Short Stories for Little Monsters

Starred review from February 1, 2017

K-Gr 3-In this comic collection disguised as a picture book, each short, highly imaginative story is contained on a spread. Readers can consume them in a single sitting or one at a time (though they'll notice that some characters appear in more than one tale). The first entry, "When I Close My Eyes," effectively sets the stage for the sagas that follow. In it, a boy tries to hurry along a younger girl, presumably his sister. She asks him to wait so she can tell him what she sees with her eyes closed. In scoffing at the notion, the bigger boy misses the glorious scenes the girl envisions as he pulls her on. Detailed line and wash illustrations filled with humor depict everyday goings-on and childlike antics and present a multiracial cast of kids and adults (plus even a few nonhuman creatures, such as snails, trees, and worms). Conversations in thought bubbles complement the drawings, which extend beyond the confines of the comic strip boxes.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2017
Nineteen short stories explore some enormously funny ideas. Ideas are big and things are often more than they seem in each of these brief vignettes, which are divided like chapters. One story shows snails having anxious nightmares about going too fast; another has a mother who foils her children's bedtime games with her ability to see through ceilings; and still another explores the secret life of rabbits as they enjoy a whimsical subterranean wonderland. Although the diverse cast of characters seems to occasionally appear across multiple narratives, each of the stories is separate and self-contained, allowing readers to decide if and how the snapshot vignettes might be connected. Nearly all of the stories are paneled, employ speech bubbles, and are presented in sweeping double-page spreads, providing an early primer for readers working their way toward graphic novels, as the author's frenetic, childlike illustrations and deceptively simple narratives each hit with a potent humor just this side of nonsense. Readers searching for an anchor of plot among the playful absurdity may find themselves a little disoriented, but fans of Louis Sachar's Wayside School stories and Shel Silverstein's repertoire of drawings will delight as this picture book joins their ranks. Frivolity for surface amusement with a touch of poignancy for pondering. (Picture book. 3-7)

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January 1, 2017
Grades K-2 In her distinctive stylea pleasant clutter of ink, watercolor, and collageGay offers up a collection of comicslike gag strips. A boy wearing a pillow case brags about his invisibility, and he proves to be right when no one will pay attention him. A pair of snails meet for tea improbably inside one of the pair's own shell. Soft jabs at parents make an appearance, such as the strip featuring a mother who can see what her child is up to through the very floor, and another revealing the truth behind such common claims as carrots are good for your eyes (a bespectacled rabbit begs to differ). As in any collection, some of the stories are better than others, but Gay's whimsical artwork is always a treat. Animated creatures are just as expressive as the rosy-cheeked children, and imaginative scenes fill the pages with bright colors and bold shapes. Little ones will appreciate the bite-size nature of these playful stories and gentle jokes, as well as the riotous spreads packed with lively details.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 23, 2017
In these comics-style snapshots of whimsy, Gay (Tiger and Badger) lets children and other creatures break the rules of ordinary life. In one of three “Snail Nightmares,” a snail can’t stop its forward momentum and crashes into the end of its comic strip. A girl tests out replacement noses after breaking hers “into a thousand pieces” while playing on a laundry line. And one boy fears that sharks might lurk in a swimming hole—and turns out to be right. Gay’s spidery lines capture her characters’ flyaway hair, the exuberant antics of her animals, and the way her children’s loose-fitting clothing seems to stay up in defiance of gravity. Brilliant colors abound, trees can talk, and the interiors of snail shells feature chandeliers and slipcovered armchairs. In the final comic, two children debate what might be down a rabbit hole. “Maybe rabbits build beautiful houses underground,” the girl says. “Are you kidding?” the boy responds. The truth is bigger than either of them: a cutaway view of the hole reveals a rabbit paradise with its own beachfront and Ferris wheel. Imagination makes the strangest things possible. Ages 5–8.

Starred review from March 1, 2017
Here's a collection of super-short stories -- one per double-page spread -- in the growing tradition of such collections (recently, for instance, One Day, the End, rev. 9/15; Benjamin Bear in Brain Storms! rev. 5/15). This one, mainly in comics format, is marked by author-illustrator Gay's signature energy, cheerful near-chaos, and abundance of humor. Characters recur -- and not just the happily messy children in Gay's diverse mix, but also snails, worms, and ants. Snail Nightmares features three multi-paneled strips picturing a snail getting up such a head of steam it can't stop (and crashes into the far-right edge of the comic strip); a snail who realizes it's lost its shell ( Eek! My pants! ); and a snail being teased by a couple of sniggering birds (they're in the far-left panel holding down its tail while the snail, in the far-right panel, says, Verrry funny ). The book's layout is varied and creative, with the panels themselves often incorporated into the art, as when two sides of a panel serve as anchors for a clothesline in The Incredible Invisible Twins, or when the wind blows a panel right off its strip in a story about making faces that then get stuck. A rare (quite gorgeous, and very funny) unpaneled spread reveals what trees talk about to one another. Original, inventive, pore-over-able, and child-pleasing; it's well worth being deemed a little monster to be the audience for this book. martha v. parravano

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)