I Hate Everything!

Gr 1-4–“I HATE EVERYTHING!” declares a draped sheet ghostly individual to their similar but smaller companion. “­Really? Hmmm” is the reply. And so it goes, with the bigger individual declaring their hatred of all things while the smaller one finds things they in fact do not hate their friend, sweets, dressing up, balloons, cakes, bunnies, and more. Finally, the larger one cannot remember what exactly they hated after all. Love rules the day, until the hiccups arrive which—spoiler—are not loved. Henn’s sweet and amusing illustrations are integral to the text, which is presented in word ­balloons. Her ghost-ish characters appear alone on a background of changing colors—red for angry, green for good, purple for change—allowing readers to fully focus on the emotions that are effortlessly apparent from the facial expressions, text size, and font. Henn’s ability to show a wide range of expressions with little more than eyes, eyebrows, and mouth is nothing short of impressive. Sure to find an audience with, and far beyond, the general picture book crowd.