CM Magazine: The Hallowe'en House.

________________ CM . . . . Volume IV Number 21 . . . . June 19, 1998

cover The Halloween House.
Erica Silverman. Illustrated by Jon Agee.
New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux/HarperCollins, 1997 (Distributed by U of T Press).
32 pp, hardcover, $19.95.
ISBN 0-374-33270-3.

Subject Headings:
Halloween-Fiction.
Prisoners-Fiction.
Stories in rhyme.
Counting.

Preschool - grade 2 / Ages 3 - 7.
Review by Gail Hamilton.
*** /4

excerpt:

In the Hallowe'en house,
in a dark, Dingy den...
a papa werewolf crouched
with his little ones, ten.
"Howl," said the papa,
"We howl," said the ten.
So they howled through the night
in the dark, dingy den.

In this delightful counting rhyme, two escaped convicts seek refuge in a haunted house. As the evening unfolds, several families of creepy creatures - worms, ghosts, vampires, witches, skeletons, and more - begin to appear. Simply by acting naturally, the creatures unknowingly scare the convicts out of their wits. At the first light of day, the creatures vanish into thin air, leaving the convicts still frightened and bewildered by the night's eerie events. In an unusual twist at the end of the story, the lawbreakers make a beeline for the safety and security of their prison cell.

This poem, with its catchy, repetitive rhyme, will have young readers and listeners chanting along. The author's use of humour and the illustrator's witty, cartoon-like drawings combine to make a non-threatening, amusing Hallowe'en story. No nightmares from these innocuous spooks!

Though Agee's illustrations are very simply drawn, there are plenty of details in the pictures. Colours - subdued shades of smoky gray, taupe and green - convey the mood of the spooky night. The only accents are the more vibrant red and white stripes of the convicts' prison garb.

A fun book that is sure to please!

Recommended.

Gail Hamilton is a teacher-librarian at Bird's Hill School in East St. Paul, Manitoba.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - JUNE 19, 1998.