Pumpkin eye

Denise Fleming, 1950-

Book - 2001

Simple rhymes describe the sights, sounds, and smells of Halloween.

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Subjects
Genres
Stories in rhyme
Picture books
Published
New York : Henry Holt 2001.
Language
English
Main Author
Denise Fleming, 1950- (-)
Edition
1st ed
Physical Description
unpaged : ill
ISBN
9781442076426
9780805066814
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Ages 6-8. The fun of Halloween is the deliciousness of being scared. Not too scared, of course, but enough to make you--just for a moment--catch your breath. That's exactly the feeling Fleming creates in this Halloween journey round the neighborhood: "Trick-or-treat-- / pounding feet" as "jack-o'-lanterns / line the street." Her signature art technique (pouring colored cotton fiber through hand-cut stencils) makes for spectacularly atmospheric pictures. Colors bleed into one another causing lighted windows to flicker and shadows to disappear into inky blackness and then re-emerge in dancing silhouette. Gorgeous, sparkling candles fill a page with golden light; a giant jack-o'-lantern, set askew, eyes the costumed trick-or-treaters as they gingerly journey through the dark, scaring one another and themselves. The very simple text, in large, white display type, tells of monsters in the night. The pictures, with dark and distorted shapes, show kids being thrilled and having fun: "trick or treat--/ pounding feet, / Halloween / has found our street." --Stephanie Zvirin

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

"Fleming kindles seasonal thoughts with concise couplets and handmade-paper images, in which vermilion and fuschia highlights glow like neon against grainy black and evergreen," wrote PW. Ages 3-6. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 2-Simple rhymed couplets evoke the anticipatory mood of Halloween night in which "Trick or treat-/pounding feet,/jack-o'-lanterns/line the street." Fleming's signature illustrations of paper pulp poured through stencils glow with deep night colors set off with bright orange pumpkins, yellow hair, and the huge harvest moon. Challenging vocabulary ("wretched witches/roam the street./Clacking bones,/muffled moans") will appeal to independent trick-or-treaters while younger hand-holders will respond to the slightly scary word choices (tattered, toothless, eerie, hissing, swooping). The repeated phrase of pounding feet conveys the excitement of running from house to house in the night as "Halloween/has found our street." This is a great read-aloud for storyhours and a semi-scary but ultimately friendly reminder of the childhood joys of being out and about, disguised but a little bit frightened by others' costumes, and getting candy on this special holiday.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA (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

A string of images evokes the sights and sounds of Halloween in this simple illustrated poem. Spirits spill in glowing purples and greens while witches roam in dark silhouette against the blue-black night of FlemingÆs pulp paintings. The atmospheric book conveys the spooky excitement of the holiday. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (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

All eyes in a Halloween story hour will be riveted to this stellar story of trick-or-treaters enjoying the deliciously scary nature of this special night. Images of eyes peek out throughout the story with golden cat eyes, lighted windows in houses, and the pie-shaped eyes of jack-o'-lanterns looming on oversized pages. Fleming (The Everything Book, 2000, etc.) uses her signature medium of cotton pulp poured into hand-cut stencils to create the shapes for her paper collages with midnight-blue backgrounds lit by a full moon. Each double-page spread has a rhyming couplet set in huge white type, relating a pitch-perfect story full of heart-pounding excitement ("toes curl, heads swirl, things bump, hearts thump"). The brilliant design includes creative text placement and superb left-to-right flow as the trick-or-treaters work their way down the street, becoming more excited and animated as the night progresses. Those who object to witches will want to skip this one, as "wretched witches roam the street" and fly through the sky on the final page-but for those who celebrate Halloween in all its spooky glory, this story seems destined to become an essential read-aloud for October story hours. (Picture book. 3-7)

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.