Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

Miss Smith takes her class to the town library. As blue-haired librarian Virginia Creeper reads snippets from Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook, the characters come to life, first scaring everyone, then joining them for a party--until the senior citizens' book club arrives. Garish digital pictures in Halloween colors illustrate the thin story.

School Library Journal (Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Gr 1-5 One fall day, Miss Smith takes her class to the public library to meet the librarian, Virginia Creeper. The scene is set as they enter the building, which looks a bit like a haunted house. The librarian reads spooky stories from Miss Smiths Incredible Storybook , which brings the characters to life. Soon the children are surrounded by frightening figures such as Frankenstein, Count Dracula, Captain Hook, and the Jabberwocky. They enjoy themselves so much that the youngsters forget what time it is and then must rush to finish each story so the characters can go back into the book. In all the chaos, it seems one story was overlooked. So far, Zack is the only student to notice a creature lurking nearby. Falling leaves and pictures of ghosts, pumpkins, and witches complete the autumnal scene. Halloween can be inferred, but it is not mentioned by name. Each page is full of clever details, and the characters have unique characteristics, from the librarians bright purple hair and dress, to Miss Smiths stand-up red hair, to the book characters playing out their roles. The students in particular are expressive. One page shows them with their mouths open while the Headless Horseman looms above. The story captures the joy of reading and is sure to be a hit. Lori A. Guenthner, Baltimore County Public Library, Randallstown, MD

ALA Booklist

Garland recycles the plot of Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook (2003) but adds some new faces. The leather-jacketed teacher lends her magical storybook to librarian Virginia Creeper, and, as before, all sorts of recognizable characters literally leap up from the pages as the class looks on in glee. The literary cast, ranging from the Headless Horseman to the Hound of the Baskervilles, party in the library until the senior citizens' book club shows up, whereupon all are sucked back into the storybook. Bright, opaque colors, canted perspectives, and crowded compositions give the art in this feel-good-about-reading tale plenty of energy.

Kirkus Reviews

When Miss Smith takes her class to a spooky old library, the kids are dubious; they get downright anxious when librarian Ms Creeper reads a few characters out of Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook : the Hound of the Baskervilles, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dracula, etc. Fright turns to fun when Ms Creeper passes out cookies and cider. Garland's third Miss Smith outing is more fizzle than anything else, however. The target audience's familiarity with any of the bad guys not in a Disney movie is tenuous at best, their lack of context rendering much of the tale meaningless. It's rare for books about the magic of reading to be themselves magical, and this, alas, is no exception. (Picture book. 5-8)