Review by Booklist Review
Halloween and haunted-house enthusiasts will delight in this lavishly illustrated, laugh-out-loud picture book about a boy who loves Halloween so much that he tries to celebrate it year-round. The boy, Sammy, lives with his parents and two siblings on a farm, and every fall they convert their red barn into a haunted house loaded with fiendishly clever tricks and effects. The digital-media illustrations are appropriately lurid, glowing with yellows, oranges, purples, and blacks. But for Sammy, Halloween ends far too soon, so he proceeds to Halloweenify every holiday with spooky touches, like carving the Thanksgiving turkey like a jack-o-lantern or arranging zombie snowmen outside the window for Christmas. Finally, his siblings channel Sammy's energies into planning the next haunted house, and teamwork saves the day.--Connie Fletcher Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Trial and error meets trick-or-treat in this story of a Halloween high achiever. Sammy's family is known for having "the biggest, creepiest, jump-scariest haunted house in the neighborhood." But Sammy, the youngest, wants to do more than dress up for the festivities-he wants to be in on the actual planning. When his father says yes despite his brother and sister's objections ("You're too little to come up with anything creepy or cool!"), Sammy spends the entire next year consumed by iterations. "Every birthday party, sleepover, and family celebration saw the testing of new ideas," writes Petrik (Johnny Works with One Hammer)-which means a zombie performance at Christmas and a surfeit of spiders on "Hallow-Easter." But he wins over his skeptical siblings and becomes a full-fledged collaborator on a memorable haunted house. Broadly comic digital illustrations follow the narration closely as the relentlessly Halloween-obsessed protagonist propels the story forward. Ages 3-7. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Sammy's Halloween tricks are no treat for his family when they last the whole year. The Loomis family really goes all out on Halloween, their haunted house putting all others to shame. But no one loves the holiday more than Sammy, the youngest child. In fact, the day after Halloween, he's already planning improvements for next year's celebration, and he practices them on his hapless family. But the Thanksgiving turkey carved like a jack-o'-lantern doesn't impress, the zombie Christmas is a dud, and the Frankenstein Fourth of July is the last straw: No more Halloween until the rest of the family is ready. But at this point, Sammy's older siblings recognize his good ideas and offer to help him refine the ones that are not so awesome, and this year's haunted house is the best ever. Sibling cooperation, parental recognition of hard work, and Sammy's stick-to-itiveness give this book a little something extra beyond just a funny Halloween tale. Petrik's digital illustrations have a Saturday morning-cartoon aesthetic. The Loomises all present white, and the sister and mother wear glasses. Perseverance has its rewards. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
