Halloweena - Hardcover

Miriam Glassman is the author of the middle-grade novel, Box Top Dreams. She lives in Framingham, Massachusetts, with her husband and two candy corn-loving daughters. This is her first picture book.

reSchool-Grade 3-For the witch Hepzibah, life in her tower eating burned cupcakes and keeping people away is paradise. Then her world is turned topsy-turvy with the arrival of a human baby, sent by her sister. Named Halloweena for the day she arrived, the little girl proves a challenge for the witch, who must give up "her wild nights out with the ghouls." Despite Hepzibah's best efforts, by the time she is six years old, little Halloweena wants to meet the children who trick-or-treat at her house each year. Hepzibah tries to cook up a few friends, but Halloweena comes up with just the magic to get all the companions she needs-a cornfield with "gleaming stalks" of candy "rising high into the sky." Roberts's winsome pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations are full of witchy details like bat pajamas, the broom equivalent of a tricycle, and a cobweb canopy on the crib. Even the endpapers have a delightful chorus line of beasties in witches' hats. Use this with Caralyn and Mark Buehner's A Job for Wittilda (Dial, 1993; o.p.) and one of Tomie dePaola's "Strega Nona" books (Putnam) for a merry witch program.
Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library, CT
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