Halloween A B C

Twenty-six spooky poems from author Eve Merriam, one for each letter of the alphabet, are paired with intensely creepy illustrations from artist Lane Smith in this marvelous Halloween picture book. From Apple—"Apple, / sweet apple, / what do you hide? / Wormy and / squirmy, / rotten inside"—to Zero—"Round blank / Round blank / Only bubbles / mark where it sank"—the poems here are dark, capturing the more disturbing, frightening aspect of the holiday. The accompanying artwork, done in oil paint, is perfectly suited to the text, and is likewise terrifying...

Originally published in 1987 as Halloween ABC, and then reprinted in a slightly revised format in 2002 as Spooky ABC—the text of the two titles is identical, with an show more afterword being added to the revised edition, as well as a somewhat different visual presentation of the artwork, now on colorful rather than cream backgrounds—this picture book is definitely on the scarier end, when it comes to seasonal fare for Halloween. According to the afterward in Spooky ABC (although it was Halloween ABC I checked out of my local library, I ended up reading both editions, accessing Spooky ABC via the Internet Archive), Lane Smith's artwork here came first, and was paired with Eve Merriam's poems after the fact, necessitating the changing of some of the paintings. As the afterword contained some of the artwork that was rejected from the initial title, I think on the whole I recommend seeking out Spooky ABC, even though I myself started with Halloween ABC. Leaving that aside, this was a very satisfying collection of poems for the season, sure to give readers and listeners a chill. I would recommend it for slightly older audiences, than would normally consume a picture book of this level, given the themes explored. Perhaps six or seven and above? As for me, I am already a Lane Smith admirer, but will definitely try to seek out more poetry from Eve Merriam. show less

I am SO going to get this book for all my friends.

Halloween ABC was banned for being frightening, violent, anti-Christian (supernatural themes), and generally unsuitable for children.

This book and [b:Spooky ABC|669265|Spooky ABC|Eve Merriam|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176952040s/669265.jpg|938322] are exactly the same, no wording changes. The newer one, Spooky ABC, is nicer with black backgrounds framing the pictures instead of light yellow and an afterward explaining how the book came to be.

This may be a picture book but it was never intended for little kids. The word usage is way too sophisticated and the content too obscure for little kids to even understand what each poem is about.

For those that are curious, the passage that show more I've heard talk about being inappropriate goes like this:

Icicle
An icy stabbing so swiftly done,
the victim scarcely felt it.
The police are baffled:
"Where's the weapon?"
The sun shines down to melt it.

The accompanying picture shows an icicle that has broken off and looks like it fell. When I read it, my initial reaction was that the icicle fell down and killed someone and that it was an accident. It could perhaps be a murder but that feels less likely. I think it could be interpreted either way.

There are other places in the book which caught my eye as things book banners would probably be concerned with. A couple examples:

Demon: "...Lucifer, Beelzebub, come when we call..."

Nightmare: talking about being nailed in a box and killed.

Pet: "...a pal of a pet...finds the neighbors quite delicious..."

Witchery: "...which poison do you deserve?..."

But I think people who are upset about this really are reading way too much into this book. No one who glances at the pictures would think this was for little kids. The whole book is about gloom and doom and creepy, scary things. I love it.

Overall the poems are cute and the pictures nice. I don't really understand why someone would want it banned but fine, don't let your kid read it. It's not that hard to proof read a picture book before letting your child read it. It's not like it's 357 pages of dense prose. I would have no problem letting my school age kids read it.

But then, I love Halloween and all it's scariness, and although I am a parent, I am probably a little inured to what's scary to a child. My young ones aren't easily scared by stuff like this. show less

While there are several clever and witty alphabet poems in this book, some of them hardly seem appropriate for five-year-olds: The 'Demon' poem includes mention of Satan, Mephistopheles, Lucifer, and Beelzebub, while the 'Crawler' poem's descriptions might make kids a little squeamish. However, the 'Jack O'Lantern' and 'Owl' poems are delightful. I wouldn't allow young children to have complete access to this ABC book, but a couple poems would be great for work with Halloween, alliteration, and rhyme.

Eve Merriam's colorful and creepy poetic approach to learning the alphabet is a fun read full of creative rhymes which are sure to get some "ewws" and "yucks" from the students. Suitable for a Halloween-themed read aloud for younger readers, "Spooky ABC" is a fun way to solidify the knowledge that they possess.

I am SO going to get this book for all my friends.

Halloween ABC was banned for being frightening, violent, anti-Christian (supernatural themes), and generally unsuitable for children.

This book and [b:Spooky ABC|669265|Spooky ABC|Eve Merriam|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176952040s/669265.jpg|938322] are exactly the same, no wording changes. The newer one, Spooky ABC, is nicer with black backgrounds framing the pictures instead of light yellow and an afterward explaining how the book came to be.

This may be a picture book but it was never intended for little kids. The word usage is way too sophisticated and the content too obscure for little kids to even understand what each poem is about.

For those that are curious, the passage that show more I've heard talk about being inappropriate goes like this:

Icicle
An icy stabbing so swiftly done,
the victim scarcely felt it.
The police are baffled:
"Where's the weapon?"
The sun shines down to melt it.

