THAT TERRIBLE HALLOWEEN NIGHT

by James Stevenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 25, 1980

Old Grandpa of It Could Be Worse tells Mary Ann and Louie another whopper, this time a hair-raising tale of yuck and monsters in a haunted house. The story of Iris childhood experience is drawn out of an ostensibly reluctant Grandpa, who has to explain why he is no longer frightened by such tame tricks as the children's Halloween antics. And he never does tell what finally happened: ""It's too scary to tell you--but when I came out of that house, I was an old man. And I've been that old ever since!"" What we do get from Grandpa's laconic telling and Stevenson's gleefully ghastly pictures is an inspired funny-scary distillation of haunted house lore. There's a bat-winged, fish-tailed, lobster-clawed, wide-mouthed, snaggle-toothed something that describes itself as ""the worst parts of a lot of things""; and there's a cellar floor that's hard to walk on because it is ""entirely frogs--very slippery. I kept getting caught in the cobwebs. Then I heard a horrible voice. . . ."" A new high in shivers and Halloween delight--only a cool old codger like Grandpa could remain untransfixed.

Pub Date: Aug. 25, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Greenwillow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1980

Categories: CHILDREN'S