Lets explore a haunted farm.
Three pale-skinned trick-or-treaters set off. Conroys verse is inspired by Old MacDonald, making this one a bouncy read-aloud, but this farms a bit more unsettling than the one from the beloved nursery rhyme. Supernatural sounds (With a growl-growl here / and a howl-howl there) and the refrain, Eeek-I! Eeek-I! Oh! anchor the text. In Ilics jaggedly stylized illustrations, the kids pass wolves, a scarecrow (and three spiky, smugly undeterred crows) guarding a maze filled with toothy mummies, a witch with rat and cat familiars, and stark, ghost-inhabited trees. Finally, skeletons panic the trio, who abandon their candy-filled buckets. Seeking refuge, they find a derelict barn filled with darting bats. But waitwhats going on inside? Its a Halloween party, with cobwebs and light-string decorations and all the creepy critters they encountered earlier grinning and dancing to more festive sounds (With a boogie here / and a box step there). Neon-green backgrounds melt into iridescent blue, then shocking fuchsia and fierce crimson, elevating the appropriately eerie, expressionist art. A black cat lurks on virtually every pageyet another element to invite enthusiastic reader participation.
Slightly scary, entirely entertaining interactive Halloween fun. (Picture book. 4-8)--Kirkus Reviews
