Posted on by TracyC

The Spooky Halloween Party

SpookyHalloween

The Spooky Halloween Party by Annabelle Prager, illustrated by Tomie de Paola, 1981.

This book was an old Halloween favorite of mine when I was a kid.  It’s funny, slightly spooky, and has a bit of a twist ending!

Albert’s friend, Nicky, is inviting all of their friends plus his cousin Suzanne to a spooky Halloween party at his new apartment on Halloween night.  Albert hasn’t been to his new apartment yet, and Nicky says that it’s going to be really scary because he wants everyone to come in costume and to not tell anyone what they’re going to be so that everyone will be surprised when they take off their masks at the end of the evening.

SpookyHalloweenNickysParty

Albert doesn’t think Nicky’s party is going to be all that scary because he’s pretty confident that he’ll know who his friends are right away, even in costume.  Some of them have already given him hints.  Nicky was practicing going, “Whoo, whoo!” in order to scare people, so Albert knows that, whatever his costume is, it’s something that makes that sound.  Jan called up and asked Albert if he had an old mop that she could borrow, so he thinks that she’s probably going to be a witch and that she just got confused, thinking that witches carry mops instead of brooms.  Dan told Albert straight out that he’s going as a pirate because he doesn’t see the point in keeping his identity a secret.  So, Albert isn’t expecting any real surprises at Nicky’s party.

As for Albert’s costume, he’s tired of wearing the usual old clothes in the dress-up box, so he decides that this time, he’ll wear the box itself.  He cuts holes for his eyes and arms and decorates it so that he looks like a robot.  Almost completely covered by the box, he’s sure that everyone will have a harder time guessing his identity than he will theirs.

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When Albert arrives at Nicky’s new apartment house, he meets a girl dressed like a princess in the elevator.  She says that she’s going to the Halloween party on the fifth floor, and when Albert says that he is too, she suggests that they walk there together.  Albert guesses that she is Nicky’s cousin, Suzanne, who he hasn’t met before.

The apartment is pretty spooky, lit by jack o’lanterns, and there are already some guests there.  Albert is a little surprised that he doesn’t see a pirate, but there are a couple of witches and an owl, who could be Nicky.  Yet, when Albert tries to talk to the other guests, they seem to be acting strangely, and he realizes that he’s not quite sure who is really who.

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The princess is pretty spooked, and as the party goes around the apartment house, trick-or-treating, she kind of clings to Albert.  When some strange noises and a far-away “Whoo, whoo” sound startle her, Albert reassures her that it’s only Nicky in his owl costume.  Then, the princess tells him that she knows the owl, and it’s not Nicky.  That’s when Albert really starts getting scared, wondering why he doesn’t seem to know his own friends.

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The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction and Spoilers

The reason why Albert doesn’t seem to know anyone becomes apparent when they unmask themselves after trick-or-treating.  Albert is really among strangers!  The princess isn’t Nicky’s cousin at all, and he followed her to the wrong Halloween party!  There were two Halloween parties on the fifth floor that night.  Nicky lives in apartment C, and Albert accidentally joined the party in apartment B.  Fortunately, Albert’s friends are also trick-or-treating around the apartment building and show up at that moment.

What started out as a potentially embarrassing mistake actually ends up making the evening more fun for everyone.  Albert’s mix-up brought an element of real suspense to both of the Halloween parties, with him wondering who everyone really was, the guests at the wrong party wondering who he was, and all of Albert’s friends wondering where he was.  Also, Albert gets some new friends out of this experience, and both parties end up combining into one big party at Nicky’s apartment.

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Race isn’t important to the story and is never mentioned, but I’d just like to say that I appreciated the diversity of characters in the pictures.  Albert is black and so is Jan (you can see that when she isn’t wearing her clown costume), and the boy in the owl costume looks like he might be Asian.  I also really love that owl costume!  I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen anyone dress as an owl for Halloween, but it looks awesome!

Posted on by TracyC

The Sly Spy

Olivia Sharp, Agent for Secrets

OSSpy

The Sly Spy by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat, 1990.

Someone has been trying to steal Olivia’s business by covering up her flyers with ones that say E.J.’s Spy Service. At the same time, Olivia’s friends are trying to keep Desiree’s birthday present a secret even though she has been snooping at their houses to find out what it is.

