September 7, 2017

THE SCARIEST BOOK EVER

In the style of the classic The Monster at the End of This Book comes Bob Shea's hilarious new book The Scariest Book Ever about a character who's afraid of what he'll find at the end of his own book.


This book starts before we even get past the title page. We see a ghost looking terrified as he peaks out at a dark, very pointy, very black forest. So even as we begin the narration, we know something is amiss. And it turns out, we're right: readers follow along as we meet a ghost who, as it turns out, is afraid of everything in his own book. What did you see before you flipped the page? Did it look scary? What came out of the dark hole we see in the ground? These are all questions the terrified little ghost asks, prompting readers to become the brave ones in the dynamic and turn the page to further the story.


Every other page turn is wordless, giving readers time to ponder the "scariness" of the situation before them, and Shea uses colors well, pitting bold colors against each other to help enhance his scenes. The text is rarely black, instead taking on whatever color is necessary in the moment (much like the ghost, himself!) And of course, it doesn't just stop at rhythm and color! Shea and his designers cleverly weave different textured papers into the mix so that no matter what we can still see our ghost, even when he's the same color as the paper he's on. The book becomes interactive as readers flip through the pages to help our protagonist get to the end of his story and realize that the only scary part of the book was his own sense of (unfounded) fear. 


The Scariest Book Ever published in July from Disney-Hyperion!

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