(Review) The 13 Days of Halloween is Sure to Please!

Review by: Lauren

This parody of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” makes the perfect Halloween gift for little goblins. Its playful witty text and humorous illustrations will surely make it an instant classic. Ages 4 -8

Christmas might be coming up, but it’s Halloween that is the next holiday that upon us and as such, everyone should be celebrating this spooktastic event. You might have a smaller child who would like this book, but it’s also great to add to anyone’s collection if they liked the 12 days of Christmas story or want to gather some children’s book for future use or people they know. It’s perfect for anyone and everyone!

The story is obviously like the Christmas version, except these gifts aren’t exactly something you want to find under your tree: ghosts, vultures, spiders, and more! Also, they use the spooky number 13 instead of the more fun and “normal” 12 which is a great idea!

In the story, a man is giving all these gifts to a woman (a “good friend” but I’m thinking he’s trying to woo her in his own creepy way) and at the end, the woman wants to return the favor to him (day 13). I loved the fun take on this story for Halloween with all the crazy gift items, but it’s really the illustrations that should be noted in this book. After all, the pictures in a picture book are the main things that kids seem to first gravitate towards. This man and woman are green-skinned and wearing old-fashioned clothes, which I thought was great…after all, it’s a pretty late idea to give gifts to the one you wish to date and/or marry.

Every time a new gift is added, the other gifts are still there in the photos but they end up doing new things: hanging the ghosts on a clothes line, the vulture singing on top of a piano, and more. It’s great to look all over the page and find where each previous gift is now and what they are doing and with whom.

Another part of this book I enjoyed was the woman’s little dog. It’s the skeleton of a little puppy with little patches of pink fur. This wasn’t a gift from the man, but rather her own companion. He still accompanies her on practically every page however and I love that he seems to be a protector like most dogs can be. This little animal spends most of the book biting the man or growling in his direction. It’s a note you have to simply notice on your own but it’s sure to get some chuckles from those that point it out to their children.

Finally, the cover: You see the man and woman and even her little dog trying to bite the suitor, as well as a few of her gifts. I like books with raised letters or photos and this one has that. The title and the vulture’s head at the top (over the moon) are all sticking out so you can run your fingers over them. As you can see from the cover as well, these pictures are extremely fun, detailed, and very colorful.