Beneath the Ghost Moon

A Halloween-time war between the mice and the creepy-crawlies (which look to be some kind of miniature alligators) unfolds in this lovely seasonal picture book from author Jane Yolen and illustrator Laurel Molk. As the mice dream of their great Ghost Eve ball, for which they have made great preparations, the creepy-crawlies emerge from their lairs all of the costumes and accoutrements prepared by the murine throng. Awakening to this catastrophe, the mice are prepared to be driven from their home, until rallied by a little white mouse who convinces them to stay and fight, and eventually, to forgive one little repentant creepy-crawly...

Although I have read many other books by Jane Yolen, I was unaware of Beneath the Ghost Moon until I show more happened upon it this year on the Halloween display in the children's book room of my public library. Charmed by the cover, and happy to discover a Halloween story from Yolen, who has written many wonderful fairy-tales and works of fantasy, I immediately snatched it up. I am so glad I did, as I thought it paired a delightful story, nimbly told in rhyming verse, with lovely illustrations. I appreciated both the theme of fighting for your home rather than running away, and that of forgiving an erstwhile enemy, if they are sincerely repentant. The visuals were beautiful, and I thought Molk's murine cast were adorable! All in all, a definite win, and one I would recommend to picture book audiences looking for fun original fairy-tales for Halloween. show less

As the mice dream and envision a lovely time on Ghost Eve, they envision music, merriment and lovely fluffy costumes.

Alas, enter the creepers slithering out of their dank cellar halls. With nothing but nastiness and foolery planned, they blatantly with evil in their hearts and minds, steal the masks, destroy the lovely costumes and make an end to the intended merriment.

Waking to find quite a sorry mess they cave in and vow to leave and never return. Except for one hero mouse who preaches the power of taking back the night and not leaving without a good fight.

When confronted with the brave group, the creepies do what most creepies do -- they flee by night.

Save for one creepy who asks for forgiveness, admits the wrongness of his actions show more and, smiling dances to the light of the bright wonderful ghost moon!

What a charming, delightful tale. Page after page of merriment, hope, frolicking critters who remind us not to let bad occurrences ruin a good time in life.

Highly recommended. show less

I thought the book, "Beneath the Ghost Moon," was enjoyable to read. I liked this book for several reasons. First, I liked how the author wrote the story. This book followed the theme of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas," and every other line rhymed. For example, the first line is, "'Twas the night before Ghost Eve and high in the sky, the moon was an unblinking solid white eye." I thought that set up made the book much more interesting to read because I was always curious to see what came next. Secondly, I liked the illustrations. The pictures in the book enhanced the pictures I was producing in my mind. For example, when the book talked about the mice creating battle-cap shields, the next page showed the mice holding the shields, so show more it made more sense. Lastly, I liked the plot of the story, specifically the ending. Throughout the book, the critters stole dresses and masks from the mice, so the mice wanted revenge. In the end of the story, one of the critters apologized and asked for friendship. Instead of fighting back, the mice accepted him and they danced beneath the moon together. I thought the main idea of the story was to be kind to others even if they are not kind to you. This story followed that theme because even though the mice were planning on being mean to the critters, they ended up being nice and became friends. show less

This is one of our favorite Halloween books year after year. I love its theme of leadership and message of teamwork and forgiveness.