Book Nook - AlphaOops! H is for Halloween

AlphaOops!  H is for Halloween, written by Alethea Kontis, illustrated by Bob Kolar:




You know what's really sad?  My days of picture books are numbered.  Our Bachsters are very slowly starting to gravitate towards chapter books and novels instead of picture books.  I've even heard our oldest DD call picture books "baby" books.  Now, they all 3 still read or look through just about every picture book that I bring home.  But I've recently noticed that the picture books are fewer in numbers lately than the chapter books, and our bedtime stories are rarely picture books these days. 

Sniff.  Our babies are growing up!

AlphaOops! H is for Halloween holds a special place in my heart because our Little Dude, who is 5, really likes this book.  Last year, we got it for him at the library and he really took to it, asking me to read it to him again and again.  He is the least book-y out of all the Bachsters, so any book that he loves, I love because it gets him excited about books.  The fact that this book is a real pleasure to read and the pictures are adorable just makes it all that much better.  In fact, he ended up getting this book as a Christmas gift, so he can enjoy the Halloween-alphabet-silliness year round.

Since this is an alphabet book, it starts with the letter A, or it should.  The first page shows us apples waiting on the letter A to make his appearance, but apparently, he's not ready yet and asks H to go first.  Which makes sense, because this is not only an alphabet book, but a Halloween one.   Next, we have "Z is for zombie" and "N is for nightmare.  K is for kraken.  P is for pirate."  Poor B has all of his ideas taken!

Even though the order of the letters is crazy, there's a cute little square-headed guy at the bottom of each page that brings out a pumpkin with the new letter on it and puts them all in order.  He even takes a coffee break at one point.  As you can tell, there's a lot of humor throughout the book.  The Bachsters and I especially love the page where the letter P is consoling a jack-o-lantern, who looks distraught.  P says, "sorry, Jack.  J can't pick you every time."  It turns out that J is for jitters....not jack-o-lantern!

The pictures are all done in a spooky-cutsie style with great colors throughout.  There's a lot to look at on every page, with all those letters of the alphabet all saying funny little things off to the side.  All this makes for a picture book that you'll want to read over and over, no matter if you've outgrown picture books or not.

-Cheryl