A rather unusual book, with a lesson to be learned. It just shows that beauty is in the stye of the beholder. ( )

The story begins with lines from Longfellow: "When she was good..." as Anna Van Ogre does things considered pleasant by ogre standards, e.g., stomping on flowers. Her bad behavior is limited to one thing: making "terrible" faces, like that of a bunny. Since it's a story about beauty in the eye of the beholder, kind of along Shrek lines, it felt jarring to move from her actions to her appearance in this way.

I love that her family sticks by her no matter what, but the way she "resolves" the issue is a bit weird. Then again, it's David Sedaris. Adults may appreciate the ending (not this adult, but others). Not quite sure how it will be received by kids as they're even more discerning than grown-ups, but perhaps they'll simply accept it as a believe-in-your-true-self book. Or maybe just laugh, which could be the point.

The illustrations of Ian Falconer (RIP) are wonderful. Simple lines. Only one scene with a background. Mostly black/white/gray with a little light green and bright red surrounding our main character. I adored the art and wish Falconer were here to give us more beyond this and his Olivia books.

#AstraBooks #promoCopy #schoolLibrarian ( )

David Sedaris has taken a profound look at humanity and reduced it to its simplest form. He has eloquently, in just a few pages of graphic genius, described the world today with all of its flaws, and yet he cites no specific examples. He has exposed the upside down nature of our lives where up is down, right is wrong, good is bad and most of us are unable to see the flaws in ourselves. He has done it with great wit and humor. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but are we sometimes blinded by our own philosophy? ( )

*reviewed from eARC via netgalley*

children's picture book (all ages appeal) - an adorable ogre makes an "ugly" face as a joke and is dismayed to find that her face gets stuck like that.

Funny little story skillfully illustrated by the late Ian Falconer (his last project before he died). Probably the sweetest ogre story you'll read this year, perfect for changing up your otherwise-getting-stale Halloween storytimes but also great for year-round silliness. ( )