In the Haunted House

Rating:
Summary: Bought it for myself
Review: I'm an adult who likes Halloween books. This one was pretty good.

The book, though not a mirror image, reminds me of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. I'm referring to the interesting style of shading, I suppose. The other illustrations for In the Haunted House are more toony than Sendak's. It works. The pictures are scary, sure, but not too scary, since young children are the intended audience.

We are offered two protagonists to guide us through the spooky house. Two pair of sneakers, one red, one blue. Oh! And, of course, two legs leading off the frame. These aren't disembodied feet. The shoes probably connect to a couple of human beings, but that assumption, either true or false, is not verified until the end of the book.

Based on the dialogue, we can guess that one of our protagonists is leading the other. Both are afraid to be here. They bravely investigate every room as they come to it.

Each frame centers on a scary aspect of the house. Again, all we see of our heroes are the shoes, either entering or exiting a scene. In one frame, we see their upper body shadows, giving us another clue as to their probable identities.

The artwork is carefully laid out in this way. If you read it fast-through the first time, which is what I did, you'll miss out. I was disappointed. But if you pay attention, which is what I did the second time, you'll find visual clues along the way as to the nature of the environment.

The artist, Susan Meddaugh, does a fine job of showing the anxiety of the protagonists through simple drawings of shoes. She's careful to make the house seem real. If she draws a coffin early on, something will come out of it later. If she draws a glimpse of a striped bathroom, once the door is opened, the bathroom is striped inside. The frames feel connected, not just a bunch of sloppy drawings.

The writer, Eve Bunting, carries us along with whimsical prose. Her words are revealing to the trained ear. This book works well as a mystery. She's not bad.

Still, this isn't my favorite Halloween book. But it deserved all of its four stars. I'm sure your kids'll dig it. I myself will read it again.

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Nuts & Bolts:
Year - 1990
32 pages
28 pages of story
You'll see
-Pumkins
-Ghosts
-A flying umbrella
-Children & adults
-Witches
-Spooky trees
-Bats
-An organ
-Frankenstein's Monster
-A vampire
-A werewolf
-Gouls and goblins
-A skeleton
-A mummy
-A creepy attic
-Rats
-Spiders
-Old photographs
-Closet surprises

Rating:
Summary: Bought it for myself
Review: I'm an adult who likes Halloween books. This one was pretty good.

The book, though not a mirror image, reminds me of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. I'm referring to the interesting style of shading, I suppose. The other illustrations for In the Haunted House are more toony than Sendak's. It works. The pictures are scary, sure, but not too scary, since young children are the intended audience.

We are offered two protagonists to guide us through the spooky house. Two pair of sneakers, one red, one blue. Oh! And, of course, two legs leading off the frame. These aren't disembodied feet. The shoes probably connect to a couple of human beings, but that assumption, either true or false, is not verified until the end of the book.

Based on the dialogue, we can guess that one of our protagonists is leading the other. Both are afraid to be here. They bravely investigate every room as they come to it.

Each frame centers on a scary aspect of the house. Again, all we see of our heroes are the shoes, either entering or exiting a scene. In one frame, we see their upper body shadows, giving us another clue as to their probable identities.

The artwork is carefully laid out in this way. If you read it fast-through the first time, which is what I did, you'll miss out. I was disappointed. But if you pay attention, which is what I did the second time, you'll find visual clues along the way as to the nature of the environment.

The artist, Susan Meddaugh, does a fine job of showing the anxiety of the protagonists through simple drawings of shoes. She's careful to make the house seem real. If she draws a coffin early on, something will come out of it later. If she draws a glimpse of a striped bathroom, once the door is opened, the bathroom is striped inside. The frames feel connected, not just a bunch of sloppy drawings.

The writer, Eve Bunting, carries us along with whimsical prose. Her words are revealing to the trained ear. This book works well as a mystery. She's not bad.

Still, this isn't my favorite Halloween book. But it deserved all of its four stars. I'm sure your kids'll dig it. I myself will read it again.

--------------------------

Nuts & Bolts:
Year - 1990
32 pages
28 pages of story
You'll see
-Pumkins
-Ghosts
-A flying umbrella
-Children & adults
-Witches
-Spooky trees
-Bats
-An organ
-Frankenstein's Monster
-A vampire
-A werewolf
-Gouls and goblins
-A skeleton
-A mummy
-A creepy attic
-Rats
-Spiders
-Old photographs
-Closet surprises