Quiet children sometimes disappear in noisy households, and Stanton (Peddles) notices. Bob-a sea green, single-fanged monster in roomy blue overalls-is stuck with an unwanted nickname. He "didn't close the top of his O" on the first day of school, and now everybody calls him Bub. His parents are cheerful but loud. Older sister Bernice, whose dress is studded with red bows, taunts him ("Then she called him bubbly brain and said it would take him until forever to get his homework done"). And the Baby calls him Blub. Bob/Bub doesn't run away, exactly, but he begins to drift around his home invisibly, like a ghost. A heartfelt exchange of letters follows ("I want you to 1. Stop shouting," he writes). Stanton recognizes that families need a reset every once in a while, and that introverts in particular may need extra reminders that they're loved. Her pencil and watercolor drawings, colored in the softest pastel shades, convey gentle, manageable tension, and her chatty narrative voice is grounded in the realities of family life. Ages 4-8. Agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Poor Bub, a middle monster. Older sister Bernice is always perfect; The Baby is always fussing, and Maw and Paw are always yelling (they can't agree on a name for The Baby). Bub is supposed to be Bob, but he didn't close the o in his name the first day of school, so now he's Bub. Even The Baby has started calling him Blub, and nobody cares. So Bub disappears. Once his family notices he's gone, they miss him. They write a note, asking him to please come back; he responds with a few (quite reasonable) demands. Soon everything's back to normal only better. The whimsical pencil and watercolor pastel illustrations use plump, blocky characters and gentle visual humor to diffuse any scary aspects (family portraits on the wall share Bub's frustration). The best part? While Bub is gone, he turns into a transparent outline and gets to hang around and enjoy his family's distress. How satisfying. This lovely story will appeal to readers especially poor, neglected middle monsters.--McBroom, Kathleen Copyright 2017 Booklist

Can Bub persuade his family to change their ways?A little green, pointy-eared anthropomorphic monster feels lost in the shuffle of his boisterous familyhe's even called Bub rather than his given name, Bob, due to a penmanship problem at school. His parents bicker over what to name The Baby, his older sister, Bernice, is dismissive and something of an attention-hog, and quiet, artistic Bub feels overlooked and downright grumpy after enduring everyone's behavior day after day. In a twist that is rather difficult to follow he decides "it was time for a change," and the accompanying illustration shows him walking purposefully from the verso to the recto, through the gutter, leaving a trail of colorful specks (perhaps crayon shavings or colored-pencil specks?). The part of his body that's on the recto is merely a blue outline, meant to be read as a representation of his new invisibility. Subsequent pages show him rendered in this outline, while his full-color family looks in vain for him. Once he feels they've missed him enough, he returns and demands some changes, which it's implied they end up accommodating. The underdeveloped storyline (particularly with regard to how Bub appears and disappears) undermines the text's success, but downright charming pencil-and-watercolor illustrations establish Stanton as an artistic talent to watch. Visually engaging if verbally underwhelming. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

PreS-Gr 2-Being the middle child is rough. Bub (actual name, Bob, but he didn't close his "o" on an assignment and the name stuck) is upset by his parents paying attention to his big sister Bernice's talents and accomplishments, and noticing the baby (no name yet), just for being the baby. His parents argue over names for the baby and Bub notices the arguing, too; it makes him grumpy. Having had enough of being alternatively ignored and teased, he disappears for a while and waits to be missed. Missed he is, and the final spread gives readers a glimpse into a more peaceful, accepting household. Stanton's deft pencil and watercolor drawings depict an adorable set of monsters in various homey situations, their round green faces set off by a single, upward turned fang. She indicates Bub's disappearance by drawing him in outline only; we know he hasn't really gone anywhere. VERDICT Team this short and thoroughly modern story with Hoban's classic A Baby Sister for Frances. Recommended for large collections.-Lisa Lehmuller, Paul Cuffee Maritime Charter School, Providence © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Bub, a middle child, wants to be recognized and heard by his busy, often-bickering monster family. One day, Bub has had enough of loud parents, bossy big sister Bernice, and attention-sapping little sib "called The Baby"--and he decides it's "time / for a change!" Abundant white space spotlights Stanton's fetching pencil and watercolor vignettes in this inviting, gently humorous story of family dynamics. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.