Review - I Like to Eat Children

I Like to Eat Children
by Reagan Rothe
illustrated by Drew Rose
Date: 2014
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 20
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Have you crossed paths with the creature who likes to eat children? If your answer is no, then you are one lucky kid.

Because there is a creature lurking. It began in your nightmares. But now, it's real. It has no name.

And it likes to eat children!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This has to be one of the most uneven picture books I've ever read. The illustrations are really cute... but they're paired with a horrid aesthetic, bad writing, and a really questionable premise.

This is one of those books where you really need to know your kids. If they like to be scared, they might like this. If they don't, they might end up terrified. It's not the pictures that are the problem, really; the monster is more comical than menacing. But the text--which continually tells children that they're going to be eaten--is rather disturbing. It's almost like this was written by someone completely clueless about kids' fears. (Having the parents pop out to save the day may be too little, too late.)

I mentioned the aesthetic earlier, and I have to mention it again because it's just so bad. The pictures themselves are fine, but the decision to outline and emboss the text... I mean, what were they thinking? I found it very hard to read. The writing itself is also pretty terrible from a technical point of view. Besides the sentence fragments, there's also the repeated use of "it's" for the possessive. (This is elementary school-level grammar, people. Come on.)

I wouldn't mind checking out the illustrator's other work. But I have no desire to actually read anything else by the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.83 out of 5