Review by Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. This rousing cumulative tale begins with "A toe! A lean and gleaming toe." The child's tapping toe is watched by a cat, who's snatched by a witch, who's bumped by a bat, setting off a series of mishaps as creatures, each more ghoulish than the last, try to take possession of the toe. But finally, the toe's owner, a young girl sitting on a fence with her fiddle, declares, "This toe is mine!" The crew doesn't protest too strenuously, preferring to dance to her fiddle music by the light of the Halloween moon. ~Hawkes provides a pleasing rogues' gallery--rascals rather than rotters, yet scary enough for the audience. The size of the art and the bounce of the text make this a terrific choice for holiday story hours. ~--Ilene Cooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-A cumulative tale in which a series of beasties and ghoulies threaten to nibble at a child's toes. These scary creatures run the gamut from the familiar bat and witch to the lesser-known ghoul and sprite. They emerge from tomb and darkness to pinch, grab, or bite the legs that are pictured dangling over the edge of the bridge. The pileup of menacing monsters and the close calls build tension until the complete picture of a self-assured little girl appears. Her fully capitalized expression of proprietary rights will assure readers that she knows how to take care of herself. The final scene, in which she fiddles a Halloween tune for the dancing monsters, creates a comic resolution, making the night a time of fun as well as near-terror. While the edges of the illustrations are sometimes fuzzy, the opaque jewel tones and the details of costume and expression make the ghosts anything but remote. A great nighttime party for all year round.- Ruth K. MacDonald, Quinnipiac College, Hamden, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In the lively, cumulative poem, one by one, a cat, witch, bat, ghoul, ghost, and sprite jump at the toe on the foot of one of two visible dancing legs. Each monster is thwarted by the creature behind it. Not only is the text rhythmically bouncy and appealing, but the illustrations are of the least fearful and most amusing of ghastly creatures. A sure Halloween hit. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Stutson's first is a catchy, lilting cumulative tale with glorious comical/scary illustrations. Wriggling on a relaxed bare foot dangling from a rickety footbridge (at the top of the pages, so that only its owner's legs are visible) is ``A toe!/A lean and gleaming toe/That taps a tune in the dead of night/By the light...of the Halloween moon!'' The action here is all under the bridge: a perching cat spies the toe; as it leaps for it, a witch snatches at the cat. The cumulation continues with a bat; ``A ghastly drooling graveyard ghoul/Who swats at the bat''; and a piratical ``williwaw ghost,'' as Hawkes silhouettes the vibrant, bug-eyed figures dramatically against the night's pitch black. Last comes a pan up to ``A small bright slip of a smiling girl,'' owner of the menaced toe and of a fiddle, with which she ``smacks the sprite/Who bites the ghost...'' while she tells them all, ``OH, NO YOU DON'T!/THAT TOE IS MINE!'' Hawkes's splendidly imaginative ghoulies and ghosties will delight both young monster-fanciers and admirers of his glowing painterly style and handsome compositions--as will nifty touches like mussels in the pirate's luminous beard, a cartoony worm in the ghoul's top hat, and the sly contrast between the girl's purely innocent bare legs and the boisterous underworld that never quite touches them. A must. (Picture book. 4-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
