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A review by aiden51
Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh
5.0
When I was a kid my dad didn't have a lot of money, so on weekends the big thing was going to Goodwill or Value Village where he would let me pick out a book. I chose this one when I was maybe nine or ten. It had a stamp on it from a school library and had clearly been very well-loved.
I carried this book around for years and years. Other books came and went, but Courtney stayed. I read it over and over, in the backyard, in the car, under the blankets by flashlight. Courtney is a tween girl navigating the move into her Uncle Aloysius' huge creepy mansion in a new town. No one understands her and she has a hard time making friends. When she discovers there are monsters and dark things living in the shadows, called Night Things, she isn't afraid. There are other dark things in town too: there are boys who will try to kiss her even though she says no. There are adults who don't notice at all when there's something wrong with their kid. At the end of the book she defeats a dark creature who is stealing her essence and becoming a clone of her. Pseudo-Courtney is prettier, excelling at school, popular. Courtney's parents even prefer Pseudo-Courtney (dark!). She doesn't defeat this demon using magic, or even cleverness. She just stands up to it and tells it that no one can ever replace her, no one can ever be her, and that she likes herself just the way she is.
As kids and as adults, we discover a lot of Night Things. There are terrifying and difficult things lurking around every corner. Sometimes being yourself doesn't make people like you. Sometimes being yourself means being alone. I love you Courtney. Thanks for travelling with me, all this time and distance. Thanks for curing my fear of the dark, and for being my friend.
I carried this book around for years and years. Other books came and went, but Courtney stayed. I read it over and over, in the backyard, in the car, under the blankets by flashlight. Courtney is a tween girl navigating the move into her Uncle Aloysius' huge creepy mansion in a new town. No one understands her and she has a hard time making friends. When she discovers there are monsters and dark things living in the shadows, called Night Things, she isn't afraid. There are other dark things in town too: there are boys who will try to kiss her even though she says no. There are adults who don't notice at all when there's something wrong with their kid. At the end of the book she defeats a dark creature who is stealing her essence and becoming a clone of her. Pseudo-Courtney is prettier, excelling at school, popular. Courtney's parents even prefer Pseudo-Courtney (dark!). She doesn't defeat this demon using magic, or even cleverness. She just stands up to it and tells it that no one can ever replace her, no one can ever be her, and that she likes herself just the way she is.
As kids and as adults, we discover a lot of Night Things. There are terrifying and difficult things lurking around every corner. Sometimes being yourself doesn't make people like you. Sometimes being yourself means being alone. I love you Courtney. Thanks for travelling with me, all this time and distance. Thanks for curing my fear of the dark, and for being my friend.