The Horn Book Guide

PRESCHOOL

Jenkins, Emily

The Little Bit Scary People

32 pp. | Hyperion | September, 2008 | Trade ISBN 978-1-4231-0075-1 $16.99

(2) PS Illustrated by Alexandra Boiger. Children often find other people scary. Jenkins's red-pig-tailed narrator takes each of the book's seemingly frightening people in turn, positing theories that, for instance, the spiky-haired skateboarder "kisses his cat on the head." Boiger's paintings catch perfectly the balance established in the text: initially the scary person does look terrifying, but at the page turn a friendlier personality emerges.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2008