Kenneth Hite cut his teeth on desiging role playing games and comic books. That explains the tie in; the publisher is Atlas Games, not a noted purveyor of childrens' books. Mr. Hite is actually quite knowledgable about Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos, as a glance at his book Tour de Lovecraft will show.

Where the Deep Ones Are must, of course, be considered in context. It is a parody or send up of Maurice Sendak's revered classic, Where the Wild Things Are. The book's size, page count and artistic style are deliberately similar to Sendak's work. The difference is the little boy, Bobby (not Max), in this book is related to the Marsh family and his journey takes him to Innsmouth. Boy, do I have comments!

First of all, the art by Andy Hopp is beautiful. http://www.andyhopp.com/ takes you to his website where you can look at his galleries. I am not clever enough to tell what his medium was for this, inks vs painting, but he manages to give due homage to Sendak and create delightful monsters of his own.

This will be a confusing read for anyone not familiar with the story by HPL, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. To those in the know, the oblique (or not so oblique) references to the Esoteric Order of Dagon and interbreeding of humans and Deep Ones will be obvious. These readers will probably be amused by the story.

As far as I can tell, Atlas Games does not intend this as a children's book, but Amazon has (in my opinion, ill advisedly) created a link so you can buy Where the Wild Things Are and Where the Deep Ones Are as a package deal. Where the Deep Ones Are notes the church has a fish on it. It also refers to the Deep Ones taking away the pretty girls from Innsmouth under the sea for a rumpus. My kids see the covers of my books with Cthulhu on them, and know he is a giant monster, but I don't expect them to even consider exploring HPL until they are in middle school. Sendak's book is a timeless tribute to a child's imagination. Hite has produced a parody that retells a favorite story of HPL, with all the rape and human insignificance peeping around the corners. Coonsidered on its own merits, it is mildly amusing and a clever idea, but the story is a two way rehash rather than original

Who might be interested? Fans of Lovecraftian art of all types should not hesitate. Andy Hopp did great work. Mythos collectors and completists will need a copy, or adults who may want to be amused. At $19.95 it is not for the idly curious. And it is definitely not a book for a young child. I imagine I will think the same about the upcoming parody of At the Mountains of Madness/The Polar Express, The Antarctic Express. ( )

first line: "When Bobby would yell for seconds on fish / and thirds / his mother said his big mouth would give him brain fever like his cousin Larry Marsh and how would he like that? / and Bobby said just fine / and his mother sent him to his room without any fish at all."

Here is a colorful parody of the children's classic Where the Wild Things Are, written expressly for Lovecraft fans. It's Mythos...for kids! ( )

Kenneth Hite retells the tale of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" in the style of "Where the Wild Things Are". An amusing read for adults; not terribly horrific, but still not a tale for children. I do not expect to see this one up for the Golden Duck awards. ( )