Montes’s vivid poem, replete with the appropriate creepiness, describes all of the usual—and some not-so-usual—Halloween suspects. Under the full moon, los gatos slink, yowl and hiss. Las brujas fly on their brooms. Los esqueletos rattle their bones. Pumpkins burn, mummies stalk, the wolfman prowls, the dead rise and ghouls and zombies march across the pages, all parading toward a haunted mansion for a monstrous ball. Eerie music resonates throughout the night, and all of the creatures begin to waltz, boogie and bop—until tres loud raps (“Rap! Rap! Rap!”) sound at the door. Who could it be? Not children trick-or-treating! Suddenly the creatures vanish. Nothing scares a monster more than human niños, particularly on Halloween. Spanish words, perfectly defined by context, flow smoothly throughout the atmospheric, rhymed text and are officially defined in an accessible glossary at the story’s end. Morales’s dark, glowing pictures of inventively proportioned ghosts and other sinister night creatures provide the ideal accompaniment. A spooky seasonal treat and a great choice for any collection. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-8050-7429-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
Scotton makes a stylish debut with this tale of a sleepless sheep—depicted as a blocky, pop-eyed, very soft-looking woolly with a skinny striped nightcap of unusual length—trying everything, from stripping down to his spotted shorts to counting all six hundred million billion and ten stars, twice, in an effort to doze off. Not even counting sheep . . . well, actually, that does work, once he counts himself. Dawn finds him tucked beneath a rather-too-small quilt while the rest of his flock rises to bathe, brush and riffle through the Daily Bleat. Russell doesn’t have quite the big personality of Ian Falconer’s Olivia, but more sophisticated fans of the precocious piglet will find in this art the same sort of daffy urbanity. Quite a contrast to the usual run of ovine-driven snoozers, like Phyllis Root’s Ten Sleepy Sheep, illustrated by Susan Gaber (2004). (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-059848-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
In a snowbound Swiss village, Matti figures it’s a good day to make a gingerbread man. He and his mother mix a batch of gingerbread and tuck it in the oven, but Matti is too impatient to wait ten minutes without peeking. When he opens the door, out pops a gingerbread baby, taunting the familiar refrain, “Catch me if you can.” The brash imp races all over the village, teasing animals and tweaking the noses of the citizenry, until there is a fair crowd on his heels intent on giving him a drubbing. Always he remains just out of reach as he races over the winterscape, beautifully rendered with elegant countryside and architectural details by Brett. All the while, Matti is busy back home, building a gingerbread house to entice the nervy cookie to safe harbor. It works, too, and Matti is able to spirit the gingerbread baby away from the mob. The mischief-maker may be a brat, but the gingerbread cookie is also the agent of good cheer, and Brett allows that spirit to run free on these pages. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23444-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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