Please See Me! Boo Who?" by Ben Clanton

THIS IS BOO.

BOO IS NEW.

Breaking in to a new group is hard to do.

Rex, the ebullient little dinosaur, and his gang--Gizmo the robot, Wild the little monster, and Sprinkles, the unicorn rabbit--are a rowdy group of old buddies.

Boo, a pale little ghost, doesn't exactly stand out in a crowd. He longs to play, but he doesn't really have the right stuff for their games. When Rex bounces him the ball, it goes right through him. With no hands, Boo's not a standout at a game of pick-up-sticks. And a game of tag is out when no one can feel his touch.

He floats off toward the edge of page right, clearly marginalized, becoming more and more pale and imperceptible as he goes.

WOULD ANYONE EVEN CARE IF BOO JUST DISAPPEARED?

Things are looking grave for Boo.

Gizmo starts a game of hide-and-seek, counting down while everyone hides. Boo watches from almost off-page as Sprinkles, Rex, and Wild choose not-so-effective places to hide. Suddenly Boo realizes that this game is made for him!

BOO?

WHERE ARE YOU?

Boo smiles to himself as Rex and his friends look everywhere for him, and as he does, he begins to materialize. Boo is clearly the winner of this game!

HERE I AM!

Kids new to a neighborhood or school who may feel themselves disappearing into the woodwork will know just how it feels to go unnoticed in the crowd, and Ben Clanton's new Halloween-friendly book about Rex and his gang, Boo Who? (Candlewick Press, 2017) does a fine job of making Boo's feelings palpable even to youngsters who haven't yet found themselves on the outside looking in. Clanton's understated text and simple ink, pencil, and digital colors tell the story beautifully. The ability to portray a limbless, generic ghost with great expression shows the high art of the cartoonist which the artist-illustrator has shown in his earlier book, Rex Wrecks It! (read review here.)