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Children's Book ReviewsPage Three of ThreeOn Halloween by Lark CarrierHarperFestival, August 1999.Picture Book, 40 pages ISBN: 0694012920. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
Talented artist Lark Carrier has crafted a charming
Halloween gem with On Halloween. The story
begins with, " On Halloween/We treat you to
a fright.../We go boo in the night/."
The rhymes are coupled with fabulously colorful
illustrations of ghosts, with the eyes cut out so that
you can see to the page behind. The rhyme continues
with "We glow with jagged light," illustrated by the
flames in the jack-o-lanterns, with the eyes cut out
so that you can see the flames behind them.
The rhyme continues with bones of the skeleton, witches
and bats in flight, cats...and those who gobble every
bite. The last two pages is a mural of all the creatures
that have been seen before, and it is revealed that
all the scary creatures and things in the books were
nothing to be scared of at all -- they are
really children in Halloween masks. Carrier's
illustrations are bright, bold and evoke a sense of
wonder. An excellent book for reading with children
during the weeks leading up to Halloween.
The Teeny, Tiny Ghost by Kay Winters, Illustrated by Lynn MunsingerTrophy books, August 1999.Paperback Picture Book Reading Level: Ages 3 - 8 ISBN: 0064435903. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
The teeny, tiny ghost has big problems. He's quite
timid. Every day he goes off to haunting school to
learn how to be a proper ghost. He assiduously
pratices booing and whooing, but he ends up
scaring himself silly. Halloween is fast approaching,
but to the teeny, tiny ghost it just sounds terrifying.
Then, one night when he is all alone, with just his
two teeny, tiny cats for company, some really loud
voices call out to let them in and he hears a loud
banging at the door. The teeny, tiny ghost tries to
hide, but the voices grow louder. So he screws up
his courage and, "He booed, and he whooed, till
he felt very bold. He howwwwwled, and then he
yowwwwwled, and he sounded very loud." The next
thing he hears is clapping and cheering. It is
Halloween night and all the ghosts are so proud of
the teeny, tiny ghost for being a proper ghoul!
Then all the ghosts dress up and go out to
celebrate Halloween in style.
The Teeny, Tiny Ghost is a marvelous tale of a ghost who is a little scarier looking than Casper, but still fairly non-threatening. All children will relate to the difficulty of learning tasks at school and longing to fit in. Lynn Munsinger's illustrations are vivid and appealing, with just the right touch of spookiness. The Teeny, Tiny Ghost is sure to appeal to very young readers, as will the repetitive, alliterative prose. Snap this one up for a fun Halloween read with your child. Vanishing by Bruce BrooksLaura Geringer Books, June 1999.Hardcover, 160 pages Reading Level: Baby-Preschool ISBN: 0060282363. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
Vanishing deals with a very serious problem that
affects many teenaged girls: voluntary starvation. Alice
finds herself in a situation which she feels she cannot control.
She had hoped to live with her father when her parents broke
up and for a while that is what happened. Then she develops
bronchitis and the coughing gets on her grandmother's nerves.
Her father, who lived in the grandmother's house told her that
the "experiment" was just not working out. And that was that.
Alice finds herself sent to live with her mother who drinks too
much and a stepfather who does seem to like her -- too much. Finding
herself hospitalized for her bronchitis, Alice thinks she can find
a way out of her difficulty by not eating.
Rex is a young patient at the same hospital, who walks in to make Alice's acquaintance. Rex appears to not care very much about anything, and he has an iconoclastic attitude toward the hospital and staff. Rex is dying and he knows it. He does not get the encouragement that he needs from his parents, but he does appear to get some pleasure out of his visits with Alice when he shares his views on what a disappointment his world offers him. When Alice hears from her mother that Rex is no longer in remission and is in intensive care, she decides that she will get to see him no matter what. In order to prove herself healthy enough to visit Rex in intensive care, Alice begins to eat. Seeing Rex in his final hours and listening to his final advice ("dying sucks") changes Alice, and she decides to embrace living. Bruce Brooks gets his message to the readers in a way that they can respect. Picking up on the disgust that many young teens feel with life, the author gives a strong message through his heroine. The last message that her dying friend sends her is, "Tell her that all you get by giving up stuff is the Big Nothing." Teens should enjoy the irony and dialogue, as well as the relationship that develops between the boy that doesn't want to die, but has no choice, and the girl who is literally vanishing herself through her own choices. --Sarah Reaves White Children's Book Reviews Page One | Page Two | Page Three Return to Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of children's books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |