Valensteins, by Ethan Long, (Dec. 2017, Bloomsbury USA), $16.99, ISBN: 9781619634336
Recommended for readers 4-7
The latest book starring Ethan Long’s Fright Club friends sees Fran – Frankenstein, to you – intently working on something. The rest of the gang has to find out what’s going on, naturally, and when Fran’s secret gets out – he’s working on a valentine! The mere thought of having a crush gives the rest of the group the heebie jeebies, so Fran heads off to get some alone time… and ends up having a sweet moonlight meeting with his Valentine.
How adorable is this book? It’s a sweet little Valentine’s Day story that talks about crushes, with all the perfect kid-like reactions: the heart looks like a bat, a pair of fangs, or – my favorite – a little butt – to the other kids, and when the Easter Bunny regales the group about all the mushy-smushy details about love, they shriek in terror. If you’ve ever been around kids giggling and squealing over kissing and crushes, you know what I’m talking about. Fran’s crush’s reaction to her valentine is adorable and sweet, and Ethan Long sums up a crush perfectly with the sentence, “It’s about something you feel in your real heart, even if it does feel a little funny sometimes.”
The graphite pencil artwork provides a nice, classic monster-movie base that the digital coloring takes to and gives a classic monster movie sort of feeling to the whole story. The cover font, with its monster movie marquee font and hot pink drop shadow, is eye-catching. I always enjoy Ethan Long’s books; this one is an adorable add to picture book collections and makes for a sweet Valentine’s Day read-aloud.
Mom Read It 