Billy and the Birdfrogs

Too Strange for Adults, but GREAT for a Ten-Year-Old!

I worried about this book - and its gorilla author. Grandma seals up Billy and herself inside their Manhattan home. Billy's mother disappeared down an archeological hole in the basement. Food is spaghetti with tennis balls. Ingredients, and everything else, arrives through the mail slot. Grandma tells him tales of footprints she's seen from some three-legged creatures that worry her and scare Bobby. He watches her as she seals windows, doors, and welds shut access to the basement. Then, Grandma disappears!
How would my ten-year-old grandson react to this? His mother already thinks I belong to some extinct era. How did she ever grow up? Anyway, I put it to the test with the caveat to stop reading if it got too scary.
It did get scary fast, but he kept reading, all the way to the end, which he described as "awesome." I admire this gorilla's imagination and tale spinning and hope he keeps it going forever.