The Beasties

PreS-Gr 2–A child in a new home finds a way to cope with her nighttime fears. “The Beasties came to Daisy’s house on a night when she couldn’t sleep.” The curly-haired moppet is afraid in her new bed in her new room. But the noises she hears are each of the strange creatures telling a magical story about an object, until, on the fourth night, she bravely turns on the light and discovers them under her bed. But they are tiny and nonthreatening and encourage her to invent her own story, which is the ticket to no longer being frightened. Each fanciful story has a fairy-tale flavor and showcases a friendship. The text is pleasant enough, but it is the artwork that shines. Daisy’s room is large and shrouded in darkness, with the arriving beasties’ shadows huge and frightening in the foreground. The beasties are monstrously appealing. One looks like a smaller white, four-legged Wild Thing; one is beetlelike; and the third is reminiscent of a blue-and-yellow-striped aardvark with a long tail. The illustrations are effectively atmospheric and packed with minute details; they fill the pages, ranging from four vertical panels to a series of spot-art images to large full-bleed spreads. A feast for the eyes, and a spark for the imagination, this invitation to become a storyteller will appeal to creative youngsters everywhere. A lovely addition.–Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT