Some Things Are Scary

by Florence Parry Heide, Jules Feiffer (Illustrator)

Overview

"With perceptive examples and over-the-top images of physical comedy, Heide and Feiffer acknowledge, and perhaps demystify, some shared fears." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

You’re skating downhill, but you don’t know how to stop. You’re having your hair cut, and you suddenly realize . . . they’re cutting it too short. There’s no question about it: some things are scary. And never have common bugaboos been exposed with more comic urgency than in this masterful mix of things horrible and humiliating, monstrous or merely unsettling. Perfectly pitched to a kid’s perspective, Florence Parry Heide’s witty text and Jules Feiffer’s over-the-top illustrations will get even the most anxious recipients laughing, while reassuring them (no matter how old they are) that they’re not alone in their fears.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763655907
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	07/12/2011
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 10.25(h) x 0.19(d)
Lexile:	AD480L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Florence Parry Heide is the award-winning author of more than fifty children’s books, including the classic THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN, illustrated by Edward Gorey, and THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR, co-authored by Sylvia Van Clief and reissued by Candlewick Press with new illustrations by Holly Meade. She says of SOME THINGS ARE SCARY, "What scared me as a child was that I’d never learn how to be a real live grownup - and the fact is, I never did find out how it goes."

Jules Feiffer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, a renowned playwright and screenwriter, and the illustrator of the children’s classic THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster. He has also written and illustrated several other acclaimed children’s books. He says, "When I was a child, everything was scary - especially parents!"

Editorial Reviews

"Being on a swing when someone is pushing you too high.... Getting hugged by someone you don't like.... Finding out your best friend has a best friend who isn't you." So many things are scary when you're a kid! In a masterful mix of things horrible and humiliating, monstrous or merely unsettling, this phenomenal book offers kids something most parents wish they could provide -- a sense of humor about life's scariest moments. Perfectly pitched to a kid's perspective, the witty text and edgy, hilarious illustrations reassure kids they're not alone in their fears.

bn.com

In this new edition of a 1969 manuscript, inventively illustrated by Feiffer (Meanwhile...), the hero demonstrates that some things are scary, and those same things--when they happen to someone else--are darkly funny. When the panicky character zooms across a blindingly white spread on in-line skates ("Skating downhill when you haven't learned how to stop/ is scary"), the stressful situation is comical because it hits so close to home. Other suspenseful sequences depend on reversals of fortune: "Waiting to jump out and say BOO! at someone/ is scary," but so is "Waiting for someone to jump out and say BOO! at you..." Using childlike phrasing, Heide (The Shrinking of Treehorn) makes a list of anxiety-provoking moments-in-progress. She suggests that everyday problems ("Finding out your best friend has a best friend that isn't you/ is scary") can be as startling as daydreams ("Thinking what if you'd been born a hippopotamus/ is scary"). Feiffer's hyperactive sketches seek an edge between silly and horrible--not unlike embarrassment--and the design shows off the visual and verbal pacing. The frantic boy, always tiptoeing and suffering from indecision, floats in negative space and never comes to rest. With perceptive examples and over-the-top images of physical comedy, Heide and Feiffer acknowledge, and perhaps demystify, some shared fears. Ages 5-9. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 2-Not a story but a list of situations that can be physically and emotionally distressing, Heide's latest offering reassures children that they're not alone in their anxieties. Varying degrees of fearful circumstances are presented, ranging from "Getting hugged by someone you don't like" to "Being on a swing when someone is pushing you too high" to "Skating downhill when you haven't learned how to stop." A few of the "scary" predicaments are associated with a child's flight of fancy and serve to impart levity, but the majority of examples deal with children's very real concerns: getting a shot, not being picked for the team, having your best friend move away. Feiffer's sketchy pen-and-ink and watercolor artwork conveys a boy's appropriate reaction to each situation. A mix of picture sizes makes for interesting tableaux and creates surprises at each turn of the page. Use this title as a means of generating discussions with youngsters about what they find to be "scary."-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

A quirkily accurate look at kid fears (ooh, getting hugged by someone you don't like!) enlivened by cartoonist Feiffers fanciful art.

People

The items in this list of fears first published in 1969 ring true (''Being on a swing when someone is pushing you too high is scary.'' ''Telling a lie is scary''), but the new illustrations by the cartoonist Jules Feiffer, ever a perceptive chronicler of the human condition, are the stars of this edition...the children Feiffer draws leap off the page, reflecting the range of feelings from puzzlement to terror.
—New York Times Book Review

Pinder