Calef Brown

If it weren't for the clumsy poetry, this would be a great children's book, and one which appeals to boys as well as girls. The pictures are interesting and colorful, the concept is strong, and the ideas plenty creative enough to keep your child's interest. But the rhyming is occasionally strained and the meter is constantly clumsy, in a way that really doesn't stand up to repeated reading aloud. Trust me; I speak from experience.

Fourteen Halloween-themed poems are collected in Hallowilloween by Calef Brown, whose previous picture-book forays include Polka-bats and Octopus Slacks: 14 Stories and Flamingos on the Roof. Here we have selections like Lone Star Witches, about two Texas witches determined to go toe-to-toe with their Boston sistren, The Vumpire, about an unusual umpire who only works night games, and The Poltergeyser, about very strange waterspout.

I was really drawn in by the cover of this one, and by the show more good things I had heard about Calef Brown's art, but I have to confess I just wasn't that impressed. Perhaps I read this too soon after Adam Rex's brilliant Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, another picture-book collection of monstrous poems suitable for Halloween time, but I found the poems here distinctly uninteresting, and rather clumsily constructed. Calef Brown fans will enjoy his acrylic illustrations, I think, but they're the only ones to whom I would recommend Hallowilloween. Everyone else would do better to find the Rex title, and its sequel. show less

This would be a great read aloud book for elementary students. The silly poems and magnificent accompanying illustrations would capture any audience, but without a doubt would gain and keep the attention of young readers. This would be a great book to read and discuss daily - one poem per day - perhaps as a closing before lunch or at the end of the day.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the poems in this book for many reasons. I first loved the book for its language. The language used is fun and exciting. One of the poems was titled "Tongue Twister" and featured a silly sentence that the audience was supposed to say ten times fast. This helped me to feel engaged in the poems. The second reason that I loved this book was because of its illustrations. The illustrations in this book were fun and bright like the poems themselves. For example, in the show more poem "Painting on Toast," there is an illustration of a man quite literally painting on a piece of toast. These illustrations are light-hearted and match the mood of the poem very well. Overall, the big idea of this poetry book was that life does not have to be so serious. These poems are all very silly and evoke laughter from all. show less