MY DAD THINKS HE'S A SCREAM

Halloween wouldn’t be the same without candy, costumes, and, in this case, comedy.

A pale-skinned, red-haired family eagerly awaits a fun evening of trick-or-treating. Throughout the night, Dad, dressed as a ghost, assails his family with groan-worthy puns. (“Guess what I use to wash my hair…Sham BOO! It makes it BOOtiful.”) As the family goes from house to house, Dad keeps up a running commentary peppered with a nonstop stream of puns. “Spooooo-key,” he says as Mom locks the door. He points out that the cemetery is “a great place for stories” (because it has “so many plots”), and he proposes “ghost chicken and grave-y” for dinner. As the night comes to a close, the family collapses on the couch and falls asleep amid a pile of candy wrappers while Dad continues with the wisecracks. Germein’s first-person text, told from the perspective of one of the children, is filled with relentless quips and wordplay; enjoyment will vary depending upon the reader’s tolerance for dad jokes. While Jellett’s enthusiastic digital art, rendered in a palette of warm, seasonally appropriate colors, feels a bit crowded at times due to Germein’s text—presented in variously sized fonts—it nevertheless captures the bustle of Halloween night as well as a fun family dynamic, though some especially corny lines will elicit the occasional eye roll.

A pun-derstorm of wordplay that celebrates quality family time as well as spooky season.