Marisa Montes, illustrated by Yuyi Morales,
Los Gatos Black on Halloween
Henry Holt, 2006.

Ages 4-6

Black cats, a mummy, witches, skeletons, zombies and other creatures join the march toward a haunted casa on Halloween night in Marisa Montes's mood piece that weaves Spanish words into the rhyming text. The tension mounts in the spooky narrative until . . . " Las brujas boogie, muertos bop, / Los esqueletos do the hop." It's a party! But it turns out that in the midst of all the festive dancing, the worst is yet to come: "RAP! RAP! RAP!" At the door is what every monster fears most: "Of all the horrors they have seen, / The WORST are kids on Halloween!" Yuyi Morales's richly hued illustrations are both ghoulish and frightfully funny, and wonderfully extend both the eeriness and humor of Montes's story. A glossary and pronunciation guide for the Spanish words is included.

Megan Schliesman
October 2006