Frightlopedia by Julie Winterbottom Review + Giveaway
Friends, I’m very excited about today’s Fortnight of Fright post! I have to say a big thanks to Estelle at Workman Publishers, I received a copy of Julie Winterbottom’s FRIGHTLOPEDIA and instantly loved it. It’s the perfect mix of facts, great artwork, fun stories, fables, crafts, and spooky illustrations. Any young (or old!) lover of scary, silly, creepy things will get a big kick out of it.
FRIGHTLOPEDIA is set up exactly like an encyclopedia–separate entries for different topics–with bonus entries like how to say “boo” in different languages, how to make fake blood, a bracket at the end to help you find your greatest fear. I love this. It’s the perfect balance of facts (spiders, the Paris Catabombs, flesh-eating plants, and more), urban legends (being from New Jersey, I have a soft spot for the Monsters entry, because it mentions my Jersey Devil), how-tos (the aforementioned fake blood is accompanied by entries about conducting seances and how to escape from quicksand), and a few ghost stories sprinkled in for good measure (all delightfully creepy).
There was one neat feature that I didn’t notice right away, but once I did, I appreciated it from a practical point of view (I know, boring). But! Since FRIGHTLOPEDIA is aimed at younger readers, and we all know that sometimes younguns have different tolerance levels for scary things, there’s a Fright meter at the beginning of each entry.
Something else that I loved about FRIGHTLOPEDIA? The illustrations. They have a little humor to them, I thought, especially because they reminded me of less scary versions of Stephen Gammel’s illustrations from SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK. I loved Stefano Tambellini’s work throughout! Here’s a sample from his website:
Super fun, right?! I thought so, too.
I really enjoyed FRIGHTLOPEDIA, guys. If you have little ones, I can’t recommend it enough, especially now around Halloween time. Because of the way it’s structured, it’s easy to pass over things that might be too scary and focus on a craft or something less frightening. I loved the different types of entries as well, especially the ones on actual scary places. Those always fascinate me. Thumbs up, Julie Winterbottom!
Because I enjoyed FRIGHTLOPEDIA so much, and because the folks at Workman Publishing are dolls, I’ve got one copy of FRIGHTLOPEDIA to give away to one luck reader! HUZZAH!
A few ground rules: must be 13 to enter and live in the United States. The giveaway starts NOW and runs through the end of Fortnight of Fright (that would be the stroke of midnight on 11/1). Enter here to win!!
