- The 13 Days of Halloween by Carol Greene
- Reading level: Ages 4-8
- Hardcover: 32 pages
- Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (September 2009)
- ISBN-13: 978-1402230967
Back-of-the-book blurb: Everyone knows “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” but are you ready for The Thirteen Days of Halloween? In this delightfully offbeat story, a dashing ghoul tries to win his ghostly love’s heart with heaps of hilarious gifts ranging from broomsticks and bats to cauldrons and cats!
She is Too Fond of Books’ review: The 13 Days of Halloween is a fun and funny (grinning ghosts and ghouls, not scary skeletons) children’s picture book, that my younger children (ages 5 and 7) and I (I’m not telling my age!) have enjoyed reading again and again this season.
Carol Greene’s verse mimics the tempo of the familiar “The Twelve Days of Christmas” carol, giving us a great excuse to sing along. Oddly, my kids asked me to simply read it after several iterations of “and a vulture in a dead tree!” in my operatic voice.
The list of gifts from “my good friend” includes the vulture, “eight brooms a-flying,” “five cooked worms,” “two hissing cats,” and more. They liked to look for each of the gifts in Tim Raglin’s pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations. They’re detailed, active, and bright. I like the layout of the pages: the text is a half-page sidebar, and the illustrations fill the remaining space.
My 5-year-old’s favorite character is “the little skeleton doggy”. You can see him in this illustration, chomping on the ghoul’s leg:
Unlike the Christmas carol, there’s a 13th day to account for; the author doesn’t tell what gift is exchanged on that day, but leaves it open for the reader to “guess what?!” My kids tried to outdo each other with suggestions of “13 smelly socks,” “13 rotten pumpkins,” and other ideas. They really liked the open ending. I only hope they don’t sing “and a vulture in a dead tree” instead of “and a partridge in a pear tree” come December! 
Watch the videos to get my little guy’s take on the book. (Technical note: I had to break the video into two parts, it was too large to send to YouTube via my iPhone. And, I’m not tech savvy enough to splice the two back into one … maybe I’ll figure it out and post an update)
Those little videos are very cute! My husband heard me giggling and he came in and I watched again with him. And I love the idea. A vulture in a dead tree sounds so, well, not only like Halloween, but like Tucson! I guess I need that book!
I do like the sound (ha, ha) of that book. I can’t imagine why the kids wouldn’t want you sing!
That sounds like such a fun kids book!
rhapsody – Hmm, maybe your gravatar should be a vulture reading a book?
Beth – I don’t understand it, either … same thing goes for me singing along with music in the car. I was voted off the musical island.
Nicole – it is; and you can imagine the silliness we’re having with it.
He is so cute! I love your videos! Dolce Bellezza just reviewed this book, and recounted the reaction of her third grade class when she read it to them. Priceless! They all had to add their two cents about vultures pecking out eyes, and the gruesome things they imagined in the last box. This is totally an adorable book!
This has been popular at my house, too!
Very cute.
I love seasonal books but I am never together enough to buy them on sale and then save them for next year. I always want to buy them right when I see them and then right after the holiday there’s stacks and stacks of unloved books
This one looks like a fun one.
Sandy – I bet a class of 3rd graders would come up with some very creative “gift” ideas!
gwendolyn – I just don’t understand why I have to *read* it instead of *singing* it
Ti – Do you put your seasonal books away with the decorations? We love to unpack them. “I remember this book!” it’s like reuniting with an old friend.
Now that song is going through my head … the Christmas version!!!
This sounds adorable.
How cute! I loved when he said “Did you review this book!?”
We loved this book as well. We’re reading it every night again. The boys fight over which one gets to yell out “and a vulture in a dead tree!”
My daughter and I will be reviewing this on Sunday for the tour. I really liked it. She wanted to sing it but she was interrupted by her father, so she wants to try again tonight. LOL Too bad I don’t have the means to videotape it.