Olivia’s friends bought her a pet canary because she said that she likes feathers, and they ask Olivia to hide it at her penthouse until the party. However, it looks like Desiree has hired E.J. to spy on her friends and discover what they’re giving her for her birthday.  Olivia has to outwit the spy and prove to him that some cases aren’t worth taking.

In a way, this story is kind of like business ethics for kids.  First, covering up Olivia’s ads to prevent her from getting business was a form of unfair competition.  Then, when Olivia points out to E.J. that he also has a surprise present to give to Desiree, she helps him to understand why the other kids want to keep their present a secret.  It wasn’t really ethical for E.J. to take Desiree’s case in the first place since it would be better for her to be surprised on her birthday.  Olivia makes sure that E.J. only has a vague notion about what Desiree’s present actually is, and he figures out what to tell Desiree so that he can fulfill his duty to her without giving away the surprise.

Posted on by TracyC

The Best Halloween Ever

BestHalloweenEverThe Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson, 2004.

Every year on Halloween, the Herdmans, who are the wildest, most awful kids in town, run amuck, vandalizing things, stealing, and bullying other kids out of their Halloween candy.  This year, the mayor has decided that he’s had enough of the chaos they cause, so he’s just going to cancel Halloween all together.  Although he doesn’t specifically name the Herdmans as the source of all the Halloween destruction, everyone in town knows that they are.  So, to the shock and dismay of all the other kids, there will be no trick-or-treating this year.

Instead, there will a safe, well-supervised (boring), school Halloween party.  The principal, who always hated Halloween anyway, isn’t happy about it, but admits that it would be better to have a party for the kids at school, with their parents present and helping out, than having them run wild in the streets with the Herdmans on the loose.  But, as every kid knows, running wild in the streets is really the heart of Halloween.  They long for the freedom of roaming the streets without adult supervision, for collecting candy to sort and trade (and, admittedly, lose to the Herdmans eventually), for staying up late, and for the surprises and magic of a real Halloween.

There isn’t going to be anything surprising or magical or even really scary about Halloween at the school.  All the kids already know that the monsters are just their parents and teachers in costume.  The only real benefit that they see to the event is that the Herdmans won’t be there because they say it sounds too boring.  But, with the Herdmans, nothing is ever what anyone would expect, and they not only show up but find a way to turn the event into something that brings back some of the surprises and real Halloween spirit that were missing from a party that was too well-organized and predictable.

Although the Herdmans are a large part of the reason why Halloween is difficult for everyone and the adults try so hard to control it, they manage to redeem themselves a little in the eyes of the other children by taking the events of the night out of the adults’ hands.  Before the other kids know it, strange things start happening at the party with a cat on the loose, worms in the witches’ brew, and children starting to disappear.  As the kids puzzle about these things and wonder where some of the other kids went, things start getting scarier (like they should on Halloween), and they find themselves following mysterious figures through the school in the middle of a black-out with a special surprise waiting for them . . .

I don’t think that this book was quite as good as the others in the series, but it was still fun.  Beth, the narrator, is correct in saying that the well-supervised Halloween party was really more for the adults than the kids.  To the adults, Halloween is kind of a bother, and sometimes, they act like all the kids, not just the Herdmans, get in their way even as they plan the school Halloween party.  At one point, Beth’s mother reminds Alice’s mother that the whole idea of the party is to do something for the children, not the adults.

The adults are so worried about keeping things orderly, safe, and convenient that they become too controlling.  Even on normal Halloweens, some of them have a tendency to overrule the kids on what they want to wear as costumes, with parents often insisting on costumes that are the least amount of bother for them to help with.  Louella’s mother insists that Louella be a pilgrim year after year just because she won a free costume once, even though Louella hates it. Really, what most of the kids like about Halloween is that it is usually a night for them, not the adults.  The kids chafe as the adults insist that they go to their orderly Halloween party and like it.  In real life, most adults know that forced fun isn’t really fun at all.

In the end, the Herdmans return all the candy that they had taken from the other kids over the last Halloweens.  Although the other kids find the Herdmans’ secret candy stash a treasure trove, much of the candy is stale.  They can eat some of it (which grosses me out, considering how old it probably is), and they have fun sorting and counting the rest.  But, the best treat for the kids was adding a sense of unpredictability and suspense to the night to bring back the real Halloween feeling.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.