HALLOWEEN GOOD NIGHT
By Doug Cushman , Doug Cushman
Age Range: 3 - 6
A lackluster rhymed iteration of the many ways different monster children might tell their parents good night. “If you were a skeleton in a graveyard of stones, / Clacking and rattling all your dry, bleached-out bones, / Yawning a yawn in the ivory moonlight, / How would you tell your bone daddy good night?” Why, “Clickety-clickety-clack-clack!” of course. Each parent-child monster pair is given a full double-page spread, with jolly cartoon renditions against appropriately atmospheric backdrops. Some details excel: The mummy mommy and baby speak in hieroglyphs; the creature from the Black Lagoon is resurrected as an infant swaddled in seaweed; the opening spread, of a child reading under the blankets, is filled with items that visually foreshadow the monsters to come. Still, this mild cleverness does not compensate for often-labored rhymes and a stale concept. (Picture book. 3-6)