swcc is really enjoying this book!!
Now that is getting
close to Halloween is a great book to read
A cat's green eyes stare out from the book's cover. Inside, there are more of los gatos as well as las brujas (witches), los fantasmas (ghosts), and los esqueletos (skeletons looking like they have come from a Dia de los
Muertos celebration. The pithy, rhyming text tells a frightening, if familiar,
story. The ghosts and ghoulies are off to a Monsters'Ball at Haunted Hall, and
though there's plenty of scary stuff around, the guests are most frightened by
the children who come knocking at the door for trick-or-treat. Montes'evocative
poem deserves exceptional artwork, and Morales obliges. Her soft-edged
paintings glow with the luminosity of jewels, and her witches, werewolves, and
corpses are frighteningly executed. Therein lies what may be a problem for
preschoolers. These fiends aren't particularly kid-friendly; they are
dead-eyed, Day of the Dead folk who scare. For slightly older children, however,
this spookiness is what Halloween is all about. The Spanish is neatly
integrated into the text, but for those who need clarification, a glossary is
appended.