Book Review #4: Dory Fantasmagory

There are some great books out there to read to an eight (almost nine!) year old. Harry Potter, for sure. Lumberjanes.

There are lots of wonderful books to read to a five year old. He Came with the Couch is a current favorite, and I'm pretty sure I still have The Great Fuzz Frenzy memorized.

Readalouds for both of them are hard to find. Harry Potter doesn't have enough pictures, and Lumberjanes is too scary for the younger one. The eight-almost-nine year old is going to murder someone if she has to listen to Princess in Black again.

That's why Dory Fantasmagory by Abby Hanlon was such a great find. I started reading it to Beats while their dad worked on dinner, but before long Ellie had snuggled in next to me, the DH was listening in, and their dad was in the kitchen saying "wait wait, what just happened? Read it louder so I can hear!"

Dory is the youngest, with an older brother and sister who have had it up to here with her. They call her Rascal and would really like her to stop being such a baby. Her siblings come up with the frightening Mrs Grabble Gracker, an old witch who steals babies. Of course everything backfires wonderfully.

There are some imperfect things here. For one, I think the kids are broken because they didn't laugh out loud very much - though they definitely liked it. But I've read some books to them that had them rolling, and this one just didn't.

I also have some thoughts on one of the characters. Dory conjures up Mr. Nuggy, her fairy godmother. He's a great guy - terrible at granting wishes and making potions, but he tries his best, happily getting into a dress to look more like a fairy godmother, and always keeping an eye on the time so he can get back home to his wife. I liked that it sparked a conversation with Ellie, whose first reaction was "No, he's obviously a boy so he can't be a fairy godmother." (we're going through some gender conversations in general as she's wrestling with me being nonbinary, so this is not an uncommon conversation for us). However, I'm sensitive to the fact that trans* folks are very often the butt of jokes, and "this boy is wearing a dress!" is a joke that is in this book. It's not presented negatively, but it's a tired joke you see in a lot of kids books, and I wish it wasn't here too.

Despite that piece, I think this book is really good for the girls. Beats gets a character to love who is a lot like her, the annoying little sister. Ellie gets to see the good side of her kid sister. It's funny, it's got great pictures, and a wonderful story. Recommended.