Dian Curtis Regan

The only thing sadder than watching a stand-up comedian "dying" on stage is watching a children's entertainer in the same situation. And this book is the literary equivalent.

I have a high tolerance for cornball humour. But this entire book is a menagerie of facepalm-inducing, fifth-rate barnyard puns. Mercifully, the majority of the offences against wordplay will fly over the heads of the target audience, but they'll hit adult readers square in the kisser, and the resultant eggy miasma will show more be hard to disperse.

"Yo Mama Goose?" What were they thinking?? show less

This is the cutest little series. I wish I could kidnap all the monsters for myself. I think Rilla's obscure living conditions (mish-mashed family, Earth-friendly mother, absentee father) will resonate with a lot more kids these days than when it was published.
Overall, it's an adorable story with charming characters.

With a poetry-slamming goose named Yo Mama, you know it's got to be good. I'm being sarcastic. This story is cringe-worthy cornball, and I disagree with SLJ and Kirkus, and say skip it. Even PW knows "Adults may groan," so I'm actually not alone here. Save your dough.

This book is essentially the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song re-written for Halloween. The young child narrator receives all kinds of "creepy" gifts, including a vulture in a dead tree, two pumpkins carved, three fat bats, etc. The twist is about halfway through when she gets overwhelmed by the sheer number of gifts and starts giving them away.

The pros of this book are a female lead character, fitting illustrations with just the right amount of detail, the kind of textual repetition that show more kids love and thrive on, a creative license with the original song, and a Halloween story that isn't overly scary or super reliant on negative stereotypes. The cons are that you will inevitably end up singing the text when you read this book whether you want to or not and that there could be a bit more diversity in the cast of characters. Overall, however, this is a solid book to share with children, especially on or around Halloween. show less