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SPOOK THE HALLOWEEN CAT by Dean Norman

SPOOK THE HALLOWEEN CAT

by Dean Norman ; illustrated by Dean Norman

Pub Date: Aug. 31st, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59572-709-1
Publisher: Star Bright

On Halloween, a series of events leads to a young girl, a helpful man, a lost cat, a friendly witch, and an excitable dog crossing paths with mixed results.

Norman utilizes comic-book panels to create a story about being in the right place at the right (or wrong) time and being open to the incongruous. Wally and his dog, Beaver, are all set to help take care of young Karen on Halloween. Elsewhere in town a kindly witch named Hexabell finds a lost kitten, which she takes home. The witch uses a potion to grant the cat magical powers, and all goes well until the cat falls off during a broom ride to be discovered by Karen, who immediately wants to keep it as a pet. Wally is dubious but allows Karen to temporarily keep the kitten, whom she calls Spook. Eventually Hexabell locates the cat and asks Wally to return her pet. At this point, Spook feels torn between returning to Hexabell and keeping the magical powers or becoming Karen’s much-loved pet but losing the amazing new powers. Occasional humorous moments round out the rambling story, but it goes on too long and lacks a cohesive flow to keep young readers eagerly turning the pages. With usually three panels to a row and two rows to a page, the format is too uniform to generate any narrative momentum.

A well-meaning narrative fail.

(Graphic fiction. 7-10)