Creepy

by Keiler Roberts, Lee Sensenbrenner

Overview

A laugh out loud funny parable for the digital age

There once was a lady who was very creepy. She moved about the world in seemingly normal ways, except for one tremendously bizarre tic. First she sought out kids transfixed by their screens, staring blindly and blank-faced at nearly any device, and then she would snatch something precious from them.

In this picture book for grown-ups, sibling duo Keiler Roberts and Lee Sensenbrenner render a compelling—and downright creepy—modern fable about kids who are hooked on their digital devices. Creepy is the contemporary answer to the shocking tales of the Brothers Grimm and bedtime moral stories like the boy who cried wolf or the princess and the pea: in it, Roberts and Sensenbrenner provide a shrewd and comical commentary on the increasing digitization of childhood. Known for her award-winning autobiographical comics, Roberts’s signature deadpan humor is on full display in these vibrantly painted pages.

It’s safe to say that no one tackles the peril of screen time as vividly or absurdly as this pair.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770466197
Publisher:	Drawn & Quarterly
Publication date:	10/25/2022
Pages:	36
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	7 Years

About the Author

Keiler Roberts makes autobiographical comics. She is the recipient of the Cartoonist Studio Prize and the Ignatz Award. She has taught comics at The School of The Art Institute in Chicago.

Early in her career, Roberts self-published Powdered Milk, Happy Happy Baby Baby, and Miseryland. Koyama Press published Chlorine Gardens, Rat Time, and Sunburning which was translated into Spanish as Isolada. The Joy of Quitting is her second book for Drawn & Quarterly, following My Begging Chart which was translated into Spanish as Mi Tabla De Súplicas.

Lee Sensenbrenner lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife, Meg, and their kids and dogs. He shared a room with Keiler until fifth grade.

Editorial Reviews

Keiler Roberts is my new hero.” —Chicago Tribune

“Candid and funny, My Begging Chart finds whimsy in the minutiae of everyday life.” —Shelf Awareness

“Thoroughly entertaining... Roberts’s slightly warped perspective hilariously and poignantly reflects the transient absurdity of domestic life.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2022

Co-creators Sensenbrenner and Roberts (My Begging Chart) open this charmingly eerie storybook for adults with a caption that reads, "Once there was a creepy, creepy, creepy lady." The woman depicted in the accompanying full-page illustration has wavy blonde hair, and she's driving a minivan through what appears to be an upscale neighborhood, which is not very creepy at all. The following scene finds her at the beach, watching happy families frolic in the sand. That's more unsettling than creepy. So far, the creepiest thing about this book is that the illustration is rendered in slightly shaky lines, as though by a frail, palsied hand. In the next scene, the woman returns to her nice, suburban home. She goes into the kitchen, slips on a pink oven mitt and an apron adorned with a cute little heart, and cooks up a big pile of children's ears. Because children's ears, as it turns out, are all she ever eats. She steals them from children while they are distracted by their phones or tablet screens, so they don't see her coming. VERDICT A delightfully disquieting and thoroughly enjoyable nightmare.

Library Journal