halloween

Ghoulia is a cute story with charming art, perfect gift to give a young reader next Halloween

Ghoulia by Barbara Contini

November 5, 2018 by Dome'Loki Leave a Comment

Several years ago, Neil Gaiman suggested celebrating All Hallow’s Read around Halloween. You celebrate the Halloween season by giving seasonally appropriate books to friends and family. Either directly about the holiday, or perhaps spooky and scary books that fit this time of year’s mood. I’ve done this for the past three years now with my girls. This year was a bit of a challenge for my newly turned seven year old. She loves Halloween but really, really does not like to be scared. She is reading at a first grade level so I didn’t want it to be another picture […]

11/5/2018 Dome'Loki's CBR10 Review No:46 |

An epic tale about the hopelessness of being The Other

Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley

October 30, 2018 by Mrs Smith Reads 2 Comments

[BINGO!] I’ve been mulling over this review of Frankenstein for a couple of weeks now and I have so many thoughts and feelings! I’ll first admit that I had never read Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus before this year, and truly believed that the gothic horror story was just the same as James Whale’s Frankenstein movie. And it is not. At all. The same. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley wrote her epic tale about the hopelessness of being The Other, of the misery of the life unwanted, and uncared for. The monster is a miserable, loveless creature who terrifies anyone who encounters him, and this pushes him to become […]

10/30/2018 Mrs Smith Reads's CBR10 Review No:20 |

I was sad that I didn’t like this more.

Mother Ghost: Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters by Rachel Kolar, Roland Garrigue

October 11, 2018 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

I was disappointed in this. I thought I would like more of it, and perhaps I would if I were more caught up on my nursery rhymes. I recognized some of them, and a few were quite clever, but there were some I couldn’t place. After reading another Halloween book that was more to my taste, this felt a little lacking. We start off in a festive mood with “Boys and Girls, Come Trick-or-Treat,” which is based on “Boys and Girls, Come Out to Play”. I’ve heard of the original rhyme, but it is not one I know by heart. […]

10/11/2018 crystalclear's CBR10 Review No:31 |

Thanks, CBR10 Bingo, for getting me to read a book I normally wouldn’t!

Skeleton for Dinner by Margery Cuyler, Will Terry

October 11, 2018 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

So the book I was going to read for this square is a bit longer than I was expecting, and perhaps more dense, so I “cheated” from my original plan and looked for a children’s book that would work! As we’re in October, I looked for a Halloween book, because why not? So I came across Skeleton for Dinner by Margery Cuyler, purely because the author happens to live in my state. So let’s see how it is! I quite like the artwork. The witches have a lot of detail, and tree looks almost fractal. The text moves about in […]

10/11/2018 crystalclear's CBR10 Review No:30 |

Trick or Treat smell my….yeah not going there…..

Skelly's Halloween by David Martin

October 11, 2018 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Skelly’s Halloween would be the perfect book for the young Halloween crowd. They will enjoy the silly antics that go along with a sweet story of a skeleton that just wants to go trick-or-treating as he is only awake for this one day. And all he wants to do is to celebrate Halloween. However, he has an accident that just makes him go all to pieces! And well….it takes more than the all the kings horses and kings men to put Skelly back together again. It takes a clever group of well-meaning friends and some clever children to help Skelly […]

10/11/2018 BlackRaven's CBR10 Review No:382 |

Some Ghouls Do

Stumpkin by Lucy Ruth Cummin

October 10, 2018 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Halloween. There is probably no better holiday. Okay, I am not into the spooky aspects of the day, but the fun and child-like qualities of the holiday is what get my spirit flying. And, of course, CANDY! And Stumpkin has all the fun of the holiday. This pumpkin is perfect: rounder than a basketball, more orange than a traffic cone, not any bad sides! However, he has one small flaw: he has a stump and not a steam. Therefore, nobody wants him to be their jack-o-lantern. Until (spoiler) the end when he finds the perfect home. The themes of “being […]

10/10/2018 BlackRaven's CBR10 Review No:379 |

When you need google eyes with your book

Pout-Pout's Halloween Faces by Deborah Diesen

October 3, 2018 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Usually, I am not a Pout-Pout fish fan. However, I know that he is very popular and have recommended him to my customers many times. There is a certain charm about the books, but over all, it is lost on me. Yet, with Pout-Pout’s Halloween Faces by Deborah Diesen, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a fun and simple board book that I would have given to my nephews, cousins and other children I know as an anytime gift. The google-eyes are a blast and the story just flows along. The only fault? I would have liked it […]

10/3/2018 BlackRaven's CBR10 Review No:373 |

“Relax, silly chickens! It’s HALLOWEEN!”

Eek! Halloween by Sandra Boynton

October 1, 2018 by BlackRaven 2 Comments

Halloween is the BEST holiday ever. Even better than my birthday and Christmas. And Eek! Halloween is a Sandra Boynton book, so ’nuff said. She is better than Halloween. Okay maybe I would not go that far, but I would go as far to say it might be hard to find a better combination for a Halloween book. Boynton’s funky chickens are at it again. They do not know what to do about the creepy events that are going on: “Witches, wizards, robots, and an alarmingly enormous mouse (eek!) are prowling around town tonight…” and they do so ever want […]

10/1/2018 BlackRaven's CBR10 Review No:368 |

andtheIToldYouSos on I Have Always Imagined that Paradise Will Be a Kind of Librarythis looks excellent- although, I am also on board with algorithmic bagels. Well, bagels in general. All bagels. I am too hungry to be reading...
andtheIToldYouSos on An excellent trilogy of thrillers (with a fourth on the way!)boy howdy, you had me at Tana French!
andtheIToldYouSos on An unattended wound gets infectedCongratulations on your Half!!! Also- well done. I'm adding this to my list!
sistercoyote on (Bingo: Pajiba) All shall fade into the whiteness of deathThe end of this was pretty grim, I gotta say. And yes -- I absolutely agree it was challenging and provoking and I have notes...
narfna on Angsty, charming, good….and problematic?I never understand when people complain about "unrealistic dialogue." Who says every book has to proscribe to realism? It's art! It can be whatever the...

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