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juushikaMore creepy picture books! All of these were grabbed blind off the shelves. The Secret Cat is pretty fantastic; the idea has been living in my head since then.
Interesting to see how little ratings reflect my actual options, re: text & art are intertwined in picture books (which is why reading re-illustrated books like so much of Margaret Wise Brown is fascinating, but I still frequently have a -1 for X +1 for Y metric in my head when art or text are significantly stronger/weaker than the other, which, in a flat number, ends up saying: it's fine. Precious and the Boo Hag looks awful! I still liked it. Beanie the Bansheenie is a soft eh that looks phenomenal. Do my favorites have to land both? Often, no. Not sure what to take away from that.
Title: The Secret Cat
Author: Katarina Strömgård
Published: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2019
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 539,680
Text Number: 1982
Read Because: more spooky picture books; hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: Our protagonist wants a cat; after her mom says no, one crawls out from the wallpaper. What a remarkable premise, and the execution is spooky and magical; some reviews say this may be too scary for some kids, but it's exactly the kind of tone that keeps me coming back to picture books. Imaginary friends, pets, dreamspaces, power fantasies, and longing come together in luminous watercolors with a consistent, effective color palette. I wish it were willing to break out of dreamspace, because the cat going away during the day is no fun; and it's only by dint of a magic ghost cat that this escapes things about cat characterization and caretaking which annoy me in most fiction. But those are nitpicks; this is one of the better picture books I've picked up recently.
Title: Precious and the Boo Hag
Author: Patricia C. McKissack, Onawumi Jean Moss
Illustrator: Kyrsten Brooker
Published: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 539,720
Text Number: 1983
Read Because: more!; hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: Home sick, Precious has to keep her wits to stay safe from the Boo Hag. I rarely like how people, especially children, are drawn in picture books, but this is my new least favorite. The off-kilter, caricatured art is great for horror; but it appears in every panel, undermining that effect. I like the prose much better: it makes effective use of the repetitive structure of a folktale, and has a powerful, vibrant voice. This is one of the few books in my recent picture book binge that has been willing to be scary, which only makes the humor and pluck stronger in contrast.
Title: Wacky Witches and Their Peculiar Familiars
Author: April Suddendorf
Published: NorthSouth Books, 2024
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 539,760
Text Number: 1984
Read Because: more!; hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: The diversity of witches and familiars is a pleasure, each spread chock full of whimsical detail, a vignette into a vibrant life. But it barely coheres as a book, and the rhyming text, translated by the author, strains and struggles. Charming but frustrating.
Interesting to see how little ratings reflect my actual options, re: text & art are intertwined in picture books (which is why reading re-illustrated books like so much of Margaret Wise Brown is fascinating, but I still frequently have a -1 for X +1 for Y metric in my head when art or text are significantly stronger/weaker than the other, which, in a flat number, ends up saying: it's fine. Precious and the Boo Hag looks awful! I still liked it. Beanie the Bansheenie is a soft eh that looks phenomenal. Do my favorites have to land both? Often, no. Not sure what to take away from that.
Title: The Secret Cat
Author: Katarina Strömgård
Published: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2019
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 539,680
Text Number: 1982
Read Because: more spooky picture books; hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: Our protagonist wants a cat; after her mom says no, one crawls out from the wallpaper. What a remarkable premise, and the execution is spooky and magical; some reviews say this may be too scary for some kids, but it's exactly the kind of tone that keeps me coming back to picture books. Imaginary friends, pets, dreamspaces, power fantasies, and longing come together in luminous watercolors with a consistent, effective color palette. I wish it were willing to break out of dreamspace, because the cat going away during the day is no fun; and it's only by dint of a magic ghost cat that this escapes things about cat characterization and caretaking which annoy me in most fiction. But those are nitpicks; this is one of the better picture books I've picked up recently.
Title: Precious and the Boo Hag
Author: Patricia C. McKissack, Onawumi Jean Moss
Illustrator: Kyrsten Brooker
Published: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 539,720
Text Number: 1983
Read Because: more!; hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: Home sick, Precious has to keep her wits to stay safe from the Boo Hag. I rarely like how people, especially children, are drawn in picture books, but this is my new least favorite. The off-kilter, caricatured art is great for horror; but it appears in every panel, undermining that effect. I like the prose much better: it makes effective use of the repetitive structure of a folktale, and has a powerful, vibrant voice. This is one of the few books in my recent picture book binge that has been willing to be scary, which only makes the humor and pluck stronger in contrast.
Title: Wacky Witches and Their Peculiar Familiars
Author: April Suddendorf
Published: NorthSouth Books, 2024
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 539,760
Text Number: 1984
Read Because: more!; hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: The diversity of witches and familiars is a pleasure, each spread chock full of whimsical detail, a vignette into a vibrant life. But it barely coheres as a book, and the rhyming text, translated by the author, strains and struggles. Charming but frustrating.
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