Valensteins

by Ethan Long

Overview

Even monsters need love in this fun twist on Valentine's Day from Geisel winner Ethan Long.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619634336
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	12/19/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	11.11(w) x 9.97(h) x 0.39(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Ethan Long is the Geisel Award-winning author and illustrator of Up, Tall and High!, as well as many other picture books, including Fright Club, Scribbles and Ink, and Chamelia and the New Kid in Class. He also created Tasty Time with ZeFronk on the Disney Channel. Ethan lives in Orlando, Florida.

www.ethanlong.com

Editorial Reviews

10/16/2017
The monsters and animals from 2015’s Fright Club are back, and one of them, Fran K. Stein, has love on his mind. “Hmm. Pink paper... Scissors... Glue... Are you making a mask?” guesses vampire Vladimir, turning two pink hearts into oversize fangs. “It looks like a paper butt!” the resident ghost chimes in. A lesson in what love means follows, leaving the creatures thoroughly disgusted—mushy feelings and the possibility of “kissing someone on the lips” terrify this crowd. There are lots of laughs to be found in Long’s twilit cartoons and the banter among the characters, including the response of the recipient of Fran’s valentine (“Tee-hee! It looks like a paper butt”). Long strikes a neat balance, recognizing how awkward Valentine’s Day can be for kids and how exciting those same feelings can be. Ages 3–6. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"Long's dark, ghostly palette sets an appropriately eerie mood, and he has a lot of fun with the cuddly animals' reign of terror. . . Don’t worry about what goes bump in the night, Long seems to suggest--daylight can be plenty scary, too." - Publishers Weekly on FRIGHT CLUB

"Long delivers an original story full of droll humor while also introducing the concept of questioning stereotypes and rules. . . Long ably proves that 'when it comes to scaring, the more the merrier.'" - Kirkus Reviews on FRIGHT CLUB

"Silly but entertaining." - School Library Journal on FRIGHT CLUB

"It’s a funny Halloween concept that delivers." - The Horn Book on FRIGHT CLUB

"The lighthearted tone makes this Halloween tale a perfect pick for younger children. Monster names such as Virginia Wolf and Mumford N. Suns will entertain the adults as well." - Booklist on FRIGHT CLUB

"Doubling as a baby book and an early reader, this book about the ups and downs of avian rivalry succeeds abundantly on both fronts." - The New York Times on UP! TALL! AND HIGH!

From the Publisher

09/01/2017
K-Gr 2—This delightful follow-up to Long's Fright Club gives readers a glimpse into the heart of Fran (Frankenstein). When his friends catch him making a valentine, at first they can't figure out what he is doing. Vlad and the others' interpretations of what the pink heart represents are quite funny. Vlad thinks that the heart is a pair of fangs, the witch thinks it's a bat, the mummy thinks it's a nose, and the ghost thinks it's a paper butt. Bunny is the only one who recognizes the heart for what it is, and when she announces it to the others, shock and horror ensue. A hilarious discussion of what exactly love is and how it is expressed occurs. Bunny explains that a kiss on the lips is the ultimate expression of love. Vlad and the others, except Fran, decry the yuckiness of it all. Fran leaves once he can no longer take the ridiculous behavior of his friends and meets up with the source of all the fuss. Then he remembers what love really is. With perfect insight into a child's view of romance, this humorous book will undoubtedly resonate with young and old. VERDICT A brilliant combination of scary Halloween creatures and Valentine's Day sweetness. A first purchase that does double holiday storytime duty.—Heidi Grange, Summit Elementary School, Smithfield, UT

School Library Journal

★ 2017-09-18
A cast of creatures that looks more suited to Halloween than Valentine's Day finds love scarier than anything they could dream up.One cold, dark night, a group of friends—including a wolf, a butterfly, a mummy, a rabbit, a vampire, a witch, a ghost, and Fran (Frankenstein's monster), among others—gathers to practice their scaring techniques. But Fran is acting a little strange, cutting something out of pink paper. The friends guess: fangs? A bat? A nose? A butt? The fluffy white rabbit takes particular glee in sharing all it knows about love: it's "when two people feel all mushy mushy about each other" and flutter their eyelashes. A double-page spread builds up to the reveal that when two people " ‘get really, really in love… / …they…they…// THEY KISS ON THE LIPS!' // ‘EEEEWWW!' " By this point Fran's had enough and heads outside, where he's reminded by the sight of someone who looks like the bride of Frankenstein just what love is. The others' response to their talking and gazing at the moon? "Weirdos." Long's sense of comic timing is utter perfection, the manic rabbit and its audience's horrified facial expressions upping the ante. The combination of sassy speech-bubble comments and mushy love talk suits the target audience. Pops of pink brighten the dark colors, mostly black and white with some green and brown. Hysterically plays on kids' stereotyped notions of love, hopefully putting some to rest. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews