Review: Black and Bittern Was Night by Robert Heidbreder

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Halloween has arrived, but so have spooky skul-a-mug-mugs who frighten the grown-ups into calling off trick-or-treating. It's up to the kids to take back the night! Told in nonsense verse, this scare-fest will have you yak-yawling with fun!

MY TAKE:
I don't read a lot of nonsense-rhyme books, so I thought this might be an interesting book to try.

In Black and Bittern Was Night, skul-a-mug-mugs are threatening a town and Halloween looks cancelled. The kids don't take this lying down, though, and they put up a fight against the skul-a-mug-mugs.

Reading a nonsense-rhyme book was pretty strange for me. You don't really know most of the words, even though they're mostly mish-mashed real words, but you can still sort of understand where the story is going. Because Halloween is spooky and strange, I guess there's no better topic to use rhymes like these with.

The plot was just okay for me, as the summary reveals pretty much everything. The book's magic is really in the words and how they combine with the illustrations.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the e-ARC.

THE GOOD:

1. You can still understand the story.
2. Nonsense words are fun to say.
3. It's a fun book for kids to read out loud.

THE BAD:

1. The illustration style may not work for everyone.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

Their ghost-civverns off,
in sweetens heap-deep,
they miggled with big-ones
of SKUL-A-MUG creep.

READ IT IF:

1. Your kid is just starting to learn how to read.
2. You want to encourage your child to read aloud.
3. Your kid likes Halloween.

RATING:


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