Benita and the Night Creatures

Creatures of Peruvian folklore cannot tear Benita, a pigtailed, red-bespectacled child portrayed with light brown skin, away from a book in Llanos’s humorous volume from a Peruvian creative team. After Benita finds a book “to devour,” ghost-resembling Cuco bounces in Benita’s window and yells “Boo!”—to which Benita, never looking up, responds “Bless you” and hands over a tissue. After gathering reinforcements, Cuco offers another shout, while air-freezing pal Tunche lets out a hearty “FEEEENNN!” Annoyed by the racket, Benita demands quiet. When wailing purple spirit Supay joins the group the following night, Benita explodes: “DON’T YOU SEE I’M READING A BOOK?” Following an emergency meeting, the creatures decide they want in, and Benita obliges, kicking off a most unusual storytime. Using mostly black backgrounds and a zingy palette, illustrating duo Cocoretto put their own bold folk art stamp on creatures of lore, while play-by-play text from Llanos establishes the child’s single-minded pursuit of reading and the beasts’ comic surprise. Contextualizing back matter and creators’ notes conclude. Ages 4–9. (Sept.)