BOO! HAIKU

In their second collaboration, Caswell and Shea use the same format as in their Guess Who, Haiku (2016) to ask readers to identify some common Halloween creatures.

Each turn of the page presents children with a new haiku and asks them to guess whom the poem is about: “broom across the moon / pointed hat at the window / hair-raising cackle.” A simple graphic in a circle on the page gives a visual clue (in this case, a black, pointy hat), but children will have to use their listening skills to identify the witch, revealed with the page turn. The witch then presents listeners with a new haiku. The other Halloween creatures include a bat, a skeleton, a jack-o’-lantern, a ghost, a black cat, a spider, an owl, a scarecrow, and “YOU!”—aka trick-or-treaters. Shea’s digital pictures are perfect for little listeners, with spare, bright backgrounds and just enough detail for identification. A final page explains the poetic form and what a syllable is.

As with the first, this just begs to be read aloud to a group of preschoolers, who won’t be able to help shouting out their answers. More please.