Los Gatos Black on Halloween
Grade 1-4–Montes smoothly incorporates Spanish terms into a rhythmic poem describing a moonlit Halloween night.Los esqueletosrattle bones and clatter in a dance,los fantasmasdrag their chains and shriek their pains, andlos muertosemerge from their graves to join other creatures at a hauntedcasafor music and dancing. However, the party stops dead with the arrival of trick-or-treaters, which causes the frightened spooks to hide, for The thing that monsters most abhor/Are humanniñosat the door! The full-bleed paintings create a creepy mood with curving lines, fluid textures, and dusky hues. Rounded figures dance across the atmospheric spreads, which depict blank-faced skeletons, a toothy werewolf, and a child zombie with glowing eyes. The pictures are eerie enough to tingle spines, but the effect is leavened with bits of humor (witches perform skateboard tricks on their brooms, a vampire admires himself in a mirror that reflects only his clothing). The poems cadenced rhymes and descriptive language build suspense until the satisfying ending. Spanish words are easy to understand in context, but are also defined in a glossary with pronunciation guides. This book is just right for children who are beginning to find typical Halloween fare a bit too tame.–Joy Fleishhacker,School Library JournalCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.