A comforting Halloween story about children being themselves, even (or especially) when dressed as costumed characters.
A young boy faces a scary social situation in this tale of donning Halloween costumes and facing down bullies.
In this debut picture book, a boy is eager for Halloween and trick-or-treating, including all the sugar that comes with it. He’s also excited to dress up for the Halloween party; everyone in his circle will be there. But while all the other kids are interested in superhero and princess costumes, there’s just one that grabs his attention: a bunch of grapes costume built from big purple balloons. It’s love on first wear, and the boy serenades his costume in joy. But when he walks into the Halloween party, one of the superhero kids immediately mocks him: “That’s a really stupid costume, dude!” The boy hides in a corner and cries at the kid’s mean words, until his mother asks him to look around the room. It’s full of children (in diverse skin tones beneath their costumes) who look the same: princesses and superheroes, all wearing identical outfits. “If everyone were the same, how boring would that be?” asks Mom. The boy puts on a brave face and joins the party, and to his surprise, he enjoys the festivities, just by ignoring those nasty words. Fitzkoff delivers an unusual tale; many Halloween stories are more about ghosts and witches than the experiences real kids have at holiday parties. The rhyming text flows well, though the meter is not always perfect and initially presents a challenge to an adult reading the story aloud. Linehan’s entertaining, pastel-colored illustrations, reminiscent of Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts characters or Mo Willems’ Sesame Street creation Suzie Kabloozie, make the child characters easy to empathize with. The grape costume proves especially charming. And while facing bullies can often be far more complicated than simply ignoring cruel words and having fun anyway, the advice to not let a cohort’s criticism ruin a party—and to embrace the things one loves no matter what others think—is a solid start toward building self-confidence.
A comforting Halloween story about children being themselves, even (or especially) when dressed as costumed characters.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-70230-7
Page Count: 28
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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