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The Perfectly Horrible Halloweenby Nancy Poydar Ages 4-8 Buy on Amazon Arnold has the perfect costume for Halloween. With his eye patch, beard, earring, and sword, he'll be a frightening pirate. He just knows that he's going to be voted "Scariest of All" at his class party. But on the big day he leaves his costume on the school bus! Now Arnold's Halloween will be really horrible! Or will it? |
Halloween in the classroom is Poydar's setting, and her lively pencil-and-gouache artwork captures the chaotic fun of dressing up for a perfectly horrible day. Arnold wants to win the prize for scariest of all, but he accidentally leaves his pirate costume on the school bus, and instead of acting bold and mean, he's just sad. The other pupils in Room 13 dress up for the party--there's a wizard, a headless horsewoman, a princess, a clown, a dancer, etc. Arnold feels invisible as he hides under the classroom painting cloth--until he discovers the best monster costume of all and scares everyone. Kids will enjoy Arnold's triumph even as they see that this is a day when you can do your own thing and win. — Booklist
After Arnold forgets his pirate outfit on the bus, he abandons hope of being "Scariest of All" at his school costume party. He improvises a bug suit, but a "headless horsewoman" and a Harry Potter lookalike laugh at him. Feeling dejected, he crawls under a paint-spattered dropcloth... only to be mistaken for a ghost. Success! In unpolished but emotion-rich gouaches of a classroom, Poydar (Mailbox Magic) shows how Arnold's braggadocio hides his vulnerability. Arnold isn't lovable, but his lonely situation rings true. — Publishers Weekly