THE LITTLE OLD LADY WHO WAS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING by Linda Williams

PUBLISHER: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1986
GENRE: Children's fiction
READ FREE: link
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: A little old lady who is not afraid of anything must deal with a pumpkin head, a tall black hat, and other spooky objects that follow her through the dark woods trying to scare her.

MY THOUGHTS: I liked this. The lady doesn't look old at all so the illustrator could have done better at that. I should have suspected what would happen at the end but didn't. This has nothing to do with Halloween but because of the pumpkin it makes me think of it. My favorite image is below.

SCARY, SCARY HALLOWEEN by Eve Bunting

PUBLISHER: Clarion, 9/1986
GENRE: Children's fiction
READ: link
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: I peer outside, there’s something there that makes me shiver, spikes my hair. 

It must be Halloween. Green eyes watch from the dark as skeletons dance, goblins skip, and ghosts float by. Come along to find a scary, scary surprise! With rhythm, rhyme, and just the right amount of fright, this is the perfect spooky story to share on Halloween!

MY THOUGHTS: This is cute and very short. Seems like it was over before it even began. It's a rhyming picture book that's in full color with very nice illustrations and my favorite is posted below. Click on it to enlarge. The endpapers are very colorful. Every other page has text that matches with what's going on in the illustration, which is a trick or treater.

A DARK, DARK TALE by Ruth Brown

PUBLISHER: Dial Books, 1981
GENRE: Children's fiction
READ FREE: link
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: Journeying thorough a dark, dark house, a black cat surprises the only inhabitant of the abandoned residence.

MY THOUGHTS: Despite the title this isn't a dark tale. It's your typical picture book with just a couple lines of text on every other page. There's no moral to the tale. I absolutely love the illustrations, every one. They're gloomy and spooky and only a couple are colorful. My favorite image is below. Click on it to enlarge.

BONY-LEGS by Joanna Cole

PUBLISHER: Four Winds, 1983
GENRE: Children's Fiction
READ: link
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: When a terrible witch vows to eat her for supper, a little girl escapes with the help of a mirror and comb given to her by the witch's cat and dog.

MY THOUGHTS: I like this a lot. It's very short, 40 pages, and clearly inspired by Hansel and Gretel. There's minimal text on each page with illustrations on each page. The witch with teeth of iron spends her days waiting for children to come near so she can eat them. Sasha, the little girl who goes in search of needle and thread for her aunt, almost falls victim to the witch. I really like the cleaver things the author did with the comb and mirror. I really wish this story had been at least twice as long. My favorite image from the book is below. Click on it to enlarge.