A playful and interactive introduction to Halloween.
Kitty wants to play with someone—but this Halloween, everyone is busy!
Kitty is looking for a playmate, but no one has time to play with her. Although she entreats a series of creepy-crawly creatures fit for Halloween—including a bat, a spider, and a crow—everyone is occupied doing what they do best. As the story proceeds, the side characters flap, spin, and caw their excuses, as Kitty’s face gets increasingly disappointed. Finally, Kitty asks a ghost—who, luckily, is always ready for a game of peekaboo, pun very much intended. Yoon’s endearing illustrations make use of a dark, rich palette appropriate for Halloween. The artfully placed text is set in a creatively spooky type, adding to the book’s holiday feel. The story itself is written in simple, playful language that makes excellent use of movement and onomatopoeia and invites children to respond to the illustrations well before they are able to decode words. The tab that moves the kitten’s sturdy, felt-covered tail at the top of the cleverly designed book is easy to use and will make both kids and adults giggle. The kitten’s increasingly sorrowful reactions are also a useful tool for talking to children about empathy and persistence, both evergreen lessons.
A playful and interactive introduction to Halloween. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4342-6
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver.
The farmyard's chickens experience Halloween.
A round, full moon shines in the sky, and the chickens of Boynton's barnyard are feeling “nervous.” Pumpkins shine “with flickering eyes,” witches and wizards wander the pastures, and one chicken has seen “a mouse of enormous size.” It’s Halloween night, and readers will delight as the chickens huddle together and try to figure out what's going on. All ends well, of course, and in Boynton's trademark silly style. (It’s really quite remarkable how her ranks of white, yellow-beaked chickens evoke rows of candy corn.) At this point parents and children know what they're in for when they pick up a book by the prolific author, and she doesn't disappoint here. The chickens are silly, the pigs are cute, and the coloring and illustrations evoke a warmth that little ones wary of Halloween will appreciate. For children leery of the ghouls and goblins lurking in the holiday's iconography, this is a perfect antidote, emphasizing all the fun Halloween has to offer.
An excellent, rounded effort from a creator who knows how to deliver. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7611-9300-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
