"Five Spooky Ghosts" The Perfect Pick For A Halloween Lapsit!

As I mentioned in a few other reviews, I picked up a lot of books at a yard sale a few months back. The lady must have really wanted to get rid of them because she handed me a paper bag and said I could buy as many books as I wanted [or would fit in the bag] for two dollars. Needless to say, I got a lot of awesome books that I'd never seen or heard of before and "Five Spooky Ghosts" was one of them. As soon as I saw it I knew that I was going to get it; the front of it has five not-so-spooky looking ghosts with five silly faces. Yeah, that's cute but it's the prismatic coloring of them that really makes them stand out. It's a thick cardboard book that's cut out in the shape of a house with the five ghosts surrounding the right side of it. Each time you flip a page you see the ghosts in different parts of the yard doing their own ghostly type thing. It takes about thirty seconds to read the entire thing but once you are done, something strange happens. You have this unnatural desire to start rhyming things the same way the author, Salina Yoon, did in the story.

Five spooky ghosts haunt a pumpkin patch
Four spooky ghosts play a game of catch

To most people this might seem like nothing more than a cute picture type book for younger kids to read around Halloween. In essence that's pretty much it but there are a lot of little things that really make this a very adorable book Details like the owl sitting in the tree watching the ghosts terrorize the cat, the flying bat with a cape and mask on and the grinning pumpkins on the last page. The illustrations are pretty basic but very fun and add a lot of impact to the story. A nice added touch is that when you flip a page, the number of ghosts you see drops by one. This can help with basic counting skills for the younger kids so you can work that into things when you are reading this with them. have them try to spot the cat or count the ghosts on each page, they can also count the trees, pumpkins, windows on the house or the number of stars in the sky.

Three spooky ghosts chase a big black cat
Two spooky ghosts are scared by a bat

When I got this copy it was in almost immaculate condition but truth be told, there's no way I would buy a copy of this new. The suggested retail price of it is $5.99 which is way too much for a picture book. If I had younger kids and I knew that they would read this over and over then I might buy it new but as it stands, it's going to get put on the shelf with the other Halloween books and probably won't see any action until October rolls around. It is well made with thick reinforced binding and printed in full rich color on cardboard but paying six dollars for this [plus tax] isn't something that I'd do unless I had younger kids or an obscene amount of money.

One spooky ghost yells, "boo!" for all to hear.
He flies high and low, spreading Halloween cheer!

About the only downside to this book is the ghosts, not so much the ghosts themselves but the fact that eventually they are going to get dented or bent. That pretty much comes with the territory when you are buying a book that has a cut out shape to it but because the ghosts stick out like tabs, that makes them even more susceptible to damage. I'd suggest shelving this rather than tossing it in a toy box but even then there is a chance of the ghosts getting smashed up, it's a smaller book and I can see how easily it could get shoved to the back of a shelf on a bookcase.

The Bottom Line

All in all this is an extremely cute book, a nice choice for younger kids who are learning to count or those who know a few sight words. I still have some issues with the suggested price but since I got it at a yard sale I can't complain about it. The images in the book are very nice and will have kids giggling as they follow the ghosts on their little outdoor adventure. If you want to get more information about the author or other books in the Pierce Stern Sloan line visit the publishers website at www.penguin.com/youngreaders. This was published in 2005 so it isn't something that should be all that difficult to find but since it is a seasonal book, if you want to get it now you may have to order it from a website or visit a retail book store that carries a lot of out of season titles.


As always, thanks for the read!

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369



Other spooky, silly and scare-rrific books for kids ...

• My First Halloween Board Book • Halloween Night on Shivermore Street • Aunt Eaters Mystery Halloween • Minnie And Moo Meet Frankenswine • The Halloween House • Let's Celebrate Halloween • Fluffy's Happy Halloween • The Pumpkin Fair • In The Haunted House • Poultrygeist • Big Pumpkin • The Thirteen Days of Halloween • The Story of Halloween • The Best Halloween Hunt Ever • The Vampire Rabbit • In A Dark, Dark Room • Peek-A-Boooo! • Halloween Hats • Skeleton Hiccups •






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