Halloween is coming, which means it’s time to learn How to Draw a Happy Witch and 99 Things That Go Bump in the Night (Sterling, September). In Joy Sikorski and Nick Sunday’s second book about Little Man the cat (How to Draw a Sailing Cat) readers can follow the adventures of Little Man as he wanders through the wetlands on Halloween night.
My six- and eleven-year-old daughters had no interest in following the rambling story, thank heavens, because neither did I. What we were eager to get at were the instructions for drawing chubby Little Man and the various creatures and objects he sees, outside and at the Halloween Costume Ball. We laid the book on a table (the flexi-bound book stays open nicely), and while my older daughter and I were all about using the directions (some are trickier than others), my first grader just went ahead and drew the animals, using her sister’s pictures for inspiration.
Jack-o’-lanterns, candy, bats, and owls are all here, plus lots of cute woodland critters. An index makes it easy to look up directions for each item—a good idea, as I imagine we’ll visit this book again. While I doubt the book’s recipe for Little Man’s favorite dish, escargot, will have kids eagerly donning aprons, it might appeal to adult readers, who also might be interested in drawing some of the odd, not-so-Halloweeny items. (Anyone care to draw a grater grating some lemon zest?)
Get your Halloween on, folks, and get drawing.
About Jennifer M. Brabander
