Kate Greenaway Award Shortlisted

I really loved the fact that Lucy is not only the one who figures out what is happening before anybody else does, but challenges everybody else on why they are actually afraid of this. But it's never outright pointed out that there's no reason to be afraid of it, and even at the end when the wolves are shown running away from the house, the family brandishing their chair legs, it's still done in a creepy style, the wolves and people as silhouettes, with weird smoke in the sky and a dark house. The idea is great, the execution is great, it's just not for the fainthearted child.

It's never stated where in "Africa" the woman is from. The only thing you ever learn about her is that she's a nurse (which is, don't get me wrong, a respectable profession). But she's basically the "Magical Negro" (TV Tropes). She's the vaguely different character who is more in touch with nature that helps the white person by giving him "deep spiritual wisdom" (TV Tropes). It's not okay to treat other cultures that way.

It's not very educational. It's not a very long story. It's just too simplistic. Most of it is pretty boring and mundane.

It's basically an interesting personification of the dark as something to be respected but not feared. A force of nature, really. It's personified as something which is helpful, nice, and a little bit misunderstood. Not as scary as it first seems.

Not really a very interesting story. It's got cute pictures. It's kind of silly. But I'm not that impressed with the writing. There's definitely no message. It's just a very strange book and not very useful.

It's a really good depiction of what it's like to lose someone. There's nothing religious to it, nothing existential, just a very relatable depiction of the pain you feel when someone dies.

Instead of just complaining to the bear that he looks sad, they actually try to cheer him up. They're clearly all well-meaning about it.