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Summary
Summary
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 everything goes wrong. He leaves his costume on the school bus. Now Arnold's Halloween will be really horrible! Or will it? Nancy Poydar paints a delightful picture of Halloween antics in this fun-filled holiday book.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Arnold just knows that his pirate costume is scary enough to win the "Scariest of All" prize in his school's Halloween parade. After boasting about it to his classmates, he realizes he left it on the bus. When it comes time for the students to change into their costumes, Arnold unsuccessfully invents a "scary bug" outfit at the last minute. Feeling left out and disappointed, he crawls under a drop cloth to hide. Before long, everyone is looking for him and he ends up frightening them all, including the teacher, when he gets the idea to stand up under the sheet and howl like a ghost. All ends well, as Arnold is declared the "Scariest of All." The accompanying artwork created with pencil and gouache features a racially mixed classroom. These slightly unfinished-looking illustrations adequately depict the text but fail to add dimension. Still, this is an amusing Halloween story, suitable for reading aloud, that's likely to please children.-Melinda Piehler, North Tonawanda Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
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. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Arnold's plans to win the prize for scariest Halloween costume are temporarily foiled when he leaves his pirate costume on the school bus. The story captures with respect the small tragedies that loom large for a child in elementary school and celebrates a child's ability to solve his own dilemma. Poydar's pencil and gouache illustrations are as expressive and satisfying as the story. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Arnold's Halloween plans have been reduced to smoldering ruins, but a piece of quick thinking and a handy drop cloth allow him to rise like a phoenix in Poydar's gladdening doff of the cap to young imaginations. Arnold's all set to bag the scariest-of-all prize at his school's Halloween party. He's brought a pirate costume complete with eye patch, bushy eyebrows, and a tarantula tattoo-or has he? Since the class won't be putting their costumes on until the end of the day, and since Arnold is so excited about the sheer fabulousness of his pirate rig, he goes to his locker to steal a peek at it. Shiver his timbers, it's not there. Then he remembers leaving it on the bus that morning. A pall is cast over his day. When the other children start to get into their costumes, Arnold crawls under a drop cloth the class used when painting a mural. It doesn't take long for the teacher to miss Arnold: "He's disappeared," says one kid. "He's a ghost," suggests another. A light switches on in Arnold's attic. Slowly the drop cloth begins to move, then rises and swirls in a most startling way, leaving no doubt who's won the scariest prize. As in her other work (Mailbox Magic, 2000, etc.), Poydar supplies an irresistible buoyancy. There's a quiet optimism that finds expression both in the well-paced, encouraging narrative, and in the agile illustrations. (Picture book. 4-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. 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. Harry 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. Harry 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 Harry's triumph even as they see that this is a day when you can do your own thing and win. --Hazel Rochman