Eerie Dearies: 26 Ways to Miss School

by Rebecca Chaperon

Astral projection, gremlin-attacks, and teleportation are just a few of the reasons for academic absence creatively illustrated in this book.

  Eerie Dearies is an unusual book that offers a carefully crafted & alphabetized selection of twenty-six beautifully illustrated excuses for being awol from school. Faded and well-used book covers serve as compelling backgrounds to each of these delicately rendered acrylic paintings, creating an atmosphere akin to an old and dusty collection of darkly humorous myths.

  This bizarre and astonishing ABC book contains 26 illustrations of absent school girls by Vancouver artist Rebecca Chaperon. Chaperon’s fine art paintings capture the misadventures of various heroines from literary works while portraying the tale of a female protagonist within a slightly surreal landscape. Her images entertain the mind with possible narratives, while haunting us with underlying emotions. In Eerie Dearie ephemeral landscapes are populated with intriguing figures, at once pale and wan and amusingly dramatic. The perfect peculiar ABC!

Genres: Picture Books, Art, Young Adult, Horror, Childrens, Fiction, Sequential Art

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 2014

Reviews

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t expect your sunshiny ABC book here! Instead you get to enter a creepy world where each letter of the alphabet is paired with a way to miss school. Just to make sure you know what you are getting into, the book begins with A is for Astral Projection paired with a picture of a girl floating off the page. The images are haunted and dark, yet with a quirky sense of humor as well. The book goes on with the alphabet with C is for Contagious, K is for Kidnapping, and M is for Mononucleosis. It all ends with Z is for Zombie Apocalypse.

This book certainly is not for everyone. But for those kids who enjoy a shiver along with their ABCs, this is a perfect picture book. I was one of those strange kids myself and would have adored this picture book as a child. The art is creepy, showing children without heads and clearly hearkening back to Edward Gorey and gothic horror. Yet there is no blood on any of the pages, so it’s not graphic in any way.

This book will work well around Halloween, but thanks to its sense of humor will please haunted children throughout the year. Appropriate for ages 6 and up.

[Emilee · Rating 5 out of 5]

so wonderfully imaginative. love.

[Tracy]

A reimagined Gashleycrumb Tinies with creepy preteen girls in high heeled boots. Really cool art and design concept of painting (or collaging?) all the illustrations on book covers or pages. The paintings themselves were appropriately eerie, often their skin almost blue tinted. The eyes remind me a little of Betty Boop but I'm not sure what nebulous time period this is meant to be. I think the execution of the letters left a little to be desired, with not all of the words really seeming like a way you would skip school. The illustrations were sometimes a little disconnected from the words for me, for example insomnia had a girl walking face deep in water. It may just be metaphorical and over my head ;) I'm a fan of Chaperon's painting and while this is clearly a bit older style I found it worked well for the concept.

[Tim Pyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork and hidden messages in this book make me want to writeabook of my own.
My wife loves this book as well and has told me that if I don't find another copy then she gets mine.

Warning gorgeous art inside.

[Erin Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loooove this creepy and whimsical children’s book!

[Meaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

First read: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange book because I found it in the children's section -- it is a picture book. But it really isn't appropriate for young children at all, as there are scary images. I mean, the images aren't really scary or disturbing -- they're that cutesy sort of dark -- but they'd scare the crap out of my toddlers and barely-not-toddlers. I like the art, the whole "dark" style, and I like the way the book looks in general. But I'm not really entertained by it, and I don't think it's so beautifully unique.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

haunting and endearing and absolutely delightful. When I saw the opening spread "A is for astral projections" as a reason to miss school and the lovely Gorey-esque drawing that went with it, I fell totally in love with this book. Met the author at PNBA 2014; all at our table were completely enchanted. Vancouver BC author/illustrator. Shelve w/ graphic novels.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrated alphabet book sure to be a hit with fans of The Gashlycrumb Tinies.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this so.damn.much - creepy and cool! Perfect bookshelf accessory.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, though there are far better parodies of children's ABC books out there. If you like Rebecca Chaperon's art, then you'll like this book as she is adapting her art style into a book.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rift on Gashlycrumb Tinies, made up of pretty girls in pointy boots, painted on old books. Feels more like an etsy shop than a book to me, but goth types will probably dig it.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and beautiful.

[Charity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eerie wwith sweet little dearies all in one bind or another.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book to have in any collection that includes books by Edward Gorey. Definitely one an older child (or in this case, adult) could spend quite some time staring at.

[Marissa Elera · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous picture book that is not really intended for a juvenile audience.

[Michael Earp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devine!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all you Edward Gorey fans out there.

[Arielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

bit too morbid for me/my future kids

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK. LOVE LOVE LOVE.