Night of the Pumpkinheads
Michael J. Rosen, Hugh McMahon illus. 2011
The concept of a picture book illustrated with totally over-the-top-awesome pumpkin carvings is incredible. Brilliant, actually. The story, while fairly simple, has a full and satisfying arc. The pumpkins want to dress up and scare the children, but the children laugh. The vegetables, on the other hand... Well, what kid isn't afraid of vegetables?!? There are also some parent-friendly puns and jokes (mimes really are scary!), but the text itself is straightforward, with almost textbook clarity. It's a smart book, an incredibly creative book, a "why didn't I think of that" book. But the execution taught me a few things.
For one, I happen to love frivolity and play in the language. Picture books are like poetry: every word counts, every word should do multiple things (evoke, set tone, move the story, establish character). Relying on concept and (obtuse-to-a-child) humor just doesn't sparkle. I also longed for more "setting" to the pumpkin-carved illustrations. Of course I'm not an illustrator or a pumpkin carver, but I am a photographer. Why not set up whole scenes instead of the chalk background? While the text was supremely easy to read (if a bit verbose), the pictures were hard to read.
P.s. Why is October muggy - warm and moist? Wouldn't it be chilly? Windy? Stormy? Words matter.
That said, the carvings are really truly amazing, and the story is satisfying, clever, funny, especially for adults.
Trick or Treat
Leo Landry 2012
First, I love the size of this book. The smaller, square size is so bedtime-friendly, and the amount of text per page is perfect for an evening read-aloud. I hate when Rowdy is trying to flip pages ahead of my reading, and she didn't need to do that here. (I also hate wordless pages where I, in my pre-bedtime-zombie state have to make sh@t up on the spot.) I also love the simple story of a little ghost having a Halloween party, and clear illustrations with a bit of visual irony. One invitation ends up in human hands! Oh my! The ending is satisfying.
Here's an example of text and illustrations that meld perfectly. Both are streamlined, simple. The text isn't showy, nor overly complex. It tells the story in a sweet, gentle way, which matches the sweet, gentle illustrations and completes a story about Scary things (Like a ghost named Oliver!) that turn out to be sweet and gentle! Talk about aboutness - this book does it beautifully.
Monster Mash
David Catrow illus. 2012The song, Monster Mash, in picture book form. Hmmm. I'm not sure how well the song translates into an actual story. Because, well, it's not a story. It's a song. So the plot would be: monsters come to a party and do the monster mash. Which is, well, not much, but hey, it's about the illustrations, baby!
Which are ... gross. I mean, they're amazingly artistic and creative and colorful and almost sort of disney or pixar or something (which, if you look at the artist's bio, makes sense). But the creatures are scary. And gross. And this is coming from someone who keeps a collection of Garbage Pail Kids Funkos on her desk. When I asked Rowdy if she like the book she said, "Yeah." So I asked, "Are the pictures scary?" "Naw, it has Spooky Scary Skeletons!" So, bah, whatever. I would have liked the book more had the illustrations pushed for more of a story, gone beyond the Monster Mash song.
Only a Witch Can Fly
Alison McGhee, Taeeun Yoo illus. 2009This book has definite kid appeal, proven by 10-yr-old Mud Pie's theft of it. She's read it several times already so it must speak to her. And no wonder! The writing has a Charlotte Zolotow feel to it. Lyrical, poetic.
From the mouth of Mud Pie, "I liked the kitty, but I didn't like that I couldn't tell if the person on the broom was a girl or a boy." So there, publishing industry, quit trying to make characters gender-ambiauious. It's creepy. Though a Halloween book is supposed to be creepy, so... Never mind!
The Monsterator
Keith Graves 2014Illustrations: adorable, scary without being grotesque, and the flip-book monster-maker at the back is brilliant! It's a book, it's a toy, it's a full fifteen minutes of entertainment on a long car ride! The story: child-centric (good), clever (good), surprising (gooder!). Spoiler alert: I sort of love that the little monster didn't "learn himself a lesson and be a good boy ever after." Because you know, sometimes if you make a nasty face long enough, it really does stay that way. The rhyme: worked as well as it needed to.
Happy Halloween Witch's cat!
Harriet Muncaster 2015
Surprisingly this take off on the "Is that my Tractor" sort of book was our absolute favorite. Rowdy asked for it many times, and Pie and I spent quite a while studying the pictures and exclaiming over little details we spotted. We love love love love loved (we really loved) the illustrations. We loved the simple storyline that, though the illustrations, wrapped up surprisingly well (all the discarded costumes show up at the party anyway!). Adorable, creative. One I wouldn't mind adding to my permanent collection.
Black and Bittern was Night
Robert Heidbreder, John Martz 2013Here I'm going to be grumpy. I really really loved this book. I love the playful language, the illustrations that pop with simplicity. I never got to read it all the way through. Why? My tongue hurt. Seriously. Reading it aloud just wasn't happening, and Rowdly got too impatient with the thrickle thrackling skul-a-mug-mugging to let me work it out. As a performance piece it might be amazing. As a bedtime read-aloud? Splickderringdoo.
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