The Boo! Book

Reviews / Votes

"Writer Nathaniel Lachenmeyer has noticed the scary fact that the first three letters in book spell boo. He conjures up the idea of a haunted book that's more fun than a haunted house. His book should stir young imaginations and prove that printed text and illustrations, a mixture of acrylics, digital photography and clay puppets, can be as interactive as the flashiest video game. Readers are advised: 'Book ghosts love having books read to them.' The Boo! Book, which has a pop-up surprise on the last page, is perfect for not-too-spooky read-alouds." * USA Today * "Lachenmeyer explains how to handle haunted books (answer: carefully) in a story starring an angelic child with curly hair, whose book is haunted by a pale translucent ghost with a penchant for mischief. Stories and words get turned upside down ("Book ghosts like nothing better than to meddle with stories"), and at one point the child even gets sucked inside the book. Ceccoli's milky, light-infused illustrations combine plasticine puppets with digital photography and acrylics to a surreal 3-D effect, and a surprise pop-up supplies a gratifying conclusion."
--Publishers Weekly "Lachenmeyer's imaginative text is both straightforward and lyrical, keeping the haunting more spookily magical than scary. It's Ceccoli's impressive and intricate illustrations, however, that truly bring this book to ethereal life. Using 'a combination of plasticine puppets, digital photography, Photoshop, and acrylics on paper,' Ceccoli creates an almost three-dimensional, soft-focus world of muted, twilight tones in which horizons are tilted and objects float or turn upside down. The effect is beautifully supernatural rather than creepy, and the blue-gray, cat-eared, rosy-cheeked ghost is appealingly stuffed-animal-like, the only hint of his spectral origins being two tiny fangs. This would make a fine addition to either a Halloween- or book-themed storytime or add a delicious hint of eeriness to a bedtime readaloud."

--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "An engaging narrator, together with magical illustrations that often conjure surreal scenes, lets readers in on all there is to know about haunted books and how to be a good owner of one."

Kirkus Reviews "Lachenmeyer's imaginative text is both straightforward and lyrical, keeping the haunting more spookily magical than scary. It's Ceccoli's impressive and intricate illustrations, however, that truly bring this book to ethereal life. Using 'a combination of plasticine puppets, digital photography, Photoshop, and acrylics on paper,' Ceccoli creates an almost three-dimensional, soft-focus world of muted, twilight tones in which horizons are tilted and objects float or turn upside down. The effect is beautifully supernatural rather than creepy, and the blue-gray, cat-eared, rosy-cheeked ghost is appealingly stuffed-animal-like, the only hint of his spectral origins being two tiny fangs. This would make a fine addition to either a Halloween- or book-themed storytime or add a delicious hint of eeriness to a bedtime readaloud."

--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books