor for loneliness or ostracization; specifically, it's better than Snicket's Goldfish Ghost, which has a similar premise. Leo's ghost-ness is a robust experience with ups and downs, but it's not his or the narrative's only element (mixing ghosts and imaginary friends is a great idea); the hook is more than a gimmick. But this is adequate rather than memorable. The art is consistent and does clever things with transparency, but I don't love the style. Worse, there's no atmosphere—a missed opportunity for a ghost story in particular, but in general it's what I look for in picture books: atmosphere, an evocative tone, something which expands beyond the short simplicity of a picture book; this doesn't do that.
Title: How to Make Friends with a Ghost
Author: Rebecca Green
Published: Tundra Books, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 308,500
Text Number: 1046
Read Because: recommended by Jen Campbell, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: This is one of those picture books which feels written by and for millennials: sweet, twee, beautifully illustrated; a distinctly idealized view of childhood; and the particular quirk of this book, raising numerous adult issues—in passing. The book works to make ghosts and the afterlife charming rather than scary; it doesn't do any work to discuss growing up, starting a family, or dying, but instead drops those elements in without exploration. Do kids find that forgettable? can it be adapted into a teachable moment or twelve? it seems to me bigger and more awkward than this little book intends. But I'm not a child reader, so honestly I don't care. As an adult I like but don't love the sweet, silly tone, and the concept of a "nonfiction"/bestiary picture book is delightful but here feels overwhelmed by lackluster humor and puns.
Title: Heckedy Peg
Author: Audrey Wood
Illustrator: Don Wood
Published: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 336,600
Text Number: 1227
Read Because: on this list of scary picture books, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: I confess that I don't get on well with detailed illustrations of children's faces—they're uncanny but caricatured in a way I find unsettling, which isn't the intent here. The paintings of the witch and her magics and abode are where the art truly succeeds—they're detailed, evocative, and intentionally unsettling. But there's no contrast between the bright, good family and the evil witch. More's the pity, as I think the plot could work for me: it has a fairytale vibe with distinctive imagery, and turning the children into food items rather than threatening to cook them outright is ironically but effectively more upsetting for being less familiar.
Title: The Darkest Dark
Author: Chris Hadfield and Kate Fillion
Illustrator: Terry Fan and Eric Fan
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2016
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 336,640
Text Number: 1228
Read Because: on this list of scary picture books, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: I'm fond of narrative identity and inner landscapes, and the best parts of this book are of that vein: the dark and alien-beasties, space and astronauts, childhood fears being conquered by ambitions all creating a coherent personal narrative. The "aliens" are also the best part of the art, shadowy and indistinct, but carefully balanced between charming and scary. But this has both an ending moral and an afterward about the author and the story's real-world inspiration, and it's too much. It strips away all the magic and fills the places where the reader could project into, and suddenly the workmanlike language and bad character art are impossible to ignore. It's not too much to ask that a picture book have a lighter touch—plenty do, and are better than this on account.
Title: Leo: A Ghost Story
Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator: Christian Robinson
Published: Chronicle Books, 2015
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 308,460
Text Number: 1045
Read Because: this list of spooky picture books, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: This is more successful than the average picture book where a speculative concept is a metaphor for loneliness or ostracization; specifically, it's better than Snicket's Goldfish Ghost, which has a similar premise. Leo's ghost-ness is a robust experience with ups and downs, but it's not his or the narrative's only element (mixing ghosts and imaginary friends is a great idea); the hook is more than a gimmick. But this is adequate rather than memorable. The art is consistent and does clever things with transparency, but I don't love the style. Worse, there's no atmosphere—a missed opportunity for a ghost story in particular, but in general it's what I look for in picture books: atmosphere, an evocative tone, something which expands beyond the short simplicity of a picture book; this doesn't do that.
Title: How to Make Friends with a Ghost
Author: Rebecca Green
Published: Tundra Books, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 308,500
Text Number: 1046
Read Because: recommended by Jen Campbell, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: This is one of those picture books which feels written by and for millennials: sweet, twee, beautifully illustrated; a distinctly idealized view of childhood; and the particular quirk of this book, raising numerous adult issues—in passing. The book works to make ghosts and the afterlife charming rather than scary; it doesn't do any work to discuss growing up, starting a family, or dying, but instead drops those elements in without exploration. Do kids find that forgettable? can it be adapted into a teachable moment or twelve? it seems to me bigger and more awkward than this little book intends. But I'm not a child reader, so honestly I don't care. As an adult I like but don't love the sweet, silly tone, and the concept of a "nonfiction"/bestiary picture book is delightful but here feels overwhelmed by lackluster humor and puns.
