Ava the Monster Slayer

June 1, 2015
Come bedtime, Ava is dismayed to discover that Mom has left her Piggy in the dryer...in the basement...where the monsters are. Mom is answering the phone, Daddy is out in the garage, and big brother (the one who told her all about the monsters in the first place) is naturally unhelpful, so Ava pushes up her glasses, screws her courage to the sticking place, and sets off to the rescue. It's not a quiet expedition, as Ava has several monsters to frighten off before she even gets to the basement door, and once down the dark stairs, she finds Piggy in the clutches of not one but two big, green horrors. Along with oversized screeches and repeated exclamations of "OH NO!" to highlight the all-caps narrative, Felten scratches out a fierce young heroine in heavy-framed specs and heart pajamas, brandishing a homemade wooden sword and recklessly charging a succession of grimacing ghouls to reclaim her beloved plushy. The illustrator is a little cavalier with details-a basement monster licking its lips while holding Piggy "in his yucky hand" has neither lips nor hands in the picture. Also, the pink boots and sparkly crown that Ava pauses to don may be overdoing the girly bit. Still, a triumphant sally in the long-running war against closet and other domestic monsters, with these mildly scary monsters not slain but thoroughly routed. (Picture book. 6-8)

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October 1, 2015

K-Gr 2-As Ava approaches her bedtime, she realizes that her precious stuffed animal Piggy is missing, left in the dryer in the dark and scary basement. With her parents preoccupied and older brother unwilling to help, Ava puts on her cape and tiara and braves the dreaded downstairs to fight her fears and rescue her friend. By itself, the story is nothing new, but pairing it with Felten's sketch-heavy illustrations makes it something completely different. Black scribblelike inking with minimal solid colors gives a gritty, graphic novel feel to the familiar picture book territory. Rushing backgrounds and swooping action shots of Ava's wooden sword show her literally conquering her fears. Stories such as these usually end on an optimistic note, showing that there was nothing to fear all along; here viewers see that there is plenty to fear in Ava's mind, but she now has the strength to triumph over it. VERDICT Perhaps a tad dark for the preschool crowd, Maggiore and Felten's treatment of this familiar story theme not only overcomes a fear of the dark but also kicks it in the head. Nicely done.-Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI

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