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Who Goes Out on Halloween?
Enumerates the various creatures out on Halloween, from fat monsters and pirates to small witches and ghosts
Library Binding
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Sue Alexander
42 books16 followersAt an early age Sue Alexander learned to attract other children’s interest and approval by telling stories. Her passion for storytelling and her understanding of the emotional ups and downs of childhood have led her to write twenty-six books for children to date, notable for their appeal and variety. Alexander is also important for her pivotal role in the growth of an extraordinary international organization, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). At the cost of her own creative writing time, for more than twenty-five years she devoted countless hours to nurturing the group as it grew from three members to over twelve thousand, because, she says, “I was helped... It’s a giving back.”
Born August 20, 1933 in Tucson, Arizona, daughter of Jack M. and Edith Pollock Ratner, she moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was a year old and to Chicago when she was five. Small and uncoordinated for her age, Alexander, influenced by her mother, became a passionate reader. Gradually she used the stories she read, and some she made up, to amuse herself and sometimes others. She says this stage of her life is reflected in her award-winning chapter book, Lila on the Landing (1987) which “was a painful book to write” but let her make peace with the hurt of feeling different and being left out.
Her family life was more satisfying. She, her younger brother and her parents would go flying with her father, an avid pilot. She went with her grandfather to the Jewish markets and neighborhoods. She haunted book stores. Watching a revival of The Desert Song, Alexander was fascinated with the Bedouins on stage. Years later, she used that background in one of her most acclaimed books, Nadia The Willful (1983), a story she wrote to deal with the pain of her brother’s death. Nadia, a young Bedouin girl, disobeys her father’s command not to mention the death of his lost son, her beloved brother. As Nadia finds people with whom to talk about Hamed, she keeps his memory alive and her father ultimately learns that no one is dead if they are not forgotten.
Alexander planned to become a journalist, but while at Northwestern University she changed her major to psychology, which she says helped give her the understanding to make the characters in her stories more real. In her senior year, she left school to marry, and her first child, Glenn David, was born in 1956. When the marriage ended, Alexander moved to Los Angeles, where her parents were then living. She married Joel Alexander on November 29, 1959 and the couple had two children, Marc Jeffry and Stacey Joy.
Alexander had continued to write but it was not until the death of her mother in 1967 that she seriously focused on polishing her craft, determined to “do something with my life that would have pleased my mother...” Her first stories were published in children’s magazines and she reviewed children’s books regularly for the Los Angeles Times. Though Alexander had not yet published a book herself, it was at this time she became a charter member and active board member of the newly formed SCBW (later SCBWI), an involvement that over the years was to help educate and encourage hundreds of aspiring writers like herself.
When her daughter could find no suitable skits to put on with friends, Alexander wrote some, remembering her own imaginative youthful playlets, and Scholastic published Small Plays for You and A Friend in 1973. Alexander’s fourth book, Witch, Goblin and Sometimes Ghost (1976), a book she filled with “tender friendships and lovable foibles,” brought her critical notice and a wider audience of enthusiastic young readers. By popular demand, she revisited these lovable spooky characters several times. She also wrote two more play books, Small Plays for Special Days (1977) and Whatever Happened to Uncle Albert? And Other Puzzling Plays (1980). Other popular Alexander books are the “World Famous Muriel” series about a
Born August 20, 1933 in Tucson, Arizona, daughter of Jack M. and Edith Pollock Ratner, she moved to Los Angeles with her family when she was a year old and to Chicago when she was five. Small and uncoordinated for her age, Alexander, influenced by her mother, became a passionate reader. Gradually she used the stories she read, and some she made up, to amuse herself and sometimes others. She says this stage of her life is reflected in her award-winning chapter book, Lila on the Landing (1987) which “was a painful book to write” but let her make peace with the hurt of feeling different and being left out.
Her family life was more satisfying. She, her younger brother and her parents would go flying with her father, an avid pilot. She went with her grandfather to the Jewish markets and neighborhoods. She haunted book stores. Watching a revival of The Desert Song, Alexander was fascinated with the Bedouins on stage. Years later, she used that background in one of her most acclaimed books, Nadia The Willful (1983), a story she wrote to deal with the pain of her brother’s death. Nadia, a young Bedouin girl, disobeys her father’s command not to mention the death of his lost son, her beloved brother. As Nadia finds people with whom to talk about Hamed, she keeps his memory alive and her father ultimately learns that no one is dead if they are not forgotten.
Alexander planned to become a journalist, but while at Northwestern University she changed her major to psychology, which she says helped give her the understanding to make the characters in her stories more real. In her senior year, she left school to marry, and her first child, Glenn David, was born in 1956. When the marriage ended, Alexander moved to Los Angeles, where her parents were then living. She married Joel Alexander on November 29, 1959 and the couple had two children, Marc Jeffry and Stacey Joy.
