Book Review: 'Los Gatos Black on Halloween' by Marisa Montes

✰✰✰✰✰ Black cats, witches, skeletons, mummies, and more emerge from the darkness for some Halloween fun. As the scariest creatures of the night walk, rattle, and fly to a haunted mansion, the night air fills with magic and chills. It's the perfect recipe for a monstrous ball in the house’s haunted halls. There’s music and dancing and fun galore, when suddenly there’s a rap, rap, rapping at the door. The monsters run. The monsters hide. But there's no escaping that of all the horrors in the night, the very worst at their door. What could be so frightening to the monsters of the night? Check out Los Gatos Black on Halloween to find out.

The Bottom Line: Highly recommended for spooky bilingual fun for kids in grades 1 - 4. Author Marisa Montes seamlessly incorporates Spanish words into the rhyming text. Thus, this is a great way to introduce kids to the Spanish language. Yuyi Morales' illustrations perfectly complement the text making it easy for non-Spanish speaking readers to guess what the words mean. Also, the book includes a glossary in the back for those who need a little extra help. Morales' illustrations are fantastically dark, spooky, and reminiscent of artwork representing the Day of the Dead or el Día de los Muertos. However, while older kids will enjoy the dark tone of the book and the creepy illustrations, this one may be a little too scary for preschoolers.

Details: Los Gatos Black on Halloween written by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales. Hardcover picture book published by Henry Holt and Company in 2006. 32 p. ISBN: 0-8050-7429-5