WHAT? NO MORE HALLOWEEN?

A witch reveals the importance of every letter in the word Halloween in Messina’s picture-book spin on spelling.

When the mayor of a town called Halloween decides that its name simply has too many letters, and that some must be deleted, the citizens are shocked. Luckily, one angry witch approaches the mayor with logic, demonstrating why each letter, or pair of letters, deserves to stay in the name. She invites each letter to the stand as a witness, using magic to show which words the town would lose if they stopped using the letters h(horns, haunted houses, and the harvest moon), or ll (spells, skulls, and “spine-chilling thrills”), and so on. Each time, the mayor realizes his mistake (saying things like “No sweets! No way! Both ‘EEs’ must stay!”) Messina’s rhyming text scans well, with a repeated refrain each time the witch successfully gets another letter restored. Pavliuk’s watercolor illustrations move the story along, depicting each word under discussion in a montage with others. Familiar monstrous faces, including vampires and werewolves, populate each scene, but the monsters are never too scary, and Halloween’s never too dreary. The red-haired witch with her homey, brown hat is a friendly presence. The well-designed text helpfully highlights specific letters in brown for clarity.

A clever, spooky, and fun holiday tale.