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HALLOWEEN NIGHT

TWENTY-ONE SPOOKTACULAR POEMS

Using a color scheme heavy on orange and black, along with plenty of glaring eyes and eerie silhouettes, McCauley creates the right atmosphere for this uneven gathering of verse. Some entries, such as “The Two-Headed Ghoul” (“It’s getting close, don’t make it mad, / Here it comes—it’s Mom and Dad!”), and a gleeful visit to a “Haunted House,” are crowd-pleasers, but there’s a moralistic streak to sentiments like, “I’d rather be kooky than spooky,” and a poem about the perils of greed titled “Sick or Treat.” Several selections are only tangentially Halloweenish (“I would like a monster pet, / The kind that children never get”), and others seem dropped into the mix haphazardly, such as one ending with “Halloween is on the way!” that would have been better placed at the beginning than midway through. Still, the collection’s perennially popular theme and evocative look should earn it a try, where budgets permit. (Poetry. 7-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-7624-1552-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Running Press

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2003

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HOW WINSTON DELIVERED CHRISTMAS

A Christmas cozy, read straight or bit by bit through the season.

Neither snow nor rain nor mountains of yummy cheese stay the carrier of a letter to Santa.

So carelessly does 8-year-old Oliver stuff his very late letter to Santa into the mailbox that it falls out behind his back—leaving Winston, a “small, grubby white mouse” with an outsized heart, determined to deliver it personally though he has no idea where to go. Smith presents Winston’s Christmas Eve trek in 24 minichapters, each assigned a December “day” and all closing with both twists or cliffhangers and instructions (mostly verbal, unfortunately) for one or more holiday-themed recipes or craft projects. Though he veers occasionally into preciosity (Winston “tried to ignore the grumbling, rumbling noises coming from his tummy”), he also infuses his holiday tale with worthy values. Occasional snowy scenes have an Edwardian look appropriate to the general tone, with a white default in place but a few dark-skinned figures in view. Less-crafty children will struggle with the scantly illustrated projects, which run from paper snowflakes to clothespin dolls and Christmas crackers with or without “snaps,” but lyrics to chestnuts like “The 12 Days of Christmas” (and “Jingle Bells,” which is not a Christmas song, but never mind) at the end invite everyone to sing along.

A Christmas cozy, read straight or bit by bit through the season. (Fantasy. 7-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-68412-983-6

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Silver Dolphin

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019

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MONSTER MATH

Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-15-201835-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999

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