I thought, for my 31st blog post, it would be appropriate to post on the 31st of October, and more appropriate to review "the Halloween Tree" by Ray Bradbury (may he rest in peace!). "The Halloween Tree" is a book that my mother read to me as a child and that I took to reading every October a week or two before Halloween.
Fall is my all-time favorite season and I adore Halloween. I'm looking forward to watching Charlie Brown specials, drinking hot chocolate, passing candy out to children, cuddling up in a blanket, feeling warm, and happy, and content with life. I don't really do the scary Halloween thing, sadly (I just don't have the nerves for it!), but I've been filling my October with themed activities: Dorothy L. Sayers mystery books, audio books (for traveling), and dvds; "the Halloween Tree" novel and movie (narrated by Bradbury himself!); watching "Labyrinth" (though any season is a good time for David Bowie in tight pants); and carving pumpkins, eating pumpkin pie, pumpkin biscotti, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin cream cheese dip.
Summary: On the evening of Halloween, friends gather to go trick-or-treating together and notice the absence of their leader, Pipkin. At his house, Pipkin has left a note urging his friends to start without him--that he would catch up. They chase his shadow to an old haunted house, with a great tree in the back yard that is laden with jack-o'-lanterns. Before they know it, the children are swept off on a quest to find Pipkin through centuries of Halloween traditions that collected make up modern day Halloween.
Upsides: I think this is an amazing book for children! The first time this was read to me, I was about 8 or 9 years old and it became a favorite of mine. It's written in with traditional Bradbury elegance and has that delicious way of captivation the reader. The book is a great way to learn more about how we've come to celebrate Halloween as we do, without being dry or too non-fiction-ey. I think another plus is the length, especially if you have kids; the chapters are a good length for read-out-loud time/busy schedules, and it's a book that's easy to get through if you don't have a lot of time to spare in your schedule or if you have kids with small attention spans (or God-forbid, both!).
Downsides: It's hard for me to find a downside for this book, but I will say that there are moments where you wish the scenes were a little longer and more fleshed out; this problem (I found after some research) stems from a heavy hand at the editor's desk (see my note below about this). It's hard to fault Bradbury for something he likely had little control over. I'll also nit-pick a bit and say that the secondary characters aren't particularly developed, but this novel is more about the plot and the traditions than the characters.
Overall Rating: 5/5 I always think it's a good thing to learn about cultural traditions (especially ones that we practice today) in a society that's highly consumer driven. I think this is not only a beautiful book, but an important piece of literature that reminds us that Halloween is not just about dressing like a whore or a jackass, drinking yourself into a stupor, or getting a bunch of free candy. It's a great book to read with kids (ages 5 and up, I would suggest) and a fun book to read as an adult.
NOTE: As I mentioned earlier, editor cuts were made to this book that Bradbury greatly disapproved of and in 2007 a new version of this book came out (I do not own it, but you can bet that state won't last long, that is the author's preferred text version--I've heard the editors cut a lot of large chunks out of this novel to make it more targeted toward a young-adult audience), so if you're a buyer, I would consider that heavily as an option. It's definitely on my Christmas list!
But that's not all! No Halloween is complete for me without watching the animated movie "the Halloween Tree" as well, which is narrated by Ray Bradbury and features the talent of Leonard Nimoy as Moundshroud. I think it may have made its way onto DVD at this point. I own it on VHS and go to great pains to hook up my VHS player to watch it every year. And with this posting, I'll be off to get that going...
Happy reading/watching!
AJ
PS. Two blog posts, two days in a row? What is this nonsense? Long novels always seem to bog me down for a month, but they are also some of my favorite novels to read. I'll try to have November and December more populated by reviews than this month will be! Coming up is a review of Dorothy L. Sayers' "Have His Carcase" and likely several more Dorothy L. Sayers novels. I'm planning to get back to the Wishbone Project soon in the form of shorter novels and eventually with "the Phantom of the Opera." I'm trying to plan out a book schedule for myself but with all these job interviews and running around, I've had a bit of a scattered schedule.
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