review – Page 15 – Triple Take

J’s Take on Nonfiction “Halloween” Children’s Books

What follows are short reviews of nonfiction children’s books with ‘Halloween’ in their title. Let’s see if we spot any trends.

Halloween: Why We Celebrate It The Way We Do by Martin Hintz & Kate Hintz (1996)

A plain, old boring pumpkin on the cover of this. It might as well be a pumpkin book. Or an autumn book. Or, heck, Thanksgiving. Seriously, they couldn’t even be bothered to carve the thing?

Page 8 starts ‘wear for Halloween’. What happened to the first part of the sentence? I scan back. The previous two pages are pictures of two kids in costume. The line before that on the previous page is apparently a caption for another photo. Or something. Continue reading “J’s Take on Nonfiction “Halloween” Children’s Books”

J’s Take on Halloween

So for October, we decided to read a book with ‘Halloween’ in the title. “How hard can that be?” we thought. There must be thousands and thousands of books. We’ll have our pick of length and genre and author. We could read practically anything we wanted! Oh, how wrong we were!

The only science fiction and fantasy book in my library with ‘Halloween’ in the title was in the teen room. An Isaac Asimov anthology of sf/f Halloween stories. “So what?” you say. “Sounds perfect for you!” Yes, well, so perfect that I read it already!

The next closest things were R. L. Stine books. Which, not so much with the adult-ness. Or sf/f really either. More horror. For adult books, apart from perhaps one mystery, I’m left pretty much with some nonfiction titles. Such as a history of Halloween, or Halloween crafts. (And I was told if I reviewed a craft or cooking book, I’d have to actually craft or cook something from it. Sounds like work!)
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J’s Take on The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

We all hit on the scheme of each suggesting a book that the other two had to read. My suggestion was The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages. Little did I realize they’d want me to write a review of it too!

In the end, I decided not to reread the book. Not that I don’t have an interest in rereading it at some point. But I have too many books on my plate at the moment. Including a way-overdue review of my Alan Turing book. (Wait, was that really due in May?! Oops!)

So I’ll tell you why I suggested The Green Glass Sea and how I came to read it in the first place.

I first attended Wiscon in 2008. Although I had been thinking about it for a couple of years before that, when I’d see con reports and panel descriptions on my Livejournal friendslist. I even voted on panel suggestions in.. I think it was 2007. Though I didn’t attend that year. (I was unemployed and dead broke that year! So I took 6 weeks and went to California instead. ;) )
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Planetes 1-3 by Makoto Yukimura: B+

Planetes is the story of Hachirota Hoshino, dubbed â€œHachimakiâ€ by his crewmates for his propensity to wear a headband (hachimaki), who dreams of earning enough fame and fortune to buy his own spaceship and achieve complete freedom. As the series begins, however, heâ€™s part of a crew of â€œextraplanetary sanitation workersâ€ who clean up space debris.
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Halloween Rain by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder: C-

From the back cover:
Around Sunnydale, they say a scarecrow saturated with Halloween rain will come alive and slaughter anyone in sight. (Lovely place, Sunnydale.) Buffy’s best friends, Xander and Willow, used to think the tale was nonsenseâ€”but after a few adventures with Buffy, they’re not so sure.

Even without a maniacal scarecrow, a Sunnydale Halloween is a truly horrific happening. There are enough zombies and vampires about, ready to party hearty and eat some brains, to keep the Slayer and her friends up all night.

And then the rain starts to fall…
Continue reading “Halloween Rain by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder: C-“