Product Description

Know someone who’s starting school? Getting a new job? Going to the in-laws’ for the first time? For anyone on the brink of something scary, this gift edition of a hilarious classic is the perfect antidote.

You’re skating downhill, but you don’t know how to stop. You’re having your hair cut, and you suddenly realize . . . they’re cutting it too short. There’s no question about it: some things are scary. And never have common bugaboos been exposed with more comic urgency than in this masterful mix of things horrible and humiliating, monstrous or merely unsettling. Now in a compact edition with a new cover - and a bookplate that lets gift-givers specify the occasion - Florence Parry Heide’s witty text and Jules Feiffer’s over-the-top illustrations will get even the most anxious recipients laughing, while reassuring them (no matter how old they are) that they’re not alone in their fears.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95226 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-11
• Released on: 2003-08-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

Amazon.com Review
When cartoonist Jules Feiffer was little, he thought parents were scary. Florence Parry Heide's main fear was that she'd never learn how to be a real life grownup. (She never did, she says.) So, years later, these two star creators of children's books have teamed up to confront the things that go bump in the night (or day) in the splendid picture book Some Things Are Scary. This litany of frightfully familiar scenarios, brilliantly illustrated with Feiffer's scritchy, expressive cartoons, ranges from stepping on something squishy when you're in your bare feet to getting a shot to discovering that your hamster cage is empty. The encompassing fleshy arms of the woman in the depiction of "getting hugged by someone you don't like is scary" are positively smothering to behold. The rapidly moving arms (all seven of them) of the boy in "telling a lie is scary" image perfectly evokes the scittery discomfort of fibbing. Feiffer's distorted perspectives on the things that "loom large" capture a range of human emotion with his usual deftness. Kids will commiserate with the saucer-eyed boy as he skates out of control, is afraid he won't be picked for either team, or gets stuck high in a tree. And maybe things won't be so scary next time. (Ages 3 and older) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly
In this new edition of a 1969 manuscript, inventively illustrated by Feiffer (Meanwhile...), the hero demonstrates that some things are scary, and those same thingsDwhen they happen to someone elseDare darkly funny. When the panicky character zooms across a blindingly white spread on in-line skates ("Skating downhill when you haven't learned how to stop/ is scary"), the stressful situation is comical because it hits so close to home. Other suspenseful sequences depend on reversals of fortune: "Waiting to jump out and say BOO! at someone/ is scary," but so is "Waiting for someone to jump out and say BOO! at you..." Using childlike phrasing, Heide (The Shrinking of Treehorn) makes a list of anxiety-provoking moments-in-progress. She suggests that everyday problems ("Finding out your best friend has a best friend that isn't you/ is scary") can be as startling as daydreams ("Thinking what if you'd been born a hippopotamus/ is scary"). Feiffer's hyperactive sketches seek an edge between silly and horribleDnot unlike embarrassmentDand the design shows off the visual and verbal pacing. The frantic boy, always tiptoeing and suffering from indecision, floats in negative space and never comes to rest. With perceptive examples and over-the-top images of physical comedy, Heide and Feiffer acknowledge, and perhaps demystify, some shared fears. Ages 5-9.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-Not a story but a list of situations that can be physically and emotionally distressing, Heide's latest offering reassures children that they're not alone in their anxieties. Varying degrees of fearful circumstances are presented, ranging from "Getting hugged by someone you don't like" to "Being on a swing when someone is pushing you too high" to "Skating downhill when you haven't learned how to stop." A few of the "scary" predicaments are associated with a child's flight of fancy and serve to impart levity, but the majority of examples deal with children's very real concerns: getting a shot, not being picked for the team, having your best friend move away. Feiffer's sketchy pen-and-ink and watercolor artwork conveys a boy's appropriate reaction to each situation. A mix of picture sizes makes for interesting tableaux and creates surprises at each turn of the page. Use this title as a means of generating discussions with youngsters about what they find to be "scary."-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A Winner!
Do you remember what it was like to be hugged by someone you didn't like or thinking you weren't going to be picked by either side for a game on the playground? What about holding on to someone's hand that isn't your mother's when you thought it was or having people looking at you and laughing and not knowing why? Fortunately for us, Florence Parry Heide does. This collection of childhood fears really captures the essence of the young mind in a clever, funny and light hearted way so that kids will be reassured that they're not alone out there in the world (the SCARIEST thought of all). Jules Feiffer's humorous, imaginative, expressive artwork adds just the right touch to the text and together they let all kids know that everybody's afraid of something sometimes and it's okay. This masterpiece is perfect for those as young as 4 or 5 and will have even more meaning to 8-10 year olds. So think back and remember what it felt like to watch in the mirror while getting a bad haircut and smile...

Some Things Bring Back Great Memories
Aaagh, this is not a new book. I read this when I was 6 years old! It was one of my absolute favorites. I've been keeping an eye out for it for my children. One "scary" thing that I remember most from this book is holding an adult's hand on the escalator, only to realize it is a stranger. That illustration has set in my mind for 30 years. What is especially funny, now, is that little children do that. They will hold my hand or grab my shirt, thinking I am their parent, only to look up at me with terror when they realize I'm the wrong "mommy". Gotta get it for yourself as well as the children.

Good Conversation Starter
This book is an excellent book for parents and or teachers to read to students before discussing dealing with the fears and the types of things that scare them. It is a book that reassures children that these types of things scare other people too. It would be an excellent book for parents to read to start a conversation to find out what scares their children. For teachers it could be a great book to read to have children write a class book on their own fears or as an example for writing about any emotion.