Ginny Goblin Is Not Allowed To Open This Box, the book review

A title like Ginny Goblin Is Not Allowed To Open This Box baits you. Granted the odds on a living person actually being named Ginny Goblin are slim (plus there’s probably that disclaimer about it being a work of fiction yada yada..), but it taunts you. Why can’t she open the box? Is it like Brad Pitt asking what’s in the box? And Ginny Goblin looks very cute, with her Shrek colored skin and half grown monster ears. I want her to open the box, can I? You, can open the box, but, Ginny Goblin Is Not Allowed To Open This Box and it’ll put a soft smile on readers aged three and up.

Ginny Goblin is presented from the perspective of a curious three year-old. She sees the mysterious hat box that her parents have put in front of her. Being a typical three year-old she wants to know what’s in the box that’s high up on the shelf that her parents said she can’t open.

The box is behind a locked, medieval looking door that forces Ginny Goblin to transform herself into a ninja to stealthily sneak past it. Next the box is high up in said castle and she hast to catapult herself up high. Unfortunately there’s a mote and she then has to beat back an eight-headed hydra monster who lives in the water!

Ginny Goblin Is Not Allowed To Open This Box is the kind of good-night book that leaves children with a smile. It also easily opens itself up a sequel, but that is entirely OK. Some of our favorite great good-night books, like On My Way To The Bath by Sarah Maizes follow the same set up. They’re fantastical voyages that happen within the child’s imagination. Children know that they’re happening in the character’s imagination, but they still laugh and hold out hope that the wacky story in their mind will change at the end of the book each time you read it.

The art in Ginny Goblin has a water color look that tamps down the manic excitement and action that the character has. This doesn’t dilute the fun or excitement of the book, but it certainly subdues the off the rails energy that its contemporaries have. That’s not a bad thing. Ginny Goblin is its own creation and this is a good children’s book that never comes to a boil, but always manages to be very hot. It’s also one that kids three and up will enjoy.