Review by Booklist Review
Curiosity breeds ingenuity in this humorous story about a goblin determined to find out what's inside a deep, round spangly box. Ginny, a small, green goblin with two protruding fangs and very long eyelashes, is told by her parents that she cannot open this appealing box until dinnertime. The narrator (it's unclear whether this represents the parents or an outside narrator) comes up with ways to keep the box safe until dinner, like putting it high on a shelf, or placing the box in a room and locking the door. But Ginny has ways of thwarting these precautions. She can drag a chair over to reach the shelf, or dress like a ninja and use a grappling hook to infiltrate the locked room. The scenarios for keeping Ginny from the box grow more and more elaborate, but she is equal to any challenge. Thomas' illustrations, rendered in gouache, pen, and ink, are fun and fantastical throughout. The book ends at the dinner table, with Ginny facing the greatest obstacle of all eating peas before getting the box.--Connie Fletcher Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ginny the goblin is a small, behorned, acid-green creature, and the titular box is large and round, with a gift tag attached to it. The story's real star, though, is the voice of a sly, magically omniscient narrator. It knows how Ginny is feeling ("But she really wants to know what's inside") and what the house rules say ("Not until dinnertime"), and it comes up with ever-sterner security measures ("What if we put the box way up on a shelf?"). What it's really doing is egging Ginny on as she wields ingenuity, initiative, and flat-out superpowers to get to the box: "She should not, for any reason, catapult little goats at the top of the shelf to knock the box down." The lighthearted line drawings by Thomas (88 Instruments) bring a mid-'60s cartoon vibe to the pages, a feeling of urbane restraint that reins in Goodner's feverish visions. Never fear-readers do get to find out what's in the box ("Now I'm really curious about what's inside!" the narrator confesses), but the joy is all in the getting there. Ages 4-7. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
Ginny Goblin is not allowed to open this box. Not until dinnertime." The (offstage) narrator concocts increasingly elaborate schemes to stop the cunning Ginny. Finally, at dinner, Ginny (and the now-curious narrator) are overjoyed to discover cake inside for dessert...once Ginny finishes her peas. Goodner's droll, effectively repetitive text and Thomas's carefree pen-and-ink and gouache illustrations capture a child's insatiable curiosity and boundless ingenuity. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
She may not be allowed to, but the eponymous green-skinned, overalls-clad monster thinks of many magnificent, creative ways to open that box before dinnertime.Ginny's large head sports huge, white eyes with long, dark lashes, a cheerful, two-fanged grin, and two pointy earsone of which is torn. In other words, she is undoubtedly a nonharmful sort of goblin. After the text makes it clear that Ginny is not allowed to open the box until dinnertimebut "she really wants to know what's inside"it asks, "What if we put the box way up on a shelf?" Next, readers learn the many (often absurdly hypothetical) things that Ginny Goblin is not allowed to do in order to reach the box, including using a rope and a grappling hook or building a catapult or poking at "scaly, scary serpents" in a "murky moat." Needing to wait until dinnertime strikes a familiar chord with this age group and becomes an appropriate refrain. Lighthearted, cartoony artwork mostly supports the text's tongue-in-cheek tone, leading to laughs about the outlandish suggestions. However, slapstick images of Ginny's body slamming against a stone tower and, later, Ginny clobbering serpents may strike many as unnecessarily violent. Suspense builds when Ginny temporarily turns her attention away from opening the box. The closure of knowing what's inside is supplemented by a punchline well understood by children who have been given boundaries by adults.A funny read-aloud with (mostly) chuckle-inducing illustrations. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
