I am going to say it. I am not ashamed. I almost peed myself laughing at The Ghosts Went Floating. I thought my coworkers would come into the office and think that I had officially finally lost it for good this time. But I did not care! I would just have told them that Kim Norman is a genius! Norman took “The Ants go Marching” song and gave it the most awesome of awesome twists: put that tune to a Halloween theme.
I have seen several versions of the song, even Halloween/spooky ones, but there is something about this one that was way too funny, and a must read. Maybe it was seeing several Frankenstein Monsters and Brides walking around, or werewolves crashing shopping carts or witches flying, skeletons shaking or one of the other creatures of the night portrayed in the illustrations by Jay Fleck. The art is simple but not simplistic, though there are a not a lot of detailed details, but what you need is there. Everything is bright, tongue-in-cheek, cute, and oh so very silly. The colors were bold and recalled Halloween. I would love to see this in a larger board book format.
All ages can enjoy this book. The little goblins can have it read (and song, because if you do not hear the song in your head, I do not think we can be friends) and the beginning readers will love the rhymes and early reading text. Counting, numbers and rhyming all come together in one book that frankly, I would read anytime of the year, not just the most holy of holy holiday, Halloween.
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