Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that kids over 5 who expect Halloween to be spooky and scary will love this book. Younger readers might find some illustrations disturbing and some characters as well, including the walking dead and werewolves. Some of the English/Spanish rhyming text may be confusing. Spanish and English words are used interchangeably in the rhymes, and kids might pick up some vocabulary.
Families can talk about different Halloween traditions. Why do we dress up? Why do we carve pumpkins, look out for black cats, and worry about skeletons, witches, and ghouls? This also would be a good time to discuss Mexico's Dia de los Muertos and its traditions.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Patricia Tauzer
LOS GATOS BLACK ON HALLOWEEN is a remarkably original Halloween book that is especially enjoyable when read aloud. Each set of pages presents a cleverly written quatrain set playfully against the gray tones and rounded lines of the somewhat surrealistic illustrations.
"October's luna" leads a "slow and strange" monster parade dancing, flying, stalking, and creaking to the haunted mansion where the real party begins. Along the way, the reader has much to listen to and even more to see. Green eyes glow from the faces of the prancing black cats, yellow lights, shine like "spooky beacons" from carved "calabazas," while "los muertos" with "their cold, dead eyes" arise from their coffins.
The poetry finds perfect balance with the amazing paintings. Both are playfully humorous yet eerie and strange. Lines mix English and Spanish words, which flow musically against the backdrop of the spine-tingling illustrations to create a simple story in which traditions of an American Halloween intermingle with the Mexican Dia de los Muertos.
Montes adds a clever twist, drawing her story to an interesting conclusion that will surprise and entertain kids and adults alike.
From The Book
Los gatos black with eyes of green,
Cats slink and creep on Halloween.
With ojos keen that squint and gleam --
They yowl, they hiss...they sometimes scream.
Plot Summary:
Black cats, witches, skeletons, and ghouls come out on Halloween night, and at the midnight hour join other creatures of the night for a party in a haunted mansion.
They dance and party until, with a sudden "rap, rap, rap," they are interrupted by the scariest of intruders.
Related Books:
More Spooky Stuff:
The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson
Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld
Happy Halloween, Biscuit by Allyssa Capucilli
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Laura Williams
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