Search - The House That Jack Haunted

ISBN 0843102764 - Manufactured in China. No age range stated. Shaped board book, 16 pages, die-cut windows in cover. Published by Price Stern Sloan, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, in 2003. By Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp, illustrated by Charles Reasoner.

A Halloween take on the classic cumulative folk song / nursery rhyme This is the House That Jack Built, the story adds a new Halloween item or creature with each round, building to an abrupt surprise ending.

The die-cut windows are very cute, showcasing an owl in the attic and Jack, a ghost, dozing in his chair. The shaped aspect of this books starts out in an awesome way, with the cover and first page the shape of the house and the third page adding a pumpkin and the fourth adding the moon. From there, the fun shaped pages come to an end and they're all the same shape, but for a few moments, it's something uncommon and interesting because of it. The pages are sturdy board and will stand up to a lot of abuse without falling apart, but the window frame around the owl on the cover is the thinnest point and most likely to tear first. The fact that the pages are glossy makes sticky-from-Halloween-candy fingerprints easy to wipe away. The book is fairly small, so it's not a bad choice for taking along when you're out.

The text is perfect and the ending is a fun surprise, at least the first time you read it. The illustrations are cartoon-y, very bright and colorful, which takes away any real chance that they'll be too scary for young children. Halloween is always a tough holiday to share with really young children and ones who are easily frightened, so books like this are awesome finds.

- AnnaLovesBooks