"A fast-moving, eerie...tale set on Halloween night. Eight costumed boys running to meet their friend Pipkin at the haunted house outside town...
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reviews
Dec 17, 2009
James
rated it: 
this limited edition version of bradbury's halloween tree that was printed in 2004 is absolutely the version worth reading, entirely for the inclusion of his first submitted typescript.
see, knopf was interested in a straight-up juvenile book. bradbury wanted to write "a book for children of all ages." so, when the first knopf edition was published in 1972, there were a ton of cuts, largely to bradbury's wonderful descriptive passages.
also included are a to More...
see, knopf was interested in a straight-up juvenile book. bradbury wanted to write "a book for children of all ages." so, when the first knopf edition was published in 1972, there were a ton of cuts, largely to bradbury's wonderful descriptive passages.
also included are a to More...
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Oct 25, 2011
Alex
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THE HALLOWEEN TREE BY RAY BRADBURY: I read this book every October because it’s the perfect Halloween book. It’s taken me a couple of readings, but I now finally realize that The Halloween Tree is the equivalent for Halloween what A Christmas Carol is for Christmas: an enchanting journey into the history of Halloween where one leans much and is changed by it.
A group of eight boys are on their way out to trick or treat on Halloween, all in different costumes – skeleton, mummy, gargoy More...
A group of eight boys are on their way out to trick or treat on Halloween, all in different costumes – skeleton, mummy, gargoy More...
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Dec 22, 2011
Jennifer
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Reviewed by Marie Robinson for TeensReadToo.com
Opening this book is like opening a present. Originally published in 1972, publisher Alfred A. Knopf has printed a new hardcover edition. The dust-jacket is beautifully illustrated, the book is of an unusual size. Everything about it says "special."
Inside, I was not disappointed. Bradbury swept me away with his opening scene:
"It was a small town by a small river and a small lake in a small norther More...
Opening this book is like opening a present. Originally published in 1972, publisher Alfred A. Knopf has printed a new hardcover edition. The dust-jacket is beautifully illustrated, the book is of an unusual size. Everything about it says "special."
Inside, I was not disappointed. Bradbury swept me away with his opening scene:
"It was a small town by a small river and a small lake in a small norther More...
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Oct 18, 2011
Lori
rated it:
Listened 10/11/11 - 10/14/11
3 Stars - Recommended for readers familiar with audiobooks
2 CD's
Ray Bradbury and I have a strange author/reader relationship. Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorite novels of all time, where he forecasted a dark and dangerous future where books were banned and owning one could cost you your life. I found myself on the fence with The Martian Chronicles, where we colonize Mars and find ourselves face to face with Martians who look just like us. A f More...
3 Stars - Recommended for readers familiar with audiobooks
2 CD's
Ray Bradbury and I have a strange author/reader relationship. Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorite novels of all time, where he forecasted a dark and dangerous future where books were banned and owning one could cost you your life. I found myself on the fence with The Martian Chronicles, where we colonize Mars and find ourselves face to face with Martians who look just like us. A f More...
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Dec 17, 2009
Luisa
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I read this book on a rainy school day in Saint Genevieve's H.S. library. I devoured this book!!! A bunch of boys get together and have to make a deal with Mr. Dark to save their friend's life as he lies dying....sacrifice the last year of their lives. So wonderfully expressed, as only Papa Ray can, and so imaginative in all the settings the boys travel to on Halloween night, including a tomb in Egypt. Great stuff!!
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May 02, 2011
Kindle-aholic
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This might have been the first book I ever read where I felt a deep personal connection - a feeling that someone else somewhere had been dealt the same problems I had. A sense of camaraderie, all from the fictional characters in a book.
The theme of kids dealing with, battling with, the impending death of a friend, a fellow child, was a very personal one for me.
I remember my dad giving me the book, wanting me to read it. He said he thought I would like it. I think he knew More...
The theme of kids dealing with, battling with, the impending death of a friend, a fellow child, was a very personal one for me.
I remember my dad giving me the book, wanting me to read it. He said he thought I would like it. I think he knew More...
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Oct 26, 2008
Austin
rated it:
Flashback: Fifth grade.
In the library of my elementary school, as a fifth grader, this book made its first mark on my life. I found it, and the cover image (different than the one featured here) really grabbed me.
When I finally found my way back to this one, almost five years later, I was surprised to find out it wasn't as long as I'd remembered. One thing that didn't change was my love for the characters and the way Bradbury points out the possibilities during that one smoky More...
In the library of my elementary school, as a fifth grader, this book made its first mark on my life. I found it, and the cover image (different than the one featured here) really grabbed me.
When I finally found my way back to this one, almost five years later, I was surprised to find out it wasn't as long as I'd remembered. One thing that didn't change was my love for the characters and the way Bradbury points out the possibilities during that one smoky More...
Nov 03, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
"The Halloween Tree" was my favorite halloween movie when I was little. I watched my taped off the TV version faithfully every year, until tragically it was taped over with a D-Day memorial. I was overjoyed to find out, years later, that the cartoon movie I had loved so much (which I can't bring myself to spend upwards of $50 plus shipping and handling to own again) was in fact based on the novel by Ray Bradbury!
It is a fantastic novel for anyone who has ever loved All Hall More...
It is a fantastic novel for anyone who has ever loved All Hall More...
May 30, 2011
Marvin
rated it:
I know a lot of people who really love this children's book by Ray Bradbury. However, I'm not one of them. Like, yes. Love? not really. It seems a bit forced and a little rushed. On the other hand, there is all of that wonderfully flowery writing from the American master of fantasy. So I'll hedge and give this one three and a half stars.
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Nov 04, 2011
Beth
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I read this book every October to get myself in the Halloween mood. The book is written for tween boys, but it's still everything I want in a Bradbury novel: lyrical writing, a world where the supernatural blends easily with the natural, and fascinating characters.
The story follows eight boys who get an unusual treat on Halloween night: they are escorted throughout time and the world to see how Halloween is celebrated elsewhere. From the funeral processions of ancient Egypt, where “ More...
The story follows eight boys who get an unusual treat on Halloween night: they are escorted throughout time and the world to see how Halloween is celebrated elsewhere. From the funeral processions of ancient Egypt, where “ More...
Oct 11, 2011
Cal {Heather}
rated it:
Guess white time of year it is everyone!
It is no secret that I adore Hallowe'en. It is also no secret that I like fantasy and books that are heavy on the Hallowe'en. It should come as no surprise, then, that as a child I used to watch The Hallowe'en Tree on television every year, and that after I became old enough to read it, I read it every October.
And, given the fact that my father is a Trekkie, it should shock no one that I hear it in Leonard Nimoy's voice in my head.
More...
It is no secret that I adore Hallowe'en. It is also no secret that I like fantasy and books that are heavy on the Hallowe'en. It should come as no surprise, then, that as a child I used to watch The Hallowe'en Tree on television every year, and that after I became old enough to read it, I read it every October.
And, given the fact that my father is a Trekkie, it should shock no one that I hear it in Leonard Nimoy's voice in my head.
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Nov 05, 2009
Amy
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The more I read Ray Bradbury, the more I like. His language is so much fun, I felt like I was reading one big poem when I read this book.
This book is kind of a convergence of a couple of themes that I have noticed from previous Ray Bradbury short stories: nostalgia and people's views on death. Ray Bradbury has a way of capturing the aura of previous generations that makes me feel as if I was there. I felt like I was there on this Halloween night that he describes, even though it's a wo More...
This book is kind of a convergence of a couple of themes that I have noticed from previous Ray Bradbury short stories: nostalgia and people's views on death. Ray Bradbury has a way of capturing the aura of previous generations that makes me feel as if I was there. I felt like I was there on this Halloween night that he describes, even though it's a wo More...
Oct 23, 2011
Josiah
rated it: 
The Halloween Tree, written by an author many would consider to be the most prominent name in twentieth century science fiction, is a highly eccentric and totally unexpected look at the divergent histories behind the Halloween holiday as it was in America of the 1970s, and how all of the different cultural ways of observing the holiday down through the millennia have really all been outward manifestations of man's fear of death, squeezed into the shape of sundry rituals and rites that allow p
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Jul 04, 2011
Bhoswald
rated it:
A group of kids meet up to go trick or treating on Halloween night when they realize that one of their group is missing. They decide to go to the boys' house only to find that he, Pipkin, looks deathly ill but insists that he is alright and will meet up with them later at a haunted house. The boys head to the house where they meet Mr. Moundshroud. As Pipkin heads to meet them he is taken away by something unseen, leading Moundshroud to take the remaining boys on a journey through the history of
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Oct 28, 2009
Amber
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Eight boys go out on Halloween night, but they are missing their friend Pipkin. Not contented with just getting candy, they decide to go to a real haunted house. There they meet a strange, skeletal man called Mr. Moundshroud underneath the Halloween Tree. He tells the boys that they know nothing of the true meaning of Halloween, and he would like to teach them. Mr. Moundshroud also informs them that Death has "borrowed" their friend Pipkin and they must travel to the Undiscovered Count
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Oct 26, 2011
Ron
rated it: 
I picked up "The Halloween Tree" for a change of pace, and as a book of the season. It was one of Bradbury's books that I had not read previously. Although noted for ages 12 and up this really struck me overall as a children's book, even for 1972 when it was first published. It has a good story idea and Bradbury attempts to write with exuberance and very playfully, but it didn't really capture my imagination like many other works of Bradbury. A potentially interesting little story of c
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Sep 10, 2011
Mark
rated it:
A fascinating children's book by Bradbury, working with his occasional collaborator, illustrator Joseph Mugnaini. The book tells the story of eight young boys who are swept away, in costume, on Halloween night by a mysterious stranger named Mr. Moundshroud. Moundshroud takes the children back through the ages to learn the history of the customs and rituals that have, in various diluted forms, been handed down to them as the holiday of Halloween.
This probably would have been more fu More...
This probably would have been more fu More...
Oct 28, 2009
JabBeRwoCkY
rated it:
The chilling beauty of this book is summoned up in the fierce, wonder of the phrases, where Bradbury twines the bizarre with the beautiful, the impossible with the improbable. It is gorgeously beautiful prose, from the very beginning to the very end, perfectly complemented by the illustrations.
A few examples: 'coloured green of forests jogged through, brown from old harvest trudges,'
'lurkings of black-ink stream and creek, lingerings of autumns that rolled over in More...
A few examples: 'coloured green of forests jogged through, brown from old harvest trudges,'
'lurkings of black-ink stream and creek, lingerings of autumns that rolled over in More...
Nov 03, 2011
Andy
rated it:
I meant to read this a few days ago but forgot. Oh well. It would make a great annual Hallowe'en story to read though, short enough to read in an hour or so.
Bradbury takes us on a journey through the history of Halloween with 8 small boys and the town recluse. His magical, poetic and dreamlike prose is out in force, creating an atmospheric, haunting, creepy, exciting and ultimately quite moving tale. The imagery is fantastic and is complemented by the black and white illustration More...
Bradbury takes us on a journey through the history of Halloween with 8 small boys and the town recluse. His magical, poetic and dreamlike prose is out in force, creating an atmospheric, haunting, creepy, exciting and ultimately quite moving tale. The imagery is fantastic and is complemented by the black and white illustration More...
Oct 25, 2011
Barrett
rated it:
I read this sweet little halloween history tale almost as often (read: annually) as Bradbury's marvelous Dandelion Wine. The Halloween Tree features the leadership of the immortal Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud who pops up out of a leaf pile under a great Halloween Tree to lead a pack of small town trick-or-treaters on a journey through time and history, experiencing the origins of what we call Halloween and visiting the various developments of the holiday over the centuries. And then there is Pi
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Dec 01, 2010
Ade
rated it:
Ray Bradbury is always a treat to read even if Sci fi is not your thing. Much of his work is scifi of course, but this is one of a few I know of that is not. He manages to whip up the idea of small town America in the fall where you can imagine the red, yellows and oranges of the falling leaves and that earthy woody smell that comes with the fall. Interesting characters and a rolling story that just doesn't stop. All of this and more comes in the shape of The Halloween Tree making it a must read
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Jun 30, 2011
Joseph
rated it:
One of my all time favorite books, it speaks to that little boy still inside of me. Ray Bradbury has a way with words that is just wonderful. This story of a group of friend on Halloween, learning the meaning of the holiday through history is a must read for everyone.
