Review by Booklist Review
The title's slimy, dripping font immediately marks Fenske's latest as horror for the youngest set, and he wastes no time before diving into those foreboding waters. Using only ink black, white, and steely shades of teal, Fenske adorns his amusing campfire tale with unusual monsters: squid. Yes, that's right; upon the stroke of midnight, these cephalopods ooze across the beach to houses, whose unsuspecting inhabitants are fast asleep. In they creep, leaving squid-ink graffiti in every room before slipping back into the ocean at dawn, their artistic mischief the only evidence of their nocturnal activities. Fenske's jaunty rhyming verses further the story's tongue-in-cheek nature, as neither the squid nor their doodles are actually scary. The story assembles the trappings and atmosphere of horror, to give little readers the experience of reading a scary book, while leaving their dreams intact. A fun option for the timid or for fans of books like Sean Ferrell's I Don't Like Koala (2015) or Michael Sussman's Duckworth: The Difficult Child (2019).
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Fenske (I Will Race You Through This Book!) opens with a scene straight out of a creature feature. Working in spooky grays accented with bright teal (a tip-off, perhaps, that there's lightheartedness afoot), he shows an army of grim-eyed squids oozing their way from the water to a house where a child sleeps beside an open window ("From the surf/ a suckered hand/ drags itself/ onto the sand"). In a twist that's funny and more than a little moving, the squids aren't bent on terrorizing; they're frustrated artists determined to leave an enduring mark ("In water, squid art/ does not stay./ Inky drawings/ drift away"). Covering the house's surfaces with their art (even the sleeping kid gets a temporary tattoo), they evince a graffitist's inventive sense of context: a fish is sketched to look like it's being electrocuted by a wall outlet, a clothes hook turns cephalopod. The child is left to take the fall ("In houses, squid art/ cannot stay./ You have to wash/ it all away"), but there seems to be little resentment; in fact, the final image shows that insatiable creativity will always, eventually, find an appreciative audience. Ages 4--8. Agent: Carrie Hannigan, HG Literary. (July)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--Fenske (Barnacle Is Bored) brings his oceanic humor to a tale of inky squid mischief. Shortly after midnight, when everyone's asleep, squids creep from the ocean to find a place to leave their marks since, "In water, squid art does not stay. Inky drawings drift away." The squids want to bring their art to you the reader, so they sneak into your house, leaving humorous graffiti all over the house's hallway, bathroom, kitchen, and of course, your room. They make their marks on the walls, and on your toys. The second-person narration engages readers from the outset, and with quippy rhyming pentameter, makes for a fun read-aloud that begs to be voiced in an ominous tone. With bold lines, the illustrations play with perspective and shadow, and use a minimalist palette of black, grey, and turquoise. The squids' drawings add their own oily, meta three-dimensional quality to the book. Just as dawn arrives, the last squid is shown slinking out the window, leaving "you" as culprit of the inky crimes. VERDICT Funny, doom-filled bedtime reading at its best.--Danielle Jones, Multnomah County Lib., OR
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Review by Horn Book Review
There's nary a ghost or goblin here -- but there might as well be. Squids, as the creepily clever rhyming text claims, emerge from the ocean under cover of dark, "and while you snore / the squids squeeze / underneath your door" and draw on walls, dolls, and you -- and that, as you'll tell your parents, is how all this ink got everywhere. Shadowy art in black, white, and inky blue enhances the eerie atmosphere. Once After Squidnight gets its tentacles into you, you'll never think of squids the same way again. Shoshana Flax September/October 2020 p.48(c) Copyright 2020. 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
Squids ink their way into an oceanside home. Rhyming text sets the scene: "The sky is black. / The clouds are inky. / The salty air / is still and stinky." A child sleeps with the window ajar. The page turn reveals an angry-looking squadron of squids creeping toward the house. Several tick-tocks of the clock cue midnight as "a suckered hand / drags itself / onto the sand." The squids come closer and closer. The child sleeps peacefully. Despite their scowls, the squids come in peace. These "pale artists" want to "make their mark" with inky squid art. They leave a few masterpieces in the kitchen, on the hallway rug, and in the bathroom. Then they slide toward the child's room, squeezing underneath the door. They draw on everything in sight--even the child! But still the child sleeps. And still the squids ink. When, at last, the sun rises, the squids "with glee / drag themselves / back to the sea." but what of the art they left behind? The narrator's direct address brings readers into this mock-horror tale, which, like Aaron Reynold's Creepy Carrots!, illustrated by Peter Brown (2012), is more silly than scary. The grayscale cartoon illustrations with hints of teal effectively create a spooky atmosphere, and metered language produces a steady, tension-heightening rhythm. Unfortunately, the lack of character development or any real plot lessens the payoff. Plenty of squid ink, cloudy on the substance. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
