Anita Riggio

Living alone in a tiny cottage outside of her small English village, Birdie worked as a cleaner for the housewives in the hamlet. The villagers always insisted that she get home before dark, lest she fall victim to the Brindlebeast, a monster said to haunt the neighborhood. One Halloween evening, on her way home, Birdie found a pot of gold in the roadway, and after stopping to look at it (quite naturally), she began to drag it home. Soon enough it turned into a barrel of apples, and then a plump pumpkin. Accepting each change philosophically, Birdie eventually arrived home, where she carved the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. When this Halloween decoration was transformed again, this time into the dreaded Brindlebeast, Birdie was not at all impressed...

I had never heard of author/artist Anita Riggio before I picked Beware the Brindlebeast up off my public library's Halloween display this last weekend, but I am glad to have discovered her work. I found her narrative here immensely engaging, and her artwork appealing. This is actually a somewhat revised version of a traditional English folktale from Northumberland, originally known as The Hedley Kow, and contained in Joseph Jacobs' 1904 collection, More English Fairy Tales. I don't think I have encountered this tale before (I have not read the Jacobs), so I cannot comment on the changes made by Riggio. That being said, I enjoyed her telling of the tale, with its simple, goodhearted, no-nonsense heroine, and her matter-of-fact approach to her unusual visitor. I also appreciated the vividly appealing artwork, particularly the depiction of the Brindlebeast in his monstrous form. Recommended to young folklore enthusiasts, and to picture-book readers looking for somewhat unusual Halloween stories.… (mehr)

Gert and Frieda are best friends. Frieda comes over one day and she is bored. She complains of being hot so Gert tells her to take off her hat. Her hat is very important to her so she doesn't want to take it off at first. After taking off her hat she gets an idea. The next day she comes back to Gerts house and has made tons of hats out of cool stuff she found all around. She is not bored anymore. This story shows that we all get bored sometimes even when we are with our friends but we can always find some way to be creative and productive with the things around us. This is not my favorite book because the plot is very uninteresting and the pictures are not very captivating or meaningful to me.… (mehr)