Description
The newsboy in Bad Göodsburg delivers the news to the town. He also cleans chimneys, shines shoes, and delivers milk. He tells the shocking news that the wishing well has suddenly stopped working. The doctor says he has wished for universal cures. The shopkeeper says she wished for universal happiness. The baker says he wished for endless bread ending hunger for all.
But wishes have stopped coming true, and when the newsboy goes to the well to find out the problem, he finds a spider in the well who tells an entirely different story about what all the townspeople had to say when they visited the wishing well. The newsboy brings the townspeople out to the well to hear what the spider has to say. That changes everything.
This debut picture book by Jess Hannigan, who is both author and illustrator, is smart and funny and a bit irreverent. The very stylized artwork in black, white, lavender, green, gold, beige, and neon orange is striking and fun. Youngsters will get this slightly twisted tale of what justice is and how it should be meted out. Adult readers will enjoy this every bit as much as young listeners and readers.
