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Meaner Than Meanest
In a rickety old hovel in a wooded swamp lives an evil old hag, who is the second-meanest creature alive. She is only the second meanest because her cat, Hisss, is even meaner than she is. And this Halloween, the hag is determined to make a creature that will be the meanest creature yet! But when she slips up and leaves out the eye of newt out of her recipe, the hag's worst fears are realized. Out of the bubbling brew comes--ugh!--the sweetest little girl she never wanted to meet, Daisy. How long will the hag be able to stand this little ray of sunshine?
32 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 24, 2019
The illustrations are okay and the story is original. The witch in this story brews a spell that doesn't quite turn how she expected.
October 13, 2011
Don't you just hate it when you leave out an ingredient from a recipe?
Hag does! In Meaner Than Meanest by Kevin Somers, illustrated by Diana Cain Bluthenthal, Hag remembers the greasy, slimy sweat from a speckled frog, 16 scrappy scorpions, 17 sticky spiders, 6 slithery snakes and 6 squishy snails, but she forgets to add eye of newt.
Instead of creating the meanest, ugliest, most evil creature in the world, Hag produces a sweet little girl named Daisy who tames mean Hiss the cat. Hag tries everything to turn Daisy mean, but nothing works.
Somers' text is clever, using wonderfully descriptive words in this tale. I loved the recipe book's title: Monster Recipes for Witches, Hags, and Mean Old Bats.
The illustrations add little details, such as the mailbox marked Hag, Hag using a stethoscope to listen to the cocoon, and the daisies in Daisy's hair. They also strongly support the text.
Meaner than Meanest is both a slightly spooky Halloween story and also a story about kindness and the power of love. Some dialog is mean, paticularly the sentence: "Choke on these, brat!" I like the uses of the word hag and some challenging vocabulary.
For ages 4 to 7, witches, hags, Halloween, meanness, kindness, cats, and fans of Kevin Somers and Diana Cain Bluthenthal.
Hag does! In Meaner Than Meanest by Kevin Somers, illustrated by Diana Cain Bluthenthal, Hag remembers the greasy, slimy sweat from a speckled frog, 16 scrappy scorpions, 17 sticky spiders, 6 slithery snakes and 6 squishy snails, but she forgets to add eye of newt.
Instead of creating the meanest, ugliest, most evil creature in the world, Hag produces a sweet little girl named Daisy who tames mean Hiss the cat. Hag tries everything to turn Daisy mean, but nothing works.
Somers' text is clever, using wonderfully descriptive words in this tale. I loved the recipe book's title: Monster Recipes for Witches, Hags, and Mean Old Bats.
The illustrations add little details, such as the mailbox marked Hag, Hag using a stethoscope to listen to the cocoon, and the daisies in Daisy's hair. They also strongly support the text.
Meaner than Meanest is both a slightly spooky Halloween story and also a story about kindness and the power of love. Some dialog is mean, paticularly the sentence: "Choke on these, brat!" I like the uses of the word hag and some challenging vocabulary.
For ages 4 to 7, witches, hags, Halloween, meanness, kindness, cats, and fans of Kevin Somers and Diana Cain Bluthenthal.
October 17, 2017
A hilarious and adorable Halloween tale for kids. A witch tries to create the meanest creature of all, but accidentally leaves out a crucial ingredient, and as a result creates an adorable, sweet girl with pink hair. My girls loved this so much that immediately upon finishing it, they demanded I read it a second time.
One thing I really like, as someone who has experienced depression, is that in the story the girl does not try to fix the old hag or force her to be happy. She immediately reaches out to her, and when she's rejected she continues to be kind and to be there, but she does not force herself or her life approaches on the hag, assuming that they would somehow magically solve her woes and change her.
One thing I really like, as someone who has experienced depression, is that in the story the girl does not try to fix the old hag or force her to be happy. She immediately reaches out to her, and when she's rejected she continues to be kind and to be there, but she does not force herself or her life approaches on the hag, assuming that they would somehow magically solve her woes and change her.
September 3, 2018
I love this book. Read it when I used to work with kids and wound up buying it because my eyes well up at the end every time and I think it's an adorable story.
November 5, 2026
Very cute book. I am not one for Halloween but my youngest picked it out with tooth fairy money and she really liked it too.
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September 6, 2016Brief review: A Halloween story about a lonely old hag that is so excited for Halloween that she wants to create the meanest monster in all the land. But, my one small mistake, she is instead accidentally creates a cute, sweet litter girl named Daisy.
Content areas: This book can teach that you should always treat others better than they are treating you. Although the hag was continually putting Daisy through horrible situations, Daisy would always show the hag kindness. In the end, Daisy was actually able to make the hag smile, simply by not giving up on the witch.
Comprehension questions:
1: The book says that the hag lives in a "hovel in the swamp". What do you think the word "hovel" means?
Answer: A home, shack, rundown building.
2: How do you think Daisy was able to make Hisss, the