American librarians, parents, and teachers normally do not expect picture books to enumerate, illustrate, and define phobias for youngsters. Gravett turns all expectations upside down in this die-cut and nibbled, fold-out and flip-open simplification of ordinary—and extraordinary—fears. Using metafictive devices such as a newspaper interview with Mrs. Sabatier, the farmer’s wife who cut off the tails of the three blind mice, the author effec tively distances readers from their phobias. Furthermore, there are abundant opportunities for readers to laugh—at images, word play (whereamiophobia), and at themselves. The oil pencil and watercolor illustrations provide a topsy-turvy bricolage suitable to the subject. Author won the Kate Greenaway Medal, Macmillan Prize, and the Nestlé Bronze Award for her book Wolves . lmp

Originally published as Emily Gravett’s Big Book of Fears by Macmillan Children’s Books Great Britain, in 2007.