Halloween Pie
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Ages 3^-7. On Halloween night Old Witch bakes a pumpkin pie, places it on her window sill to cool, and flies off to make some mischief. While she's away, the scent of her delicious creation awakens a vampire, a ghoul, a ghost, a banshee, a zombie, and a skeleton, who devour her dessert, fall asleep, and magically transform into the ingredients needed to make another pie. The graveyard creatures are just creepy enough to delight children who beg for a scary story. Tunnell's use of repetition ("Give me some pie!") will encourage story-hour participation, and O'Malley's oil wash-and-ink illustrations suit the ghoulish tone of the text. Adults will appreciate both the tombstone inscriptions and the recipe for pumpkin pie. --Kay Weisman

Six cemetery ghouls devour an aromatic pumpkin pie, unaware that a witch has hexed the dessert ("Protect this treat... for me alone to eat"). As banshee, zombie et al. enjoy a post-pastry siesta, the spell transforms them into baking ingredients. Tunnell (Mailing Mary) provides only tame surprises; a Halloween Pie recipe, at the end, turns out to be for an ordinary pumpkin pie. Working in shadowy ink crosshatching and oil wash, O'Malley (Leo Cockroach, Toy Tester) administers a scare with closeups of the slack-jawed, droopy-eyed midnight snackers. The story, like the pie, is lukewarm. Ages 4-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

PreS-Gr 3 Youngsters who like "scary stories" will find this selection deliciously shivery more from the look of the characters than from the plot. After inviting readers to join her, Old Witch bakes a pumpkin pie. She sets it to cool and casts a spell, "Protect this treat for me alone to eat," before taking off "to make some mischief." Its scent wafts its way to the cemetery, where a spooky ensemble follows it to the source and devours the dessert. Suddenly sleepy, each creature finds a spot in the house to snooze. When Witch arrives, neither the pie nor the uninvited guests can be found. Instead, one sees "a perfectly shaped pumpkin" where Vampire had been, "a dozen brown eggs" where Ghoul had slumbered, "a smidgen of salt" in place of Ghost just waiting to be baked into a new pie. While it is cooling, eerie, white monster wisps are released in the steam, and the creatures return to their homes, "their tummies still full of Halloween pie." Tunnell uses the repetitive actions of his six graveyard goons as an opportunity for alliteration and rhyme. O'Malley's oil washes with ink lines and cross-hatching create dark, shadowy backgrounds, so the florescent details pop out in the foreground. Thus, language and art combine to make this an effective choice for groups. A recipe is appended. When storytime audiences can stomach Erica Silverman's Big Pumpkin (S & S, 1992), and are ready to sample something a bit spicier, serve them Halloween Pie. Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A witch puts a spell on her freshly baked pumpkin pie to protect it from scavengers, but a vampire, ghoul, ghost, banshee, zombie, and skeleton find the pie irresistible. They stuff themselves, then fall asleep--and the spell transforms them into the various ingredients the witch needs to bake a new pie. The repetitive text and large spooky-comic illustrations make the tale a fine not-too-scary read-aloud. From HORN BOOK Spring 2000, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Ages 3^-7. On Halloween night Old Witch bakes a pumpkin pie, places it on her window sill to cool, and flies off to make some mischief. While she's away, the scent of her delicious creation awakens a vampire, a ghoul, a ghost, a banshee, a zombie, and a skeleton, who devour her dessert, fall asleep, and magically transform into the ingredients needed to make another pie. The graveyard creatures are just creepy enough to delight children who beg for a scary story. Tunnell's use of repetition ("Give me some pie!") will encourage story-hour participation, and O'Malley's oil wash-and-ink illustrations suit the ghoulish tone of the text. Adults will appreciate both the tombstone inscriptions and the recipe for pumpkin pie. ((Reviewed September 15, 1999)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews

PreS-Gr 3 Youngsters who like "scary stories" will find this selection deliciously shivery more from the look of the characters than from the plot. After inviting readers to join her, Old Witch bakes a pumpkin pie. She sets it to cool and casts a spell, "Protect this treat for me alone to eat," before taking off "to make some mischief." Its scent wafts its way to the cemetery, where a spooky ensemble follows it to the source and devours the dessert. Suddenly sleepy, each creature finds a spot in the house to snooze. When Witch arrives, neither the pie nor the uninvited guests can be found. Instead, one sees "a perfectly shaped pumpkin" where Vampire had been, "a dozen brown eggs" where Ghoul had slumbered, "a smidgen of salt" in place of Ghost just waiting to be baked into a new pie. While it is cooling, eerie, white monster wisps are released in the steam, and the creatures return to their homes, "their tummies still full of Halloween pie." Tunnell uses the repetitive actions of his six graveyard goons as an opportunity for alliteration and rhyme. O'Malley's oil washes with ink lines and cross-hatching create dark, shadowy backgrounds, so the florescent details pop out in the foreground. Thus, language and art combine to make this an effective choice for groups. A recipe is appended. When storytime audiences can stomach Erica Silverman's Big Pumpkin (S & S, 1992), and are ready to sample something a bit spicier, serve them Halloween Pie. Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.