Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquiried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. I am unsure how many books I’ll review for them as most are offered digitally rather than in print but this happily marks one of the blog tours where I could receive a print book for review purposes. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors.
I received a complimentary copy of “Hall-o-ween” direct from the author Tia Perkin in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On why I wanted to accept this Picture Book blog tour:
It has been quite a long while since I’ve had the joy of reading and reviewing Children’s Lit on a regular basis. I used to receive quite a few titles – some of which were picture books, like this one. However, in the past most of the picture books were in hardback – with the one exception, I received a printed but unbound copy of “The Blue Hour” from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer programme.
I’ve been missing being a champion of #KidsLit on Jorie Loves A Story – as I have such an eclectic curiosity about *stories!* – my readerly life wanders quite a bit through genre, style and voice as I continue to seek out what personally inspires me to read. This particular book just felt *right!* as it has a bit of cheeky humour whilst its celebrating one of my favourite holidays: HALLOWEEN! What could go wrong? lol I loved the illustrations as you’re about to find out, too!
Hall-o-ween
by Tia Perkiin
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
"Hall-O-Ween!" is a spooky little rhyming book about all the sweet bites and fun frights on Halloween day and night.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781732747203
Published by Self Published
on 1st October, 2018
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 38
This picture book is self-published
Converse via: #SpooktasticReads, #Halloween + #KidsLit with #PictureBook
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook
As this is a review of a charmingly lovely picture book celebrating the joyfulness of a beloved holiday [ie. Halloween!] I decided to write my review a bit differently than I have in the past when it comes to #KidsLit and especially, other picture books. This one is a fast and quick read – where the illustrations truly carry the story forward and I happily have images to share which show not just the illustrative styling of Ms Perkin’s but also, a bit about the little boy whose featured inside the story!
I truly love *Halloween!* – so when it came time to sort out if I wanted to join a blog tour celebrating one of my favourite holidays of Autumn, it was seriously a no-brainer! I mean, I’ve loved Halloween since I was quite a young girl – not just for the candy collecting as you visit with your neighbours and run into the neighbourhood kids on the same route; no, it had a heap to do with the costumes and the inventiveness of my parents to keep the costumes refreshingly new and unique! I also had a father who was active in Kiwanis International – which made my childhood Halloweens a bit more special as they would always sponsor the celebrations in the park – where you get to have a heap of candy in a safer environment than walking your neighbourhood (this pre-dates the malls which allowed children to go store to store) but you still had to get your candy checked at the ER (of course, we did!).
This first image brings back such wonderful memories of having a “full” jack-o-lantern container stuff to the gills (seriously!) of candy, chocolate and other assorted goodies – as even in the ’80s you had people who would try to dodge the candy issue! Laughs.
This is actually how the story begins – now, if you’ve noticed, I happen to *love!* owls – partially why I was thrilled to bits finding out about Harry Potter’s world because *owls!* play such a strong role in that environment but also because I’ve been smitten with the *real!* owls for most of my life! They have a way of presenting themselves to you with the most hootingly eerie methods to where it really can be a bit disconcerting to find an owl staring back at you! This one though is a more gentle spirit apparently – seeking to keep his perch, gently hooting his call to the moon and darkness of the woods – whilst inspiring you to sort out his contemplation’s all the same!
As you move through the book- the antics of this young boy grow a bit funnier because it is seriously a ‘day in the life’ of a family whose trying to make Halloween as special as it can be with a few startling surprises for their parents! Laughs. You can’t help but giggle when you see what happens but also, cleverly it really does rhyme and have a rhythm to how the words, phrases and story unfolds.
Being a dyslexic reader when I was quite young, I loved Children’s stories – from picture books to early chapter readers to illustrated gems like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. There are loads of lovelies I *had!* to read each night and this one would have been a charming addition round Halloween, as I was always into the spookier side of stories for Halloween; even as young as eight! Give me a firelight campside story involving ghosts or the creepier side of the holiday and I was one happy camper! Laughs.
The illustrations are bright, boldly coloured and illustrate everything the words and phrases are discussing – giving you dimension to the book and with an younger reader, there is enough room to decipher what is happening even before they can discern the words or phrases themselves.
The best bit to the whole story is how charmingly lovely it begins and ends! This is a family of three siblings and their parents who happen to love spending Halloween together! Their making memories and having heaps of fun in the process of seeking out the ‘best’ houses to seek candy and taking everything in stride – even if that means meeting a few monsters along the way and not letting Halloween’s quirkier side give them a frown! Tuck close to them and plan the activities you can do with your children as everyone gets into the mood of a festive holiday which celebrates the return of Autumn and the gentle lead-up into Winter’s renewing season!
This blog tour is courtesy of:
Reading this novel counted towards one of my reading challenges:
{SOURCES: Book cover for “Hall-o-ween, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Tia Perkint, the tour host badge, as well as the excerpt photos from “Hall-o-ween”, Prism Book Tours badges and/or banners were all provided by Prism Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers and My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. 2019 Beat the Backlist banner provided by Novel Knight and is used with permission. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review Banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Frank McKenna and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.
I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
Before #SpooktasticReads this October (via @WyrdAndWonder) – tuck into this delightfully told #PictureBook for #KidsLit – wherein the author/illustrator Tia Perkin delights young readers with a rhyming story of #Halloween JOY!🎃🍂+ #bookphoto extracts
👉https://t.co/CWbd06FY5d pic.twitter.com/cG2ExAdclj
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) September 23, 2019
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
looks cute
Thanks for your feedback!
Happy to know you liked the look of the interior pages – as it is such a cute picture book!