I truly believe that books like this one are much more than great entertainment. It brightens my heart to see my son and daughter go through the roller coaster of emotions that Goblin goes through, to see them rooting for him to find his friend Skeleton, and to see them smile when the kind little guy finds his place in the world. It’s a powerful and mysterious emotion, and everybody deserves to feel like they belong. It’s a spectacular concept for a story and it’s wonderfully executed.Īnd there’s something very special about exploring that chase for a sense of belonging. His loneliness, his kindness, his bravery, the treatment he receives from others - it all weaves together to make Goblin one of the most endearing characters we know.
On top of all that, Goblin is treated with absolute revulsion by almost everyone he runs into after he bravely ventures above ground on a quest to rescue his friend Skeleton. And that traditional band of dungeon explorers featuring a knight and a wizard and a dwarf and a thief - like they jumped right out of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign - are actually the bad guys. But Hatke’s Goblin is actually incredibly likeable. It’s hard to argue that fact after years and years of being bombarded with stories about brave heroes fighting evil goblins. Hatke named his book Nobody Likes a Goblin, and seasoned adventurers can certainly relate to that concept. In fact, it also made our list of favorite picture books that teach empathy to kids. Nobody Likes a Goblin actually explores some of our very favorite themes as well - kindness, friendship, belonging, and, maybe our favorite of all, empathy. The troll, the skeleton, the little ghost, the gang of goblins - truly it’s exactly the kind of art that I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to share with my kids.īut, like I mentioned before, there are many factors that make us fall deeply in love with a picture book, and it’s about more than just fitting into the right genre and featuring beautiful illustrations.
#GOBLIN VBOOK FULL#
His work is always full of illustrations that I’d love to hang on my wall.Īnd, just like you see in Julia’s House of Lost Creatures, Hatke’s imagination is just perfect for this kind of work, because the creatures that he comes up with are fantastic and imaginative and endearing. I love everything about the beautiful world he has made - not just the characters, but the mountain paths, the taverns, and the descent into the dark dungeon lit by torchlight. Hatke most certainly has a love for fantasy as well, and it shines through very clearly in the details of his illustrations. Frankly, I can’t think of a single picture book that appeals to that side of me any better, and that’s why it’s so much pure fun to share with the kids. Nobody Likes a Goblin instantly appeals and speaks to the high fantasy fan inside me - the little kid who fell in love with Lord of the Rings, who played Hero Quest with his father and brother, and crawled the dungeons of Diablo on PC. After all, both books sit very comfortably in our family’s honorary hall of fame for most beloved picture books of all time. We’ve written before about how special a book Julia’s House for Lost Creatures is (and I’m happy to say that a sequel is due out this year!) and now I think it’s high time that Nobody Likes a Goblin is given the same treatment. Both picture books are set in their own fantasy worlds that kickstart our imaginations, and they both happen to feature friendship and belonging as strong central themes. You might already know the name Ben Hatke for his very popular graphic novels - Little Robot, Mighty Jack, and Zita the Spacegirl - but we know him better in our house for his work on two beloved picture books: Julia’s House for Lost Creatures and Nobody Likes a Goblin. And, every once in a while, it truly all comes together and we find a book that feels like it was made just for us - and that’s how it is with Nobody Likes a Goblin by Ben Hatke. The illustrations are definitely a big part of it, and so are the characters, as well as the themes being explored. Fitting into the fantasy genre and doing it well certainly doesn’t hurt, but there’s more to it than that. There are many things that might cause us to fall in love with a picture book.
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