Book Review: The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

"The pumpkins on the Tree were not mere pumpkins. Each had a face sliced in it. Each face was different. Every eye was a stranger eye. Every nose was a weirder nose. Every mouth smiled hideously in some new way. There must have been a thousand pumpkins on this tree, hung high and on every branch. A thousand smiles. A thousand grimaces."

Ray Bradbury's  The Halloween Tree is probably only the second work of his I've read and so far I've yet to be disappointed. I don't think I've ever read a book more perfectly suited for the spirit of Halloween. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a book more perfectly suited for the month of October. When I brought this book home (in July by the way) and placed it on my shelf in hopes of cracking it open the first day of October, the goal was to get hyped for my Halloween countdown and start my Autumn off right.

Mission accomplished.

This was a very short, quickly paced, story about eight trick-or-treaters on a mission to rescue their friend Pipkin who's been whisked away on Halloween night. With the help of a dark, mysterious stranger named Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, the boys travel through time and space, learning about the origins of Halloween while on the chase for Pipkin's soul. From funeral processions in Egypt to witch persecutions in Europe, Moundshroud takes the young trick-or-treaters on an amazing, eye-opening journey in hopes of them learning that there is more to Halloween than costumes and candy.

I personally found Bradbury's writing to be so wonderful in this book, full of whimsy and magic and yet not so flowery that it distracts you from the plot ( *cough cough* Night Circus). I knew this of Bradbury's writing when I read Fahrenheit 451, but this might be my new personal favorite of his works. You could practically smell Halloween in the air as you read through the pages.

"Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades. From the kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked."

Great prose, beautiful illustrations, and a fun story. I couldn't have asked for more in a book. ALTHOUGH, as always, if I were to have any complaints it would be that I really wish I'd gotten to know the boys more, and perhaps Mr. Moundshroud as well. The only character I felt I really knew was Pipkin, (a whole chapter is dedicated to this kid) and he was "whisked away"! All the other characters were simply rowdy boys behind ghoulish masks and Bradbury seemed to want more focus put on the adventure and the magic than the boys themselves.

In this case, however, I'll let it slide because I really enjoyed the journey I was put on. In fact, the book awakened in me that bittersweet emotion one feels when Halloween ends: sadness and a wish for next year's Halloween to come back around soon. Reading The Halloween Tree within the month of October felt no different from reading Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol during the month of December. It's a book you want to snuggle up with on a cool, rainy,  Autumn night while drinking a steaming cup of spiced tea. It's a book I regret to have not read as a kid, but one I learned could still be appreciated as an adult. Convinced yet? Then I highly recommend you pick this one up for next Halloween! 

(4/5⭐)



                                                                            xo Nina