Publisher's Weekly Review
Creatures of Peruvian folklore cannot tear Benita, a pigtailed, red-bespectacled child portrayed with light brown skin, away from a book in Llanos's humorous volume from a Peruvian creative team. After Benita finds a book "to devour," ghost-resembling Cuco bounces in Benita's window and yells "Boo!"--to which Benita, never looking up, responds "Bless you" and hands over a tissue. After gathering reinforcements, Cuco offers another shout, while air-freezing pal Tunche lets out a hearty "FEEEENNN!" Annoyed by the racket, Benita demands quiet. When wailing purple spirit Supay joins the group the following night, Benita explodes: "DON'T YOU SEE I'M READING A BOOK?" Following an emergency meeting, the creatures decide they want in, and Benita obliges, kicking off a most unusual storytime. Using mostly black backgrounds and a zingy palette, illustrating duo Cocoretto put their own bold folk art stamp on creatures of lore, while play-by-play text from Llanos establishes the child's single-minded pursuit of reading and the beasts' comic surprise. Contextualizing back matter and creators' notes conclude. Ages 4--9. (Sept.)
Horn Book Review
Benita is wrapped up in her reading and not bothered by the night creatures who try to frighten her at bedtime. Annoyed at the growing crowd of would-be scarers, she yells, "DON'T YOU SEE I'M READING A BOOK?" Intrigued, the monsters ask Benita to read to them. Now all engrossed, they yell "SHHHH!" to latecomer Yanapuma, who instead of scaring everyone joins the storytime. Boldly colored pencil and digital illustrations pop against mostly black backdrops. Young book lovers will relate to Benita's devotion to reading and be amused by the friendly night creatures, who are all based on Peruvian legends. Concurrently published in Spanish as Benita y las criaturas nocturnas. Monica de los ReyesSeptember/October 2023 p.26 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Creatures from Peruvian folklore try, unsuccessfully, to haunt a young reader. What is a poor spirit to do with a little girl like Benita? Cuco, a creature who appears in the brown-skinned, pigtailed young girl's bedroom one night, can't get a scare out of her. Instead, Benita throws the monster a lollipop and continues reading her book. So Cuco enlists other creatures, including green Tunche, black cat Yanapuma, and horned spirit Supay. One by one they appear and are shushed by the girl. ("Cuco and Tunche were shocked! Who did this child think she was?") The child eventually screams at the group: "CAN'T YOU ALL BE QUIET? DON'T YOU SEE I'M READING A BOOK?" The book wins out; by story's end Benita is reading to the becalmed creatures, with "stories and pictures frolicking in front of their eyes, creating some sort of enchanted magic….Reading magic!" This brief book charms, with each spirit distinct and beautifully imagined in the simple art that relies on bright, flat colors. An author's note reveals that Llanos grew up during "a violent time" in Peru but that books were her escape. Information about the night creatures Benita meets and facts about Peru close out this tale. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An imaginative peek at colorful monsters. (illustrator's note) (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