Alexander had continued to write but it was not until the death of her mother in 1967 that she seriously focused on polishing her craft, determined to “do something with my life that would have pleased my mother...” Her first stories were published in children’s magazines and she reviewed children’s books regularly for the Los Angeles Times. Though Alexander had not yet published a book herself, it was at this time she became a charter member and active board member of the newly formed SCBW (later SCBWI), an involvement that over the years was to help educate and encourage hundreds of aspiring writers like herself.
When her daughter could find no suitable skits to put on with friends, Alexander wrote some, remembering her own imaginative youthful playlets, and Scholastic published Small Plays for You and A Friend in 1973. Alexander’s fourth book, Witch, Goblin and Sometimes Ghost (1976), a book she filled with “tender friendships and lovable foibles,” brought her critical notice and a wider audience of enthusiastic young readers. By popular demand, she revisited these lovable spooky characters several times. She also wrote two more play books, Small Plays for Special Days (1977) and Whatever Happened to Uncle Albert? And Other Puzzling Plays (1980). Other popular Alexander books are the “World Famous Muriel” series about a
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 30, 2024
"Striped clowns. Spotted clowns. Even polka-dotted clowns."
A cute Halloween story with great rhymes. The art is adorable.
We’re all different and unique in our own special way. The one thing people can all agree on is that we can all come together to enjoy the tricks and treats of Halloween.
A cute Halloween story with great rhymes. The art is adorable.
We’re all different and unique in our own special way. The one thing people can all agree on is that we can all come together to enjoy the tricks and treats of Halloween.
October 19, 2016
32 pages
"A colorful cast of creatures and ghouls takes to the streets on Halloween night. There's only one way to find out who each costumed character is because we're not telling! Sneak a peak . . . and see for yourself. Do these creatures remind you of someone you know?"
The artwork could have been better. It was just crayon drawings, very basic and simple and with not much detail. I did like how in the beginning it was interactive and thought-provoking, asking who goes out on Halloween and challenging kids to think. And I really liked how all of the figures were blackened out so we couldn’t tell what they were wearing, I wanted to find out who did go out on Halloween.
I liked how it showed a diversity of characters, made it a good thing that everyone is different and everyone gets to take part in Halloween, and it was said in a rhyming way which made it better. Tall witches. Small witches. Any-size-at-all witches.
The drawings did get better and more detailed after the first 2 pages. I liked that all of the clowns had different outfits, stripes and spots and polka dots, showing they can be different but all still clowns. I wouldn’t have touched the sizes thing that they did though. Fat and skinny bunnies. I wouldn’t reach kids to judge people’s sizes and use the word fat. I think there was a better way to show that people come in all different shapes and sizes.
I was disappointed when halfway through it started all over again and used the exact same words, asking again who goes out on Halloween and walks up the steps and knocks on doors. And then they used the same wording. Tall pirates. Small pirates. Any-size-at-all pirates. They did cats in different designed clothing and monsters were different sized now. It was too repetitive and I would have appreciated had the author thought of different things to say about these three costumes.
I was disappointed when at the end they didn't show the group in color, in all their costumes so we could see them all together. I thought they would show the same page from the beginning except this time let us see all of the characters. Instead, on the last page the group was still blackened out, just their forms in the darkness. Some of the characters were cute, like the cat wearing the little witch's hat and the bat in the sky. Most of the characters had these oblong, ugly noses that reminded me of Squidward on Spongebob, and their costumes could have been better. All in all though it was a cute little story that's a good first reader with a nice message for kids.
"A colorful cast of creatures and ghouls takes to the streets on Halloween night. There's only one way to find out who each costumed character is because we're not telling! Sneak a peak . . . and see for yourself. Do these creatures remind you of someone you know?"
The artwork could have been better. It was just crayon drawings, very basic and simple and with not much detail. I did like how in the beginning it was interactive and thought-provoking, asking who goes out on Halloween and challenging kids to think. And I really liked how all of the figures were blackened out so we couldn’t tell what they were wearing, I wanted to find out who did go out on Halloween.
I liked how it showed a diversity of characters, made it a good thing that everyone is different and everyone gets to take part in Halloween, and it was said in a rhyming way which made it better. Tall witches. Small witches. Any-size-at-all witches.
The drawings did get better and more detailed after the first 2 pages. I liked that all of the clowns had different outfits, stripes and spots and polka dots, showing they can be different but all still clowns. I wouldn’t have touched the sizes thing that they did though. Fat and skinny bunnies. I wouldn’t reach kids to judge people’s sizes and use the word fat. I think there was a better way to show that people come in all different shapes and sizes.
