Gotcha!

Three fairy tale homes become havens from a monster trio in this richly imagined lift-the-flap translation from the creator of Inside the Villains. Chasing a white-cued child into the Three Little Pigs’ abode, Hansel and Gretel’s gingerbread house, and Sleeping Beauty’s castle, each truly fearsome creature is aptly introduced with a “Look out!” and alliterative text. “A nasty hairball with frightful fur” startles with its toothy downturned mouth, a “freakish fizzling stinkwart” has fumes emerging from its bottom, and zombie eyes frighten on “a terrible tired-eyed creeper.” The structures overflow with droll details (a wolf constellation poster at the pigs’ digs), and residents make wryly appropriate comments (“I’m turning on the oven, Hansel”). The frightful chase converges at a bookshelf with flap-filled tomes that talk back, until at last the child displays some literary-inspired bravery, banishing the “collywobblers” for an autonomy-based conclusion. Ages 5–9. (Oct.)