Giggling Ghosts, Spooky Tales & Tons of Fun In "Let's Celebrate Halloween"!
Written: Apr 20 '05 (Updated Mar 21 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Entertaining and educational!
Cons: Some of the jokes are way too corny!
The Bottom Line: Learn about the history of Halloween, get some funny jokes and plan your party with this very cool book!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Peter Roop - Let's Celebrate Halloween |
Have you ever wondered why people carve pumpkins? Curious about how Halloween started? Why do people wear costumes on Halloween? Need some ideas for your spooky party? You’ll get all this and more in the “Let’s Celebrate Halloween” book by Peter and Connie Roop. When I first got this book I figured it was some cheesy joke type book that contained little bits and pieces of information about the holiday and not much more. Had I not cracked it open a few years ago and checked out what else it had to offer I might have missed out on some very cool stuff. Like most of the other children’s Halloween books in my collection, this one was a gift from a friend who knew that I couldn’t pass up anything related to the spookiest of seasons. It’s a fun book to read and offers you some easy to read but highly detailed explanations about why Halloween is celebrated, what people do in other countries and of course, some of the silliest jokes around. For me, Halloween is more than trick-or-treating, decorating the house or scaring people – it’s time that I get to spend with my kids [when they aren’t away at school that is], in the kitchen baking up a storm and walking around with a goofy grin on my face 24 hours a day.
Let’s Celebrate Halloween
This is a great book for kids in the six to ten year old range; it doesn’t have a lot of complicated text to wade through and they will all love the jokes that pop up every few pages. There is a really nice section in the back of the book for adding things to a party so if you are planning on hosting an event, you will want to check out what Peter and Connie have cooked up for you. The book really makes Halloween a well rounded experience; it gives some historical information on how the holiday came to be as well as the story of how the “Jack O Lantern” happened. The version that they tell in this book sis a little different from the one that we heard growing up but in this day and age most kids don’t even bother to ask “how” or “when” it was created which is really sad. I hate to say, “kids these days” because it makes me feel two days older than dirt but it’s true, kids today really miss out on a lot of the historical points of the holiday. They assume that it’s all about who can get the most candy or pull the most pranks without getting caught.
One thing that I really liked was how the authors tie in other countries when they are talking about the holiday. I had no idea that people in India bury camel bones under their doors to keep spirits out or that Germans call nightmares a ‘goblin squeeze’. Just when you think you know all there is to know about Halloween you come across stuff like this! Some parents who are religious might not care for the section about Samhain because of the stigmata that is attached to it but this is a historical perspective that deals with the eventual addition of All Saints Day onto the calendar. You also get a nice little primer about ghosts, how people thought of them in “the old days” and what a poltergeist is. One of my favorite sections has to be the history of pumpkin carving. I knew a little about the Irish carving turnips but never knew why they made the transition to pumpkins when they came to America. Another great topic to read about is witches and why they come out on Halloween. This gives a really good explanation of it and helps to debunk some of the stereotypes about modern witches.
What would a good Halloween book be without mentioning Dracula and bats? Not a very good one if you ask me! Even though there are only a few paragraphs about the original Dracula [Prince Vlad that is] its still nice to see that kids are learning something about ‘history’ while they are have a few laughs at the jokes. Mixed in with the jokes are one and two sentence “quick facts” [at least that’s what I call them] that give kids little bits of trivial information – who knows – someday that might lead to them winning the million dollar prize on a game show. One of my favorites is “People believed that cat bones made you invisible”. I hate cats … hummm … I wonder if that little fable is true … if my neighbors cat suddenly goes missing … hummm. Even though I hate cats I don’t think I could go so far as to kill on to try to get the answer to that one. There really is a lot of useful information about the holiday in this book and it is the kind of thing that you can pick up, open to a random page and start reading. Everything is summed up on one or two pages so you don’t have chapters to deal with.
There are some fun arts and craft things in the back of the book – face painting [doll, clown, elephant, ghoul], making your own costume [superhero, witch, cat], paper bag masks and even some nifty safety tips for the younger kids. Some of the crafts are great to keep kids entertained while the adults are having fun but most of them are for before you go trick or treating. The “Haunted House Treat Box” is a good one and doesn’t require a ton of supplies to complete. You also get instruction on how to make “Creepy, Crawly Spiders”, recipes for roasted pumpkin seeds and caramel apples and one of my personal favorites – how to make a creepy, slimy, utterly gross to the max monster. At the end of the book there are a few cute songs that kids can sing and a very cool poem that sounds great when you read it in a soft voice to the wee ones. Just remember to scream out the last line of it to scare the snot out of them!
The Bottom Line
This is a very cute book for kids of all ages to check out. The information about the historical stuff is something that will appeal to older kids while the jokes and quick facts will keep the younger ones entertained. This is the perfect balance between entertainment and education – kids are learning a lot about the holiday without realizing it and my motto is this .. if you make learning fun they’ll remember more of what they are learning about. The illustrations that appear throughout the entire book are very colorful and enchanting, none of them are outright scary or demonic and in most cases kids will be rolling on the floor at them. If you are looking for a good book to teach kids about all aspects of Halloween then this is a great pick. Perfect for homeschoolers, teachers and caregivers!
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
Other Halloween books for kids …
Halloween Fun Activity Book
Little Halloween Activity Book
The Hallo-Wiener
Halloween Night on Shivermore Street
Rookie Read-About Holidays: Halloween
Spooky America
Days of The Dead
The Halloween Book
Crafts For Halloween
Aunt Eaters Mystery Halloween
Minnie And Moo Meet Frankenswine
The Halloween House
Recommended:
Yes
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