A holiday winner sure to be in demand come spooky season or Yuletide.
Halloween confections learn they’re not obsolete.
When fall’s over, the candy corns are relegated to the pantry along with the cranberry sauce and a jack-o’-lantern trick-or-treat bucket. The orange, yellow, and white candies feel unwanted. Unlike some foods, they don’t spoil or rot; they just sit around “feeling bored and kind of stale.” But a new holiday’s coming, and new smells are everywhere! Investigating, the corns discover exciting new trappings in their house: a giant decorated tree, wrapped gifts, hung stockings, and more! A sugarplum reveals all: “It’s Christmas!” The corns quickly horn in on the action, cavorting over the Yule log, diving into the egg nog, and leaving “sticky fingerprints on candlesticks and ornaments.” An angry candy cane demands that they skedaddle: “You had YOUR holiday. Now SCRAM!” They start to leave, but pale-skinned Santa’s arrival puts things into perspective. After nibbling a corn, the jolly old elf announces that the candies “fit right in!—and “Christmas is for EVERYONE!” Softening, Cane exhorts the corns to stay and acknowledges their similarities—they’re all striped, sweet, and sticky. This adorable holiday tale, told in well-executed, rollicking verse, delivers a fine message about Christmas inclusiveness, puts a new spin on the holiday season, and belongs on both post-Halloween and Christmas-book display shelves. The bustling, cheery illustrations feature characters bursting with personality and lots of dialogue set in speech balloons.
A holiday winner sure to be in demand come spooky season or Yuletide. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781665973663
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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