Eva's Book Review- October

We're all about Halloween this month!  We have pumpkin patch and corn maze visits, Halloween parties at school, the gym and gymnastics plus trick-or-treating with Eva's bestie.  So, it only seemed logical to read Halloween books!

1. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

This book is adorable.  It actually never mentions the word "Halloween" in it, but it follows a little old lady who walks through the woods one autumn night and encounters many spooky things.  Through it all she is unafraid and in the end she finds a use for all of the items.  It has a fun rhythmic flow to it and, apparently, is so popular that I cannot renew it from the library because there is a waiting list for it.  We'll enjoy the CLOMP, CLOMP, SHAKE, SHAKE, CLAP, CLAP while we can!

2. Inside a House That is Haunted by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

I don't normally get Rebus books (where they insert little pictures instead of words to help kids learn to read) but this one was too cute to pass up and Eva actually ended up loving it, so I may have to get more in the future.  It builds on itself so the first page is "this is the hand, that knocked on the door" and then the next is "this is the hand that knocked on the door, that... xyz" and so on.  In the end, all of the monsters and mummies are scared of a little kid who is trick-or-treating- pretty cute.   

3. Vera's Halloween by Vera Rosenberry

I'm not sure if this is autobiographical, since the author's name is also Vera, but it very well could be.  It's the story of a little girl who goes out on Halloween with her father and two older sisters and gets separated from them in the chaos of trick-or-treating.  She wanders for blocks and blocks and then it starts to rain and finally to snow.  She eventually winds up at a classmates house and the parents call her dad.  Everything is fine in the end and she gets a lovely snow sled ride home, but I think it's a good warning for kids to stay close to their parents.  Or maybe, since you all know my stance on having a gaggle of kids, it's a warning for parents to steer clear of trick-or-treating with a 3:1 child to parent ratio ;) 

4. A Dark and Noisy Night by Lisa Thiesing

This book actually scares Eva.  As I read it to her in my lively, scary story book voice I could see her getting tense as each page went on.  So I cooled it on the intense reading and tried to switch to a lighter voice.  We were almost in the clear- and Peggy the Pig realizes that the scary noises she hears are not really scary at all- until the very last page when there is a real witch in the window!  And by real witch I mean all of the other scary noises have been explained away and the creaking on the window turns out to really be a witch.  No bueno for a 4 year old.  Eva asked about witches outside her window for days after this.  Read this one with your timid child if you dare!