Beware

We got this at the library on a whim, and have checked it out so often at my kids' request that I finally bought our own copy. My 4-year-old loves spooky things, and my 5- and 2-year-olds don't, so I hesitated to read it to them. But I camp it up as I read it, and they all really get a kick out of it. The story seems to me to be set in an Early American New England cottage at the edge of a wild forest. I see some references to Nathaniel Hawthorn in the book-- there's no father in the book, just a mother and a little golden-haired girl. The mother's red hair, the cat in the house, and living on the edge of such a magic forest, make me think she must have some ties to magic herself. There's the theme that civilization is safe, but confined, and there's a constant lure of the forbidden (and dangerous) in the woods. But maybe I'm just reading way too much into it. At first I didn't think my kids were old enough for this book-- the illustrations are highly detailed and mostly beautiful, but the scary pages have some quite scary images-- monsters from fairy tales, mostly, hiding in the trees. Also, the language is choppy-- just words or phrases. And, there's no lesson learned-- the child ventures into the woods alone and runs back out (just as her mother sees she's gone and runs after her, catching her in a big safe hug), but the last page sees the little girl looking towards the window again and wondering "what's out there?" But these are the things that seem to please my kids the most. They enjoy finding the "wolf, bear, dragon's lair" hidden in the branches and trees, enjoy the spooky goblins, eyes, gingerbread house, trolls, etc., on the next scary page. The language is so easy that they get a thrill from shouting out the next spooky thing in the sequence. They like warning the little girl not to go in the woods all alone at the end. And the two uneven pages, which are basically large "lift-the-flaps," are fun, too. So, as a spooky children's book, I have to give this book highest marks. If your kids get nightmares from Disney movies, you might want to choose something else.