Just a Story by Jeff Mack (review)

It's just a normal day at the library, with patrons of all ages pursuing their interests and a little boy sitting on the floor with a picture book. Then a hatch opens next to him, and out pop marauding pirates, who are chased away by a fierce lion, which is followed by a herd of elephants. Then there's a big baby dragon, an alien with a tractor beam and an Elvis wig, an enchanted frog, not to mention the belly-flopping blue whale that reduces the library to rubble. They all disappear as abruptly as they arrive, and as the little boy leaves with his grandmother, he lays his picture book on the sofa for the next patron—a little girl with her grandfather—and as the audience will readily predict, she's in for an adventure of her own. The deadpan text is a foil for the rowdy artwork, cheery scenes littered with clues for alert viewers: a tree sprouting out of the floor, a lion paw, book covers themed with the coming comical attacks, and a library lady who carries on unflappably throughout the mayhem. Both title and little boy reassure readers that this is just a story, implying that the library and its hair-raising tales are perfectly safe. That might be a message worth delivering at the start of a library programming season, as librarians cautiously work their way up to the intense stuff—like Jumanji.