The X-Files: Earth Children are Weird. A Picture Book by Jason Rekulak and Kim Smith
| The X-Files: Earth Children are Weird. A Picture Book by Jason Rekulak and Kim Smith | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: Yes, of all things, the creepy sci-fi classic gets a picture book, with baby leads investigating strange goings-on in the back yard. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 40 | Date: August 2017 |
| Publisher: Quirk Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781683690276 | |
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We know that Dana Scully and Fox Mulder didn't know each other as children, for they met much later on, at work for the FBI. But if they had, they may well have camped out in the back yard. They made have read scary stories to each other, but one thing is for sure – Mulder's imagination would have seen aliens everywhere. He would have seen mystery in the deep impression in the yard, horror in the shadows, and the unexplained in any vaguely mysterious noise. For that's what happens on the pages of this picture book – but that's not all that happens – the truth is something much more peculiar…
And this is a slightly peculiar entity itself. Clearly designed to be read to and/or with the very young, it's not exactly a tie-in with a TV programme they should have been watching at their age. What next – The Exorcist as a picture book with lift-the-flap crosses, the girl's head on one of those spindled, turning bits and a pull-out flap to perform as the projectile vomit? No, this is for the adults to buy because it has a link with the series they were once watching, and want to share with their very young. And the common ground they'll all find themselves on is that this is very pleasant.
The artwork is fine – perfectly getting across the feel of the creepy evening – and I certainly liked the look of Dana and Fox. While very much a junior Mulder he has the hair (and the air) of the adult character as we first met him, and she's button-cute as never before. They both seem about the height of the family dog (and it's great that Bill and Margaret turn up as the parents in their cameo) but they work as both elements of this book and as baby incarnations of the people us fans know and love.
I also liked the story – a peculiar twisty ending aside. It's only the token number of pages, with very minimal script, but it's fun, it's perfectly readable once you can pick the syllables out of imagination, and the plot again fits well into this version of the X-Files universe. It's a fully-working kids' book, and not a peculiar gift item amalgam/spoof/spin-off, and you may well have doubted the chance of a picture book fitting that world so well, but this is clever and cutesy enough to get away with it. Now excuse me while I rustle up Battlestar Galactica the board book, and my Alien tie-in, The Very Hungry Chest-Burster.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
For another book that pretends to be scary but isn't in the end, we suggest The Scariest Book Ever by Bob Shea.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The X-Files: Earth Children are Weird. A Picture Book by Jason Rekulak and Kim Smith at Amazon.com.
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