I was disappointed when halfway through it started all over again and used the exact same words, asking again who goes out on Halloween and walks up the steps and knocks on doors. And then they used the same wording. Tall pirates. Small pirates. Any-size-at-all pirates. They did cats in different designed clothing and monsters were different sized now. It was too repetitive and I would have appreciated had the author thought of different things to say about these three costumes.
I was disappointed when at the end they didn't show the group in color, in all their costumes so we could see them all together. I thought they would show the same page from the beginning except this time let us see all of the characters. Instead, on the last page the group was still blackened out, just their forms in the darkness. Some of the characters were cute, like the cat wearing the little witch's hat and the bat in the sky. Most of the characters had these oblong, ugly noses that reminded me of Squidward on Spongebob, and their costumes could have been better. All in all though it was a cute little story that's a good first reader with a nice message for kids.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2016
In the beginning when the question was asked Who Goes Out on Halloween? I knew the answer was trick-or-treaters, and expected the ending to say who goes out on Halloween? And then answer with trick or treaters.
However, it didn’t do that. Instead it said they say trick-or-treat.
I liked in the beginning when it said 'tall witches. small witches. any-size-at-all witches.' It was a fun way to write it.
I didn't like this thought: 'Look! There are two. "Boo!" says a ghost. "BOO!"
I thought this book would be more about different types of ghouls that are out on Halloween. Instead it focused too much on costumes, most of which you haven’t seen. I’ve never seen anyone dress as a cat, clown, or spaceman. I wish they had used more traditional costumes, and had better captured the spirit of Halloween and trick-or-treating. Also, two of the rabbits looked like actual rabbits.
The cats were the same as the clowns; they each wore striped, spotted and polka-dotted costumes.
The guy with the lightning bolt out of the head, and the round-rimmed glasses reminded me of Harry Potter, instead of a spaceman.
I also wish the drawings had been better, and not so sketchy-looking. They look child-like, which was maybe their intention. Also, each character looked the same. the clowns all had the same eyes and general look, as did the rabbits, ghosts, pirates, and cats. He gave the same type of costumes the same eyes and noses. And I wish the author had wrote different things for each character, instead of repeating herself with the dif sizes, like tall, small, fat& skinny, and 'any size at all.' Find different ways to write.
As I was reading, and I thought I knew where the story was headed, that it would end with trick-or-treaters, the book seemed familiar to me, and I wasn't sure if I had read this as a kid or not.
However, it didn’t do that. Instead it said they say trick-or-treat.
I liked in the beginning when it said 'tall witches. small witches. any-size-at-all witches.' It was a fun way to write it.
I didn't like this thought: 'Look! There are two. "Boo!" says a ghost. "BOO!"
I thought this book would be more about different types of ghouls that are out on Halloween. Instead it focused too much on costumes, most of which you haven’t seen. I’ve never seen anyone dress as a cat, clown, or spaceman. I wish they had used more traditional costumes, and had better captured the spirit of Halloween and trick-or-treating. Also, two of the rabbits looked like actual rabbits.
The cats were the same as the clowns; they each wore striped, spotted and polka-dotted costumes.
The guy with the lightning bolt out of the head, and the round-rimmed glasses reminded me of Harry Potter, instead of a spaceman.
I also wish the drawings had been better, and not so sketchy-looking. They look child-like, which was maybe their intention. Also, each character looked the same. the clowns all had the same eyes and general look, as did the rabbits, ghosts, pirates, and cats. He gave the same type of costumes the same eyes and noses. And I wish the author had wrote different things for each character, instead of repeating herself with the dif sizes, like tall, small, fat& skinny, and 'any size at all.' Find different ways to write.
As I was reading, and I thought I knew where the story was headed, that it would end with trick-or-treaters, the book seemed familiar to me, and I wasn't sure if I had read this as a kid or not.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2010
A cute book about all the different costumes that people dress up as for Halloween, with enough repetition to encourage confidence, while adding descriptive words to aid in comprehension. It is simple enough for early readers, while the story is one that they'll want to read to gear up for Trick-or-Treating
December 5, 2017
I checked this book out at the library because I thought it would be a good one to read together with my 5-year-old as he practices some of his sight words, and because I think I have vague memories of reading this book when I was little with my little brother or sister (looking at the publication date, totally possible!). A simple little repetitive story that my 2-year-old enjoyed as well.
October 25, 2018
This is an oldie but goodie, cute story with rhyming words and fun to read with a group of kids!
October 4, 2023
So cute for little kids!
October 17, 2011
This is a fun, rhyming and bouncy tale about going out trick or treating on Halloween. The illustrations are great and the narrative is simple enough for beginning readers. We enjoyed reading this book together.
October 21, 2016
My youngest grandchildren LOVED this book, we read it every day by popular demand.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews