Spider in the Well

When a shopkeeper, doctor, and baker each claim to be furious that their altruistic wishes aren’t coming true, a naive newsboy is dispatched to find out why the local wishing well is on the fritz. There, the boy discovers that a spider (wonderfully distilled into black circle, eight squiggles, and earnest googly eyes) is not only catching the wishers’ gold wishing coins, but has also heard their desires, which are in actuality anything but selfless: “The baker wished for a full head of hair, the shopkeeper wished for huge muscles, and the doctor wished for lots of money.” With a cry of “JUSTICE,” the town’s overworked Jack of all trades, suddenly savvy, parlays his information into a life of leisure and a steady income of wishing-well revenue. In a folkloric-feeling work with a bit of bite, Hannigan makes a splendid picture book debut with digital art that brings to mind the vibrant palettes, comically stylized shapes, and compositional playfulness of 1960s Polish “Cyrk” posters. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. Agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (Mar.)