The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael

The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael:  A Picture Book

Written by Bonny Becker

Illustrated by Mark Fearing

Hardcover:  Candlewick Press, 2018

This is Bonny Becker’s newest picture book, and it couldn’t be more wonderfully different from her delightful bear and mouse books. It’s a Halloween tale both adults and kids will enjoy reading aloud together. The adults will enjoy all the subtle salutes to classic children’s stories of bygone eras. Its leading line “’Twas the thirteenth of November” evokes, if only for a moment, the classic Christmas story, The Night Before Christmas, and the Thirteen bus that Michael McMichael boards reminds us if only for a moment of that much more cheerful holiday conveyance, Santa’s sleigh. Michael McMichael is the urban, sneaker-clad and raincoat-wearing cousin of Little Red Riding Hood, carrying a gingham-etched basket on his way to visit his grandmother. Like the wolf, the bus driver has long white sinister looking teeth. Like Little Red Riding Hood, Michael is innocent and kind, helping the other passengers deboard. When he is left alone on the bus and the driver’s evil intentions become horribly clear, Michael seems doomed. But never fear! The inspired Michael McMichael knows something that the driver doesn’t. 

Kids will enjoy the colorful and creepy illustrations by Mark Fearing—one of my favorites is the bus with the spider-web hubcaps and the dagger-teeth grill. (There may be some very sensitive kids who will need to be reminded, preferably before reading begins, that this can never actually happen in real life.) Most kids will also enjoy Becker’s descriptive, creepy, and poetic language that signals to young readers that everything is all in good Halloween fun. Highly recommended!