Into the Pumpkin
Linda Franklin
Schiffer Books, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7643-4183-0
FORMAT: Picture Book, Poetry
AGES: Preschool, Elementary School
4 Stars

This is an amazing book to read for Halloween! This is a book of various poems about creatures that you might encounter on Halloween night. And the poems and the illustrations are just beautiful! For example, once you open this book this is the first poem that you read:

Whoever you are,
No matter what age,
Don’t be afraid to
turn the next page.

Seriously, I realized that I would love this book from that moment. The rest of the book is about witches, scarecrows, bats, ghosts, etc. doing their thing on Halloween…only it is all in poems. And did I mention the illustrations? They are these orange and black and white and grey things with shapes and patterns that just blend into the perfect illusion of a witch or ghost or pumpkin. They have a mysterious quality that keeps the reader fully aware that this is a subject that is spooky as the subject matter. This is a fun read for a class or a family just before this fun holiday. And really, the poems are spooky, but not all that scary.

What to Do After Reading This Book:
Talk about Halloween and dressing up in costumes.
Go trick-or-treating.
Make a Halloween poem about your favorite Halloween symbol.
Decorate a pumpkin.