Bikini Bottom is usually a peaceful place; the inhabitants get along for the most part and every always seems to be having a good time. Sure they have some troubles now and then but it's nothing that a Crabby Patty can't fix. While most adults look at a show like SpongeBob SquarePants and think it's mind numbing, brain rotting eye candy that will surely make their children into automatons, from my point of view, it's pretty freakin' cool. When you compare it to other shows that are on at the same time, it has a lot less violence, characters that have character and interesting plots. My friend Tommy has been one of the many people that has sent me books with Halloween themes so when I saw the post mark on the oversized mailer, I knew that it contained some goodies for me. Tucked inside were four books, all of which were for kids but they were Halloween themed nonetheless. After getting a huge thrill from SpongeBob SquarePants: The Haunted Halloween Carnival, I had the feeling that "The Big Halloween Scare" would be just as fun to read.

The Big Halloween Scare

I know a few kids that are scared to death of anything that even looks like SpongeBob; they are pretty young so the idea of a talking sponge is something that freaks them out. This is part of an awesome "Ready To Read" series; it's listed as a level two book for kids that have learned to read independently but in my opinion, there are some things that they might need help with. Even more so if they aren't familiar with all the characters that appear on the television show. The whole story revolves around SpongeBob being anxious about Halloween and the fact that he can never get away with scaring anyone. When he tries out a test run as a ghost, everyone laughs at him. If you have any doubt that SpongeBob is a little spineless when it comes to spooky thing, he almost goes through the roof of his pineapple when Patrick arrives wearing a Groucho Marx pair of glasses, moustache and large nose.

"I always get scared on Halloween. Everybody calls me SpongeBob ScaredyPants. I wish I could be scary"

When his first try at being a ghost doesn’t work SpongeBob goes to drastic measures and tells Patrick to 'shave him down'. Now, if you are a fan of the show you know that Patrick isn’t exactly the character you want near you with anything shape. Even though SpongeBob is technically a sponge, you would need something sharp to cut through it. You don't find out exactly how much Patrick took off until the end of the book but I will say this, if you ever wondered what SpongeBob looked like without the sponge, you do get to see it in this book. The ghost that SpongeBob is trying to impersonate is none other than the Flying Dutchman, without a doubt one of the scariest characters on the show. With the Halloween party in full swing, more than a few jokes float around about SpongeBob being too scared to show up for the festivities.

The joke is one everyone because SpongeBob and Patrick are on the roof of the Krusty Krab getting ready to scare the life out of everyone. That would have been a great plan had a pesky little jellyfish not swam by at that exact moment. As you may guess, Patrick dropped SpongeBob [trying his hardest to do an impersonation of the Flying Dutchman] and everyone found out that it was SpongeBob. Then there is a real turn of events when the real life Flying Dutchman shows up to give SpongeBob some pointers on being scary. When a ghost tells you that you aren't scary you know that you really need to work on your 'scare tactics' but once again, SpongeBob has the last laugh. When the Dutchman says that he is going to eat SpongeBob you sort of think that he is a goner but first the Dutchman wants him to take off the sheet.

As you may have guessed from my previous mention, Patrick isn’t the person that you want to trim you down if you are a sponge. It seems that he took his chore a little too far and cut SpongeBob down to almost nothing; when he takes off the sheet and you get to see the real SpongeBob, it's a little on the creepy side. He still had his pants on but you really have to wonder how they are being held up because Patrick really trimmed a lot of the sponge away. I won’t give away the rest of the story but suffice it to say, I doubt any of the inhabitants of Bikini Bottom ever made fun of SpongeBob or said that he didn’t have the ability to be scary again.

The Bottom Line

This is a book that kids of all ages will really get a kick out of. The story doesn’t take that long to read so it's a great thing for teachers to have when Halloween time rolls around and they want something to read when working on craft projects or to get into the Halloween spirit. There's nothing all that scary in the book but some kids might get a little freaked out when they see SpongeBob without the sponge. Who would have ever thought that he had a brain that big? All of the illustrations in the book are full color and are dead on to what you see on the show and in the films. The soft cover book has a suggested retail price of $3.99 and is recommended for children ages five through eight but that is just a suggestion. This is part of an awesome series of books for kids; with reading level and a wide variety of titles and topics, they are books that kids are going to love reading.


As always, thanks for the visit…

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2006 Freak369


Related reviews

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Haunted Halloween Carnival
Scooby-Doo And The Legend of The Vampire
Scooby Doo Mystery Mask Mix Up

Fluffy's Happy Halloween
The Thirteen Days of Halloween
The Best Halloween Hunt Ever
Minnie And Moo Meet Frankenswine
Halloween Night on Shivermore Street
The Hallo-Wiener
In The Haunted House



Recommended: Yes