Time for Halloween, Lambie

PreS-Gr 1–When Halloween comes around, Lambie, a one-eyed plushie sheep, is reluctant about everything, from decorating the house to picking a costume. Lambie’s owner, a yellow-haired little girl who is clearly exuberant about the festivities, has an answer to Lambie’s “But that’s scary” refrain as she makes the frightening skeleton dance, frosts the spooky cookies, and explains that parents will come along for trick-or-treating. After collecting massive amounts of candy, the duo asserts that “Halloween’s been lots of fun/ Let’s play again next year!” Turley’s simple rhyming verses and formulaic repetition of Lambie’s fears versus the girl’s solution will appeal to the youngest audience members who might be as daunted by Halloween as Lambie is. One downside to the layout of the text is some ambiguity as to whether the speaker on some of the pages is Lambie or the little girl. Though Parico’s homey, stylized, cartoonish illustrations do not clarify this confusion, they still brim with good cheer and excitement for the fun holiday.