#687 of 1001 · June 18, 2022

Shudders and gasps invariably arise from an audience for this next book: Mirra Ginsburg and Jos. A. Smith’s Clay Boy. Don’t let the charming cover art fool you—a horror story lies within. An old man and an old woman make a boy out of clay and bake him in the oven. Soon he emerges, sentient and hungry. The old couple try to assuage his craving for food, but he is insatiable. The clay boy devours the farm animals, the pets, and the old man and the old woman themselves. Then, grown large and terrible, he moves on to the rest of the people in the village. The only one to defy the creature is an ornery goat, who tricks him into standing still and then leaps from a high hill, smashing him to smithereens. Ginsburg presents the drama of this old tale with serious and straightforward language, but it’s in Smith’s square like and gouache paintings that the events of the story truly become a nightmare. The clay boy grows and grows, body swelling along with his monstrous appetite. As he transforms from a sweet little imp to a demanding glutton to a lumbering behemoth, his face morphs into a bestial snarl. Here is the Gingerbread Man’s dark and twisted twin—readers, be warned. A note for folklore enthusiasts: In the book’s front matter, Ginsburg mentions that the story of Clay Boy can be found in many cultures, and that she used Russian sources as inspiration for her retelling. #clay #boy #eat #monster #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #classicchildrensbooks #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks