Los Gatos Black on Halloween

Los Gatos Black on Halloween, written by Marisa Montes, and illustrated by Yuyi Morales, is the winner of the 2008 Pura Belpré Award for illustration. The text of this book incorporates Spanish terms in a pleasing way and tells a fanciful Halloween tale using rhythmic poetry. The illustrations are painted with dark and vivid colors, with lots of shadow. None of the Halloween characters are too scary. There are grinning black cats, fat pumpkins with innocent faces, plump witches on broomsticks, skeletons dressed as if for Día de Los Muertos, friendly phantoms and ghosts, a vampire combing his hair looking into a mirror with no reflection, a werewolf wearing glasses, and elegantly-dressed corpses rising from coffins. All of these are heading to a haunted mansion to dance at a ball, where the scariest creatures of all arrive at the door - trick-or-treaters! I enjoyed this book, and especially appreciated the child-friendly illustrations and the logical way that the Spanish terminology was incorporated into the text. For children who enjoy Halloween stories, this book would be fun to read.