Nathaniel Willy, Scared Silly

Integrating rollicking rhymes, entertaining sound effects, and lively full-color illustrations, a cumulative folktale follows the zany mishaps that occur when young Nathaniel Willy is terrified by the squeak of his bedroom door. Children's BOMC.

PreSchool-Grade 3-Nathaniel Willy and his Gramma live in an old house. When his bedroom door develops a squeak, it scares him silly. Gramma tries to help by providing him with company-the cat, dog, pig, and finally the cow-but the noisy door still frightens Nathaniel Willy. Eventually an old wise woman is called in, and she oils the hinges, thus solving the problem and allowing everyone to get a good night's sleep. The tale is partially rhymed and, for the most part, has a good cadence when read aloud. It's similar to Laura Simms's The Squeaky Door (Crown, 1991; o.p.). Natchev's large, cartoonlike illustrations are brightly colored and humorous. Children will especially enjoy the depictions of the elderly woman carrying the bigger animals and putting them in the boy's bed. Bound to become a story-time favorite.
Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The squeaky door gets the grease, but not before full, noisy havoc is wreaked in Nathaniel Willy's bed. When the youngster mistakes the creaking door ("Eeeeeeek") for a ghost, tired Gramma attempts to allay his fears by bringing in the cat (then the dog, then a pig, etc.) for bedtime company. But each time the old woman leaves, the squeaking door triggers a cacophonous chain reaction of "scrowlls," "warffs" and "snoinks." Despite its skillful use of onomatopoeia, Mathews's ( An Egg and Seven Socks ) and Robinson's ( A Frog Inside My Head ) wordy text jerks unexpectedly in and out of verse, making the book's seemingly obvious read-aloud charms frustratingly elusive. Far more inspired are Natchev's ( The Hobyahs , reviewed above) perky, folkloric watercolors: bright colors and skewed angles capture the merry mayhem of the mud-splattered menagerie crowded into Nathaniel's bed. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Nathaniel Willy is silly to be scared by a creaking door, but Gramma's sillier yet: each time she closes the door with a ``terrible squeak'' after kissing him good-night, he calls her back without saying why he's so frightened; and she tries to comfort him by bringing him yet another animal--cat, dog, pig, cow--until the bed breaks under the load. It takes the wise woman down the road to discover Nathaniel Willy's real fear (``...there's a ghost in the door!'') and oil the hinges. The pure silliness of this cumulative tale and its bouncing repetitions will enthrall preschoolers from the first squeak to Gramma's last kiss and the final, quiet closing of the door. Natchev, Bulgarian-born illustrator of Becky Ayres's Matreshka (1992), adds wonderfully to the humor with wide-eyed caricatures viewed from energetically skewed perspectives in a rustic old- world setting. A fine choice for a bedtime group. No source given. (Folklore/Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 4-7. Retelling an American folktale about a boy who's spooked by the creak of his bedroom door, this picture book has all the humor and charm of a bedtime ritual that has gotten way out of hand. Gramma always tucks Nathaniel into bed and closes his door, but one very cold night, the door squeaks and the boy howls in fright. To comfort him, Gramma tucks the cat into his bed, but when she shuts the door, it squeaks again, and the boy howls and squeezes the cat, which goes "Scrowl!" With more goodwill than good sense, Gramma brings in other animals one by one until Nathaniel is cozying up to a cow. This cumulative tale builds to a climax when the bed breaks, but Gramma finds a solution that enables Nathaniel to settle down for the night. Colorful and expressive, the illustrations capture the innocence and humor of the tale. The story bounces along with rhythms and refrains that cry out to be read aloud. Carolyn Phelan