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juushikaTitle: Spooky, Scary Skeletons
Author: Andrew Gold
Illustrator: Polona Lovšin
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2024
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 544,255
Text Number: 2020
Read Because: more spooky picture books, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: Yes, the meme song; no, no one asked for a picture book adaptation, although I can envision the pitch. And so far as there is narrative, it doesn't translate, and little effort is made to produce a coherent story. But the art is all nostalgic Halloween vibes; not good, but fun to flip though.
Title: The Shadow and the Ghost
Author: Cat Min
Published: Levine Querido, 2024
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 544,305
Text Number: 2021
Read Because: more!, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: A story of the friendship between a ghost who only comes out at night and a shadow that can only be seen during the day. I'm a sucker for watercolor with colored pencil detailing, so vibrant and textured and really shining in the climax, when it's needed most; it's enough to make me overlook the way the ghost is drawn. But the story doesn't have much going on beyond the innate tension of a starcrossed Ladyhawke premise. Fine but forgettable.
Title: In the Dark
Author: Kate Hoefler
Illustrator: Corinna Luyken
Published: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 544,345
Text Number: 2022
Read Because: more! & this has a big display at a local toy store because the artist is local, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: An eminently striking little book, this has an unusual horizontal arrangement, dark but dreamy and vibrant art that's as good as the cover promises, and alternates PoVs between townsfolk and the kinda-sorta-witches of the woods. The differing perspectives are colored by negative assumptions which are then are ameliorated by acceptance and cultural engagement, so it's pretty on the nose. But the two perspectives and the whimsical cultural exchange presented in the brevity of a picture book and the author's poetic style is, frankly, confusing at worst and distant at best; it doesn't cohere. A pity! Because just look at it: beautiful.
Although I'm so tired of outdoor cats in picture books in 2023, y'all.
Author: Andrew Gold
Illustrator: Polona Lovšin
Published: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2024
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 544,255
Text Number: 2020
Read Because: more spooky picture books, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: Yes, the meme song; no, no one asked for a picture book adaptation, although I can envision the pitch. And so far as there is narrative, it doesn't translate, and little effort is made to produce a coherent story. But the art is all nostalgic Halloween vibes; not good, but fun to flip though.
Title: The Shadow and the Ghost
Author: Cat Min
Published: Levine Querido, 2024
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 544,305
Text Number: 2021
Read Because: more!, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: A story of the friendship between a ghost who only comes out at night and a shadow that can only be seen during the day. I'm a sucker for watercolor with colored pencil detailing, so vibrant and textured and really shining in the climax, when it's needed most; it's enough to make me overlook the way the ghost is drawn. But the story doesn't have much going on beyond the innate tension of a starcrossed Ladyhawke premise. Fine but forgettable.
Title: In the Dark
Author: Kate Hoefler
Illustrator: Corinna Luyken
Published: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 544,345
Text Number: 2022
Read Because: more! & this has a big display at a local toy store because the artist is local, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: An eminently striking little book, this has an unusual horizontal arrangement, dark but dreamy and vibrant art that's as good as the cover promises, and alternates PoVs between townsfolk and the kinda-sorta-witches of the woods. The differing perspectives are colored by negative assumptions which are then are ameliorated by acceptance and cultural engagement, so it's pretty on the nose. But the two perspectives and the whimsical cultural exchange presented in the brevity of a picture book and the author's poetic style is, frankly, confusing at worst and distant at best; it doesn't cohere. A pity! Because just look at it: beautiful.
Although I'm so tired of outdoor cats in picture books in 2023, y'all.
