Hilda and the Mad Scientist is a 1995 picture book by Addie Adam.
Hilda, a village woman with a heart as big as her wooden shoes, spends her time helping anyone who needs it. So when she hears that Dr. Weinerstein up on Vampire Hill is suffering from rheumatism, she ignores the local gossip about the doctor's mad science and appoints herself his live-in cook, housekeeper, and nurse. Desperate to get rid of his unwanted caretaker, Dr. Weinerstein decides to make a monster to scare her away.
This book includes examples of the following tropes:
- Catchphrase: Hilda has two phrases she uses quite often.
- "Fiddle-faddle!"
- "I go where I'm needed and stay until I'm not."
- Finger Wag: Hilda wags her finger at Dr. Weinerstein when he reaches for pie before eating vegetables.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: As Dr. Weinerstein unwinds the monster's wrapping, Hilda notes that the monster has big feet and a dress like hers, cluing the reader in about Dr. Weinerstein having created a duplicate of her.
- Funny Background Event: As Hilda returns to the village at the end, the background shows the monster holding out a pair of woolen socks to Dr. Weinerstein, who is running screaming down the hill.
- Greens Precede Sweets: Hilda insists that Dr. Weinerstein eat his broccoli before he can have any apple pie.
- Imperfect Ritual: Dr. Weinerstein decides to make a monster to scare Hilda out of the house. Unfortunately, while he's getting the monster-making machine, Hilda finds his secret lab. Mistaking the ingredients for spoiled food, she replaces all of them with the items she thinks they are. This results in the monster being made as a near-perfect replica of Hilda, which promptly takes up the caretaking job.
- Shout-Out: The monster's hair looks like the Bride of Frankenstein's.
- Spiders Are Scary: Subverted. Dr. Weinerstein tries to scare Hilda away by dropping a spider onto a pie she's preparing. Hilda coos over it and puts it safely outside.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Hilda is a well-meaning example. She moves into Dr. Weinerstein's castle because she thinks he needs a caretaker and stays even though he doesn't want her there, to the point of trying to vaporize her. Ultimately, this leads him to create a monster...which does the same thing.
- Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Mad scientist Dr. Weinerstein owns a pet bat, until Hilda chases it out.
