Mary McKenna Siddals

What color is Halloween? This rhyming romp of a picture book sets out to explore that topic, demonstrating that the spooky holiday is about far more than simply orange and black! From the green of vile brews and clammy skin to the orange of leaves and jack-o-lanterns, many shades contribute to the Halloween experience...

Shivery Shades of Halloween is my first book from both author Mary McKenna Siddals and illustrator Jimmy Pickering, but I hope it will not be my last. With an entertaining, show more sing-song narrative and bright, colorful illustrations that are full of fun and humor, this would make an excellent read-aloud selection for a Halloween story-time. It is for that purpose that I would recommend it, as well as to those seeking more seasonal concept books exploring colors. show less

What a clever premise. No, Halloween is not only about orange and black. "Halloween is green. Eerie glow, evil grin, vile brew, clammy skin, slimy-grimy, queasy-peasy, snottty-rottty tinge of green." The rhymes for all the colors of the rainbow follow a similar pattern, each set of images appropriate to the color and toying with hyphenated adjectives: dusky-"musky, bruisy-oozy." The colorful digital art will appeal to kids as will the creepy images. Not scary but definitely a book you can show more ham up with a read aloud with spooky, shivery voices. show less

Gentle pictures for a gentle book about snow falling on a bundled-up child and her dog: her reaction to one, then two, then three, then four, then millions of snowflakes. Reminiscent, if you're me, of Gamov's One, Two, Three, Infinity.

The recipe for compost would seem to be easy but the book make naming the ingredients fun and even give some tips on things that shouldn't be added to compost. Above all the unique artwork in this picture book adds another level to the recycle message as you can see parts of the collage making up the pictures are scraps of old paper and newspaper articles.