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Mommy? by Maurice Sendak, Aurthor Yorinks and Matthew Reinhart
From Publishers Weekly
In this light bite of spine- tingling fare created by Sendak, Yorinks
(Hey, Al) and Reinhart (Encyclopedia Prehistorica)-sort of a dark twist
on Are You My Mother?-a mischievous boy addresses the title question to
some unmaternal characters. Sendak's quintessential black-haired boy
(with a strong resemblance to Mickey), wearing blue PJs and a red cap,
wanders into a haunted house and naively calls, "Mommy?" Stylized,
softened characters from Nosferatu and Lon Chaney creature features
unfold in 3-D to menace the child, but the boy might as well be saying,
"Trick or treat?", because he pulls pranks on everyone. A tall
Frankenstein's monster gets ready to stomp on him; in a gatefold at the
right-hand side of the spread, the disarming toddler jerks the bolts
from the startled monster's neck. On a brick roof, the boy surprises a
werewolf and a green goblin; the gatefold reveals the boy yanking down
the Wolf Man's jeans to reveal silly boxer shorts, while the goblin
giggles. In Reinhart's neatest engineering feat-a spinning
dowel-and-string contraption-the not-so-harmless boy spins the white
wrappings off an Egyptian "mummy." The title is the book's only word
until the conclusion, when the Bride of Frankenstein at last replies to
the child's question. Although the illustrious creators' do not appear
until the back cover, readers cannot miss Sendak's signature graphic
style. These gags are not too serious, but the suspenseful setups
pointedly suggest humor's power over fear. All ages.
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