MOTHER BOO

A lightly spooky collection of verse.

As we learn from the start, “when the fields are winter-white / or grass is summer-green, / just remember / in this book / it’s always Halloween.” Welcome to Spookytown! While this village may resemble a low-key version of Halloweentown from The Nightmare Before Christmas, it’s far less creepy and lot sweeter. VanSickle’s poems explore a range of Halloween-adjacent aspects of the season within rhyming verse. Mother Boo, a benevolent ghost figure, overseas all the folks in Halloweentown, soothing and saving them by turns. These verses are original; some are gentle, like the paean to the moons of every month, from January’s Wolf Moon to December’s Cold Moon. Others are a bit creepier, but even when a perceived threat arises (as in the poem “Werewolves Dance”), the ending comes with comfort and hugs. While admittedly some of the rhymes are distinctly soft (cast and cat, for example), the variety of poetic styles, including everything from limericks to a classic ABCB style, is admirable. Colored pencil art relies primarily on oranges, blacks, greens, and whites, limiting the palette to the season.

Sports a distinctly classic Halloween feel, both old-fashioned and timeless.