Customer Reviews

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book?

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book for younger kids who want to be challenged in their reading. The illustrations are fun, but the text is everywhere - it goes up and down, it is upside down, and it even goes in circles.

This is the story of a little boy who falls asleep on his book and falls into the story. He then discovers alll the problems he has caused by playing around with it. Prince charming is missing, the ugly sisters are upside down, the queen has no throne, and there are telephones in all the pictures. This allows the various characters to phone one another and make more trouble for him.

It is a lot of fun reading for adults and children and you instantly recognise the distinctive Lauren child illustrations - a mixture of collage and simple pictures - women with slanty eyes and pointy chins - Cinderella is even slightly cross-eyed.

This is a great book full of in-jokes kids really enjoy. The text is challenging for kids - it goes all over the place and gives them fun trying to work it out.

I would really recommend Lauren Child as a good read everytime.

I have always been a fan of Lauren Child's "Charlie and Lola" series, so I was very excited to come across this book at the library. It does not disappoint! I am a preschool teacher and mother to three children under the age of 5. I read a LOT of childrens books, both at school and to my own children. I must say this is one of the most delightful stories I have read in a long time. My 4 year old daughter also got a huge kick out of it, although she insisted the main character Herb was actually Charlie as a young boy, haha. Although I mainly check out books from the library, this is one that I will most certainly purchase for my childrens' permanent collection.

A year ago, when Herb was "much much younger", he defaced a fairytale book of his. When he goes to sleep one night with his face in the book, he awakes and finds he has fallen into the book. As a result of his drawing and cutting, Cinderella has missed her chance to marry Prince Charming (who was cut out to be part of a birthday card), and the Queen, who is quite upset over her missing throne, discovers that it was Herb who has messed up everything. This starts a wonderful chase sequence that leads to a pleasing ending. The art layout is sometimes too busy, but children who can handle the distractions will find a delightful book.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book is just excellent. It is a twisted look at fairy tales and a very imaginative perspective on books for a child. My daughter and I just found this book recently and she fell in love. We are on our third straight week reading it every day. The idea that someone can literally fall into a book and interact with the characters is wonderful. Lauren Child's writing and her illustrations are absolutely fantasic.

I loved reading this to my little one although he was a bit young for it at 2. But it has become a favorite and seems to be checked out at the library so much we had to buy a copy for ourselves and as lots of birthday gifts for others. The pictures are a delight and the goldilocks as a bad girl who breaks into the three bears house and destroys everything is a hoot.

This is a fairy tale book for bigger kids, old enough to get the joke. I would say at least 5 years old for the target audience... but my bigger kids laugh and enjoy reading it, too.

A little boy named Herb went through a phase of cutting things out of his books and writing things into his books when he was littler, and one night he falls asleep while reading a book of fairy tales. He wakes up inside the stories, and he encounters some of the consequences of his actions. Can he put things right in fairy tale land?

Lauren Child's illustrations knock my socks off - she illustrated our Pippi Longstocking book, and this book showcases her ingenious style.

Best of all - this is a fairy tale book that appeals to boys - even OLDER boys. Very fun. This is a keeper.

Although this is a sequel to Beware of the Storybook Wolves, it is only so in the fact that the central human character (a boy named Herb) returns. There is a cameo illustrative appearance by The Little Bad Wolf but other than being an illustration to discover by a child hey that's the wolf that got sent here from the other book, he plays no part in the storyline. In fact Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book has a completely different standalone plot, so you don't need to have the original book. In fact the opposite happens this time round, instead of the fairytale characters falling out of the book, this time Herb falls inside an open old book of fairytales, while asleep.

Basic plot is that Herb awakens in one of the three bears beds with an angry goldilocks who doesn't want to share the spotlight screaming at him to get out of her story. He does, and runs through quite a few fairytales such as Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, and Puss and Boots while looking for a way out of the book. It is when Herb opens the doors to a ballroom that his troubles really begin. The queen has a moustache, the throne is missing and everyone's waiting upon the arrival of the prince Herb knows is never going to arrive. Herb knows this due to the fact he cut him out, along with the throne, as well as drawing the moustache and adding phones to many pages of this old book. Herb may have escaped punishment in the real world for his vandalism, but the Queen, spurred on by Goldilocks is going to punish him big time! If Herb is going to live happily ever after, he's going to rely on the forgiveness of other characters he has defaced, and interrupted their fairytales to help him escape back to the real world as he runs from the Queen.

This book uses the same style of illustrations as in the author's most popular series Charlie & Lola.

Great book. big fan or Lauren Child. Love her view of the world and her artwork is first rate.

My daughter checked this book out from the school library and we just rolled with laughter! We both LOVE Lauren Child books. This book tells the tale of a boy who has been very naughty with his books -- especially his book of Fairy Tales...and what ensues is a romp through all of the classic tales turned on end. Kids ultimately learn lessons about manners and treating their books with care all while having a laugh and enjoying the wonderful illustrations. We've found that you never can go wrong with a Lauren Child book!

This is one of the most fun books you'll find to read to (or with) your children. My 3-year-old daughter loves it! Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book is totally engrossing. It is probably the closest thing to "full-contact-reading", because the reader must open "hidden" pages to find a royal party, must help the main character escape through a hole in the page, and must flip the book upside down and back up again to read certain parts. Besides being entertaining, there's a great message in the book that every librarian (or bibliophile) would love... Have some fun with this one!