Joan Horton

Author Joan Horton and illustrator JoAnn Adinolfi join forces in this engaging collection of twenty Halloween poems, addressing everything from witchy advertisements to Dr. Frankenstein's shopping list. Some are silly, and some are spooky, but each of these well-constructed poems celebrates the fun of the holiday...

Halloween Hoots and Howls is my first book from both Horton and Adinolfi, but I certainly hope it will not be my last! These poems read well, and are full of entertainingly monstrous details, while the accompanying artwork, done in gouache, watercolor and pastel, is suffused with the colors of the season, and features many quirky figures. My personal favorite, from a textual perspective, is A Halloween Quiz, in which the reader is asked ten ghoulish questions, all in rhyme. "Why do skeletons hide their brooms,?" the readers is asked, and then told: "So the lazybones won't have to clean their rooms." This series of questions could make for an excellent Halloween story-time, as the storyteller asks the questions, lets the children guess, and then provides the solution, to much giggling, I would imagine. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for Halloween read-aloud titles.… (lisätietoja)

Since going back to work, Oz has had some anxiety. Now when I leave I hear a lot of "I miss you" and "Don't go"'s. It breaks my heart, but I love my job and it's only part time, so I know he'll be fine. And in the long run, it's important that I keep doing what I love.

So while I was shelving children's books the other evening I found this and it couldn't be more perfect for us. It's Halloween ghoulish, and it's talking about something on both our minds.

Overall, I love it. The illustrations are fantastic, the rhyming cute. I want it for my collection of children's ghoulish books. The only reason I'm giving it an "official" 3 stars is because the jobs are...well, a bit on the traditionally female side. I would have loved to seen a bit more diversity (a Police Officer, a Lawyer or Judge...).

And personally, I loved that it included a librarian (even though title is librarian assistant, but who knows? One day I just may get that Masters and official title!).

"This mummy's a librarian.
She has a great selection
Of rare and wiggly book worms
In her specimen collection."

That page alone was what I needed to share with Oz. And the illustration is of a Mummy with short hair and glasses. So pretty darn close to perfect.… (lisätietoja)

Very cool book! This story engaged me immediately. When I read the first few pages, I was so confused that a little girl was attacking the setting with numbers. It was great. By the end, she realized the only way the numbers stopped attacking people and places she was in is if she figured out the problem 7 x 10 = 70. It was all pleasant and fun until the last page when her teacher asks her what 11 x 9 is, and the attack began again. This is such an entertaining, funny, humourous book for children.… (lisätietoja)