Halloween Books
-- Publishers Weekly, 8/14/2006
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality.
Halloween
Oh No, Not Ghosts!
Richard Michelson, illus. by Adam McCauley. Harcourt, $16 (44p) ISBN 0-15-205186-4
In Michelson's (Happy Feet) prime example of the powers of suggestion, a boy consoles his timid sister before bed: "It's only wind./ Ignore that sound./ You're safe./ There are no ghosts around." She protests ("Oh no, not ghosts!"), so he gamely puts on a werewolf mask to chase the ghouls away. "Oh no, not werewolves!" she squeaks, as her imagination summons slavering wolves, a cackling shadow-witch and a skeleton in the closet. McCauley (Mom and Dad Are Palindromes) tweaks the intensity with sharp-edged, high-contrast linocuts. In his endpapers, a leafy blue-on-blue wallpaper pattern resolves into bats and faces, the perfect way to open and close this feverish, funny tale. Readers wishing to counter the scaredy-cat-girl cliché should try Jarrett J. Krosoczka's Annie Was Warned, or McGhee and Bliss's A Very Brave Witch (reviewed below). Ages 3-7. (Sept.)
A Very Brave Witch
Alison McGhee, illus. by Harry Bliss. S&S/Wiseman, $12.95 (32p) ISBN 0-689-86730-1
You might not believe this, but most witches are afraid of humans," a witch girl confides. As her encyclopedic Big Book of Humans indicates, "Humans aren't green like us," and they often dislike flying. Consequently, older witches tremble when she takes a Halloween risk and offers a human girl a broom ride. McGhee and Bliss (previously paired for Countdown to Kindergarten) take a witty, sideways approach to multicultural crossover; the parental demographic might chuckle at headstones labeled Addams and Joey Ramone. Bliss channels Charles M. Schulz in his voice-bubble dialogue and expressive drawings of children with circular heads, simple mouths and dot-eyes with parentheses-shaped eyelids. Like Michael Rex's Brooms Are for Flying! and David Costello's Here They Come!, this tale demystifies the amiable protagonist and her non-green counterpart alike. Ages 4-8. (Aug.)
Behind the Mask
Yangsook Choi. FSG/Foster, $16 (40p) ISBN 0-374-30522-6
Korean theater traditions meet American Halloween customs in Choi's (Peach Heaven) satisfying tale. When Kimin gets ready to choose a trick-or-treat costume, his mother brings him two red boxes from his late grandfather, "a famous dancer in Korea." Kimin feels ambivalent because his grandfather once startled him with a white-eyebrowed, white-bearded face. But inside the boxes, he finds family photos and the "gruesome" face—a stylized performance mask. This discovery transforms Kimin's negative memory and becomes a perfect Halloween outfit, although it gets a little scuffed. Choi's text-and-image layouts and cross-generational subject matter recall Allen Say's work on heritage. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Los Gatos Black on Halloween
Marisa Montes, illus. by Yuyi Morales. Holt, $16.95 ISBN 0-8050-7429-5
Halloween and the Day of the Dead overlap in this atmospheric, bilingual romp. Montes (Juan Bobo Goes to Work) composes serviceable stanzas, using English and Spanish words as synonyms: "Los gatos black with eyes of green,/ Cats slink and creep on Halloween." This dual-language approach can be redundant ("At medianoche midnight strikes..."), yet Morales (Harvesting Hope) holds readers' attention with surreal, faintly macabre spreads in dim turquoise and clay-brown hues, illuminated by fuschia and flame orange. Witches fly broomsticks like skateboard whizzes, a headstone references Mexican comic Cantinflas and sallow-faced muertos dance until children arrive: "The thing that monsters most abhor/ Are human niños at the door!" Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
Pumpkins
Ken Robbins. Roaring Brook/Porter, $14.95 (32p) ISBN 1-59643-184-9
Robbins (Tools; Seeds) provides a crisp photographic account of Halloween's iconic veggie. The horizontal alignment of the pages and color photos creates stability, while a monotone voice and close-up pictures detail the planting process from vine to mulch. Robbins's serious, scientific tone draws attention to even the tamest humor ("Some are round, but some of them are kind of flattened, or squashed, you might say"), and a how-to sequence on jack-o-lantern carving makes this just right for first-timers ("Put a candle inside and light it. It will look quite nice"). Gardeners will see their know-how confirmed in this forthright version, and novices may well be inspired to experience the slimy pulp and seeds for themselves. Ages 4-8. (Aug.)
The Costume Copycat
Maryann Macdonald, illus. by Anne Wilsdorf. Dial, $10.99 (32p) ISBN 0-8037-2929-4
Angela, whose showboaty older sister, Bernadette, gets the best Halloween treats, begs to wear her sibling's hand-me-down costumes. But Bernadette still outdoes her, three years in a row, until Angela designs a special ghost outfit, and Bernadette stays home with chicken pox. The title of Macdonald's (Hedgehog Bakes a Cake) paper-over-board book is a slight misnomer, for Angela wears secondhand items only twice and lends flair to each—adults just don't notice her. Wilsdorf (Sunny Boy!), whose sympathetic illustrations recall Susan Meddaugh's, evokes understanding of Angela's yearly dilemma and shows the underdog developing an assertive personality. Ages 4-up. (Aug.)
Omar's Halloween
Maryann Kovalski. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, $16.95 ISBN 1-55041-559-X
Omar the bear, Kovalski's teddyish series hero, cannot decide upon the ideal Halloween costume. Like the title character of last season's T. Rex Trick or Treats by Lois G. Grambling, illus. by Jack E. Davis, Omar aspires to being "the worst kind of scary." He considers disguising himself as a spider or bat, until his friends praise those creatures' pest-control talents. When the big day arrives, he glumly trick-or-treats as a ghost; to his great luck, a downpour turns his simple white sheet into a terrifying disguise, complete with mud and twigs. Kovalski's unfussy colored-pencil drawings may lack polish, but Omar's story is well and warmly told. Ages 6-8. (Aug.)
Spooky Sums and Counting Horrors
Rebecca Gillieron, illus. by Rebecca Cobb. Marion Boyars (Consortium, dist.), $14.95 (32p) ISBN 0-7145-3307-6
Although wordier than most 1-2-3 stories, this conversational paper-over-board volume prompts readers to count decorations and guests at a haunted party. Gillieron's upbeat teacherly voice urges listeners to enumerate "glary fairy lights," "glow-worm lanterns" and dancing spiders: "What a lot of legs—too many to count. But I can see five spider webs—can you?" Cobb's (Tongue Twisters to Tangle Your Tongue) airy gouaches balance the lengthy sentences with floaty, bright details. She nimbly pictures rosy-cheeked ghosts, a witch playing air-guitar on her broom and a skeleton jangling the bone-xylophone. Note to the squeamish: "mousehead biscuits" and "frogs' feet fizzy drinks" are the least appetizing aspects. Ages 6-10. (Sept.)
The Three Witches
Zora Neale Hurston, adapted by Joyce Carol Thomas, illus. by Faith Ringgold. HarperCollins, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 0-06-000649-8
