Jumble Joan (Creepies)

Rating:
Summary: Creepy fun
Review: Jumble Joan is a wonderful book, one of my five-year-old's favorites. If your child enjoys a good fright this book will provide it without turning his/her hair white. The narrator, a boy of about eight, and his friend Mick take little sister up to Grandma's attic, intending to give her a scare. Only it is the little girl, who, as the three explore the dusty treasures, ends up enjoying the boy's fright, as their imaginations take over, causing their plans to backfire. The illustrations add to the story, giving some needed information not stated in the text, to help kids work out the delightful paradox.

Rating:
Summary: A plan to scare a little sister unexpectedly backfires...
Review: You have to love it when you go to a baseball game at the Metrodome and they give you kid a book (Carolrhoda Books is a Minneapolis outfit). "Jumble Joan" tells of a young boy and his little sister who are visiting his grandma's house, where there is a dark and dusty attic. His friend Mick thinks it would be great fun to go upstairs and scare the little sister. In the attic, which is full of old things, the little girl is told to watch out for the Ten O'Clock Horses and the Deadly Vampire Bat. But the worst thing of all would be letting Jumble Joan get a hold of you. This little story by Rose Impey, with illustrations by Moire Kemp, was originally published in England a decade ago and now has made its way over to this side of the pond. The text should challenge young readers, who should be captivated by the stories being spun about the creepy things up there in grandma's attic. This book would be especially appealing to young girls with older brothers who tend to tease them (mine has an older daughter in that role, but she made the connection). Bonus points for making several thousand copies available to kidlets at yesterday's game; this is a nice little book. "Jumble Joan" is one of 4 Creepie books, the others being "The Ankle Grabber," "The Flat Man," and "Scare Yourself to Sleep."