Can't Scare Me!

by Ashley Bryan, Ashley Bryan (Illustrator)

Overview

From celebrated Coretta Scott King Award winner Ashley Bryan comes a lavishly rendered cautionary tale of fearlessness and many-headed monsters in this toe-tapping picture book.

There was a little boy who knew no fear...

Nope, no fear at all. Not even when his grandma warns him of the giants—the two-headed giant and his three-headed brother, that is. So one day, he slips away. He just takes off and leaves his grandma behind. After all, what does he care? He’s got his mangoes and the sunshine and his flute. And he isn’t scared one bit.

But our boy isn’t really bad, you know, just wild. And soon he misses his grandma. So he turns around, and runs right into—those monsters. He’s about to discover that he may indeed have something to fear...their terrible, horrible singing voices!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442476578
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	09/03/2013
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	AD570L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ashley Bryan (1923–2022) grew up to the sound of his mother singing from morning to night, and he shared the joy of song with children. A beloved illustrator, he was named a Newbery Honoree for his picture book, Freedom Over Me. He also received the Coretta Scott King—Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, was a May Hill Arbuthnot lecturer, a Coretta Scott King Award winner, and the recipient of countless other awards and recognitions. His books include Freedom Over Me; Sail Away; Beautiful Blackbird; Beat the Story-Drum, Pum Pum; Let It Shine; Ashley Bryan’s Book of Puppets; and What a Wonderful World. He lived in Islesford, one of the Cranberry Isles off the coast of Maine.

Ashley Bryan (1923–2022) grew up to the sound of his mother singing from morning to night, and he shared the joy of song with children. A beloved illustrator, he was named a Newbery Honoree for his picture book, Freedom Over Me. He also received the Coretta Scott King—Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, was a May Hill Arbuthnot lecturer, a Coretta Scott King Award winner, and the recipient of countless other awards and recognitions. His books include Freedom Over Me; Sail Away; Beautiful Blackbird; Beat the Story-Drum, Pum Pum; Let It Shine; Ashley Bryan’s Book of Puppets; and What a Wonderful World. He lived in Islesford, one of the Cranberry Isles off the coast of Maine.

Editorial Reviews

In Bryan’s folktale-style story, a boy is certain he’s above the rules, but he doesn’t suffer the usual comeuppance. Instead, he makes fools out of his enemies and earns his grandmother’s admiration. “Tanto, tanto, I’m wild and I’m free./ Grandma’s stories can’t scare me,” he crows, slipping away from his mother despite Grandma’s warnings about a two-headed giant and his three-headed brother. The tune the boy plays on his flute emboldens him further, and Bryan repeats it often (“Too-de-loo-de-loo-de-loot!”) as narrative punctuation. The boy stays calm when the three-headed giant catches him in a sack and tells his cook to fatten him up. Sure enough, the child’s flute and quick thinking are enough to outwit his captors. It’s the giant’s screechingly bad rendition of the boy’s tune that truly scares him: “His singing voice was worse/ Than any threat to eat him.” Bryan’s paintings have the warmth and substance of Diego Rivera murals, while the giants vibrate in phantasmagoric shades of magenta and lime. There’s never any doubt that the boy will prevail, and there’s something classically Homeric about his exploits. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

It's Anansi. It's Coyote. No, it's a boy wonder who knows no fear. Despite his diminutive size, this young, brown-skinned protagonist boasts of fearing nothing, even when his grandmother tells him that the two-headed giant and his three-headed brother catch and eat little boys who wander home after dark. When the three-headed giant does catch and prepare to eat the boy, only his musical prowess saves him from an untimely death in the giant's kitchen. The boy's refrain, "Tanto, tanto, I'm wild and I'm free. / Grandma's stories can't scare me," makes this tale imminently tellable, and his musical tune, "Too-de-loo-de-loo-de-loot!" makes it singable as well. Bryan's characteristically colorful and rustic paintings portray the contrast between the small boy and the massive giants well, making the boy's humility all the more amazing when he returns to the lap of his grandmother a wiser and more humble boy. Though some of Bryan's rhymes are forced and the giants seem more goofy than scary, the compelling plot and vibrant illustrations will keep readers entertained. This musical trickster breathes new life into an old tale. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews