cover image What's Under the Bed?

What's Under the Bed?

Joe Fenton, . . Simon & Schuster, $15.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-4169-4943-5

Fenton channels the dark humor of Edgar and Ellen and other creepsters in his first picture book. Putting himself to bed, Fred cannot stop worrying about creatures that might be lurking beneath it. Employing a very simple AB rhyme scheme, the book is a litany of Fred's fears. “Is it tall? Or rather small?” Fred, his haplessness signaled by the oversize glasses he wears even to sleep, finally summons the courage to peer under the bed and, predictably, finds his teddy bear, Ted. The ending suggests that Fred will spend the night awake anyway. “What's that noise? What's that sound?/ Is there something on the ground?” Although the text feels obvious, the cartoon art—shaded b&w drawings, with one additional spot of color per spread—is highly effective as it mimics the odd, shadowy perspectives and strange angles a child sees when peering around a dark room. White googly-eyes pop from the pages, and the hairy hungry creatures Fred imagines are at once scary and, for the stouthearted, humorous. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)