Hieronymus Bosch was obsessed with odd creatures and many of them lived in his house with him. This was great for him but horrible for his housekeeper. She is fed up with trying to do her job with all of these creatures around because they make it so difficult. She decides that she is done and walks out of the house. When she gets home she opens her suitcase and out comes some of the creatures from the house. They want to stay with her and she realizes that she can't abandon her work because these creatures have become like family. She returns to Hieronymus Bosch's house where he was waiting for her and he was so happy and ready to spend the rest of his life with her.

This is a good story to show how life can get overwhelming and that causes you to make irrational decisions. People deserve second chances and it could affect the person you love. ( )

While I cannot call this book a true biography, I would call it an introduction (rather silly and fun one) to the artist Hieronymus Bosch and his artwork. Actually, it is far more about the artwork as it has to be because very little is known today about this medieval artist since he left no explanations, diaries, or any histories about himself and his motivations. Thus, I think it was prudent and much more fun of Nancy Willard to follow his made up maid and her daily trials and terrorizing by all the creations that he paints. I especially liked the pickle-winged fish.

The content, a long poem, is written in rhymed verse that is both fun to read and really fun to read aloud. While I think that some of the vocabulary would be beyond very young children, and some of the pictures for that matter since Hieronymus Bosch did paint rather scary morphed creatures like the head wearing claws. I think that school aged children would find the creatures fascinating, might even be hard to turn a page until everyone had gotten a good look at all the little creatures that pop up around the corners- a raven with a top hat, the lizard with eye glasses and rings, a goblin peaking around a door, or cucumbers with arms and legs.

Aside from the entertainment value of the book, it is important to introduce artists and their art to children because I think that many of the things that we find interesting and stimulating as a child grow into later interests. And artwork is very stimulating because it is something that people can read even without the ability to read words. The odd creations that show up in this book and the funny way they are driving the maid crazy could easily be translated into an art assignment, see if you can make your own strange creature, or a chance to write your own wacky poem or story with creatures that you make up. ( )

Illustrations and paintings bring Bosch's world to life in a delightfully chaotic dance of strange creatures and one very frustrated housekeeper. Use this book as an example to young artists of how one may be inspired by the Greats. ( )

A wild ride into a fantasy land for older audiences. Large vocabulary and bizarre creatures and behaviors.