Reading it brings back memories of being a kid and the magic of Halloween. Bradbury has found a way to bring that magic to the page so that you can experience it again.
If you have not read this book yet, More...
Reading it brings back memories of being a kid and the magic of Halloween. Bradbury has found a way to bring that magic to the page so that you can experience it again.
If you have not read this book yet, More...
May 14, 2010
Loren
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Oct 27, 2011
Kelly
rated it:
It's been some time since I've read any Bradbury and I recall how much I love his writing. No matter the length of the story or book I'm impressed with his writing, how he can capture a character so quickly and simply. I've never read anything written from a female point of view and wonder if he could write it so vividly as he does male. My favorite from this:
"The day Joe Pipkin was born all the Orange Crush and Nehi soda bottles in the world fizzed over;and joyful bees swarmed count More...
"The day Joe Pipkin was born all the Orange Crush and Nehi soda bottles in the world fizzed over;and joyful bees swarmed count More...
Nov 08, 2007
Jen
rated it:
I was sleepy when I tried to read it, so I think I missed a bit. The illustrations were great, though.
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Feb 05, 2010
Jennifer
rated it:
I have loved this story since I saw the cartoon movie when I was very young. It is a quick read and gives brief histories on Halloween. The only problem I had with it was when they came to the Druid celebration. They had Samhain be the God of the Dead. Samhain means November in Gaelic. There is No god named Samhain. It also portrays Druids as preforming animal sacrifice. Which, following the Druid path, is getting a little old. There is no historical proof that is happened. I'll stop there, I'm
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Nov 19, 2008
Jackie "the Librarian"
rated it:
On Halloween night, eight boys are taken on a journey through time and space, visiting the antecedents of Halloween. But it isn't just fun and games. Their leader, a boy named Pipkin (!) is in danger, and they must rescue him from going into that long night.
I wanted to like this, but I could not get past my adult mind's jaundiced eye, or something like that. It was too artificially poetic, and too allegorical for me to swallow. It never even TRIED to be believable.
Plus, the mythology More...
I wanted to like this, but I could not get past my adult mind's jaundiced eye, or something like that. It was too artificially poetic, and too allegorical for me to swallow. It never even TRIED to be believable.
Plus, the mythology More...
Sep 09, 2010
Littlebearries
rated it:
I really feel this book is necessary Halloween reading... I can't really feel "In the season" until I've picked this up and read it :)
Bradbury's elegant prose flow through Halloween traditions beautifully.
Through the adventures of a group of young boys (rather scary adventures, I must say) Bradbury shares the traditions that have led to some of our most beloved Halloween costumes and practices.
This really is a lovely book, although I do have to say, More...
Bradbury's elegant prose flow through Halloween traditions beautifully.
Through the adventures of a group of young boys (rather scary adventures, I must say) Bradbury shares the traditions that have led to some of our most beloved Halloween costumes and practices.
This really is a lovely book, although I do have to say, More...
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May 09, 2010
Angela
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My husband read this while in Houston, and brought it back to me tonight. He left me with the book at about midnight, and now it is 0122. He claimed I would be finished with it before 2, and well.....
It is a quick read, definitely a junior book (it did come from a Grammar school library :-) But Ray Bradbury has such a way with words...
"They seized off strips and patches and huge rolls of animal flesh, of fang, and piercing eye, of wounded flank, of blood-red claw, of More...
It is a quick read, definitely a junior book (it did come from a Grammar school library :-) But Ray Bradbury has such a way with words...
"They seized off strips and patches and huge rolls of animal flesh, of fang, and piercing eye, of wounded flank, of blood-red claw, of More...
Oct 28, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
Bradbury is quite simply the best writer. Whenever I revisit stories of my youth, that were written by Bradbury I am always surprised by his use of language and how prolific he really is. One of my favorite tales ever , I would love to see this done visually in the style of "Coraline". I look forward to my son being a little older that I can read this to him. It explains Halloween and it's traditions through the centuries in a very clever way, through each boy and his costume. I love h
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