Copyright Date:
2017
Edition Date:
2017
Release Date:
01/15/17
Illustrator:
Haas, Cornelia,
Pages:
1 volume (unpaged)
ISBN:
84-16-77330-0
ISBN 13:
978-84-16-77330-5
Dewey:
E
Dimensions:
23 cm.
Language:
Spanish
Reviews:
School Library Journal
(Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2017)
PreS-Gr 2 Finn is being stalked. Every single night a grisly ghost makes sleep impossible. With claws and gnarly teeth, the persistent puce-eyed phantom haunts the boy and his teddy to the point of bone-quaking terror. Should he "sob, blubber, and bellow?" No! He's a warrior, a fighter pilot, an astronaut, a fierce pirate, a lion tamer, and a deep-sea divernothing scares him. He'll deal with this spooky specter himself. He grabs his handy-dandy book of spells and begins casting anti-ghostie incantations. Is that eerily pale ectoplasm bringing on the shivers? POOFit's rainbow-striped and bedazzled. Sharp claws? SHAZAMnow they're spongy-soft angora mittens. The all-out transmogrification results in an accommodating apparition that doubles as a friendly, soothing pillow. Gemmel's how-to manual aims to empower children befuddled by night frights. By transforming the terrible into the comical, the lesson here is to face and defang the fear. Haas's humorously spooky illustrations complement the de-escalating tension surrounding bug-eyed, red-haired Finn's epiphany. And aside from a small inset depicting a frontal view of the child trembling in the altogether, Finn is always clad in his pajamas. This German import, however, suffers from a meandering rhyme scheme. The usual complications encountered when translating verse are probably to blame. From rhyming every other line to rhyming internally to rhyming in couplets, the starts and stutters make for an awkward read-aloud. VERDICT Many grateful children will benefit from sweeter dreams after taking lessons from Finn the Invincible. A good purchase for large Spanish-language collections. Mary Margaret Mercado, Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ
Some nights Finn has a ghost in his room. Instead of being scared, he decides to face it bravely. To do this, he imagines it becoming much smaller, with funny googly eyes and a flower in his nose! This is how Finn turns the horrible ghost into an adorable rag doll that serves him as a pillow.