Little Bit Scary People, The (original 2008; edition 2008)

Nominated 2009-2010 for the Chickadee Award. Pretty good. I'm not convinced all the people aren't scary though. :) ( )

Back in the late 80's and early 90's, Michael Thaler hinted at the fact that you can't judge a person by their appearance in books like [b:The Librarian from the Black Lagoon|111002|The Librarian from the Black Lagoon|Mike Thaler|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223645477s/111002.jpg|106925] and [b:The Teacher from the Black Lagoon|948638|The Teacher from the Black Lagoon|Mike Thaler|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179717057s/948638.jpg|933563]. Carmen Deedy tried as well with her book [b:the library dragon|77563|Legends II|Robert Silverberg|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170900273s/77563.jpg|5215160] which showed that all librarians are as mean and rigid as some are made out to believe.

BUT to my knowledge, no one has yet captured a child's true thoughts about people who are "a little bit scary" until Emily Jenkins. Children have lots of fears, but a big one, right up there with "the dark", is strangers or people who are different than themselves. The Little Bit Scary People tackles that topic head one with sometimes rather humorous results. ( )

I really liked this one -- great book to show that people you don't know, or aren't like you, still do normal and delightful things. Non-gender stereotyped and ethnically diverse characters -- yaay. ( )

Personal Response: I remember being frightened by "scary" people as a child. I think young children who are frightened of adults or other children they encounter in their neighborhood would benefit from this book.
Curricular Connection: In a Kindergarten Classroom, the teacher reads the book during circle time. Afterwards, students can give examples of people who scare them, and then other children in the class can think of something that the scary person does that isn't quite so scary. ( )

A great picture book for fraidy cats or any shy child -- the little bit scary people includes the school nurse and the kid who is kicking a can outside the candy store. Little bit scary turns out to mean "intimidating" or "different" and the book reinforces that each of these people does something else in their private life which you can understand or relate to. The redheaded protagonist is imaginative and sympathetic and the drawings are modern yet fanciful. ( )