The accompanying picture shows an icicle that has broken off and looks like it fell. When I read it, my initial reaction was that the icicle fell down and killed someone and that it was an accident. It could perhaps be a murder but that feels less likely. I think it could be interpreted either way.

There are other places in the book which caught my eye as things book banners would probably be concerned with. A couple examples:

Demon: "...Lucifer, Beelzebub, come when we call..."

Nightmare: talking about being nailed in a box and killed.

Pet: "...a pal of a pet...finds the neighbors quite delicious..."

Witchery: "...which poison do you deserve?..."

But I think people who are upset about this really are reading way too much into this book. No one who glances at the pictures would think this was for little kids. The whole book is about gloom and doom and creepy, scary things. I love it.

Overall the poems are cute and the pictures nice. I don't really understand why someone would want it banned but fine, don't let your kid read it. It's not that hard to proof read a picture book before letting your child read it. It's not like it's 357 pages of dense prose. I would have no problem letting my school age kids read it.

But then, I love Halloween and all it's scariness, and although I am a parent, I am probably a little inured to what's scary to a child. My young ones aren't easily scared by stuff like this. show less

I am SO going to get this book for all my friends.

Halloween ABC was banned for being frightening, violent, anti-Christian (supernatural themes), and generally unsuitable for children.

This book and [b:Spooky ABC|669265|Spooky ABC|Eve Merriam|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176952040s/669265.jpg|938322] are exactly the same, no wording changes. The newer one, Spooky ABC, is nicer with black backgrounds framing the pictures instead of light yellow and an afterward explaining how the book came to be.

This may be a picture book but it was never intended for little kids. The word usage is way too sophisticated and the content too obscure for little kids to even understand what each poem is about.

For those that are curious, the passage that show more I've heard talk about being inappropriate goes like this:

Icicle
An icy stabbing so swiftly done,
the victim scarcely felt it.
The police are baffled:
"Where's the weapon?"
The sun shines down to melt it.

The accompanying picture shows an icicle that has broken off and looks like it fell. When I read it, my initial reaction was that the icicle fell down and killed someone and that it was an accident. It could perhaps be a murder but that feels less likely. I think it could be interpreted either way.

There are other places in the book which caught my eye as things book banners would probably be concerned with. A couple examples:

Demon: "...Lucifer, Beelzebub, come when we call..."

Nightmare: talking about being nailed in a box and killed.

Pet: "...a pal of a pet...finds the neighbors quite delicious..."

Witchery: "...which poison do you deserve?..."

But I think people who are upset about this really are reading way too much into this book. No one who glances at the pictures would think this was for little kids. The whole book is about gloom and doom and creepy, scary things. I love it.

Overall the poems are cute and the pictures nice. I don't really understand why someone would want it banned but fine, don't let your kid read it. It's not that hard to proof read a picture book before letting your child read it. It's not like it's 357 pages of dense prose. I would have no problem letting my school age kids read it.

But then, I love Halloween and all it's scariness, and although I am a parent, I am probably a little inured to what's scary to a child. My young ones aren't easily scared by stuff like this. show less

I am SO going to get this book for all my friends.

Halloween ABC was banned for being frightening, violent, anti-Christian (supernatural themes), and generally unsuitable for children.

This book and [b:Spooky ABC|669265|Spooky ABC|Eve Merriam|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176952040s/669265.jpg|938322] are exactly the same, no wording changes. The newer one, Spooky ABC, is nicer with black backgrounds framing the pictures instead of light yellow and an afterward explaining how the book came to be.

This may be a picture book but it was never intended for little kids. The word usage is way too sophisticated and the content too obscure for little kids to even understand what each poem is about.

For those that are curious, the passage that show more I've heard talk about being inappropriate goes like this:

Icicle
An icy stabbing so swiftly done,
the victim scarcely felt it.
The police are baffled:
"Where's the weapon?"
The sun shines down to melt it.

The accompanying picture shows an icicle that has broken off and looks like it fell. When I read it, my initial reaction was that the icicle fell down and killed someone and that it was an accident. It could perhaps be a murder but that feels less likely. I think it could be interpreted either way.

There are other places in the book which caught my eye as things book banners would probably be concerned with. A couple examples:

Demon: "...Lucifer, Beelzebub, come when we call..."

Nightmare: talking about being nailed in a box and killed.

Pet: "...a pal of a pet...finds the neighbors quite delicious..."

Witchery: "...which poison do you deserve?..."

But I think people who are upset about this really are reading way too much into this book. No one who glances at the pictures would think this was for little kids. The whole book is about gloom and doom and creepy, scary things. I love it.

Overall the poems are cute and the pictures nice. I don't really understand why someone would want it banned but fine, don't let your kid read it. It's not that hard to proof read a picture book before letting your child read it. It's not like it's 357 pages of dense prose. I would have no problem letting my school age kids read it.

But then, I love Halloween and all it's scariness, and although I am a parent, I am probably a little inured to what's scary to a child. My young ones aren't easily scared by stuff like this. show less