I Am a Witch's Cat
Harriet Muncaster
ISBN: 9780062229144
Meticulous miniature dioramas are adorable mundane counterparts to the wild claims in the text.
Previously reviewed here. Still adorable. No worries from any parents or kids, and a few chuckles at the conflation of the "mommy book club" with a coven.
Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin
Tad Hills
ISBN: 9780375858130
(Board Book) Short and sweet in the Duck and Goose tradition, good for audience interaction.
Duck and Goose books are usually just a smidge too basic for me to use in storytimes. I'm sure the kids would love it, but I try not to subject myself or the parents to very simplistic "baby books" any more than I have to. This one is an exception because I try very hard for my Halloween books to be lighthearted, family-centric, and generally utterly inoffensive. Very simple set up has Thistle (Duck and Goose's occasional friend) wandering by with a pumpkin, spurring the young friends to acquire one of their own. A series of spreads has them looking in all sorts of unlikely places, until Thistle reappears at the end to drop a much-needed hint about the pumpkin patch.
Hedgehug's Halloween
Text by Benn Sutton, concept and art by Dan Pinto
ISBN: 9780061961045
Colorful and blocky collage in textural swathes of bright or moody colors.
I'm not super thrilled about the artwork here, as I feel it's a bit too small for as busy and stylized as it is. I wish it were a larger book. That said, the story is adorable, and the pictures are very clear and understandable despite the blocky collage and rough-edged textures. Hedgehug has forgotten about the yearly Halloween party in the forest, and he and his friends are desperately trying to find him a costume, but his prickles keep ruining things. As the party begins, and he's still sans costume, he trudges through the forest sadly, but there's a three-headed big thing chasing after him! It's his friends, with one last super-duper attempt at a costume, but this time they're prepared for the spikes.
No comments:
Post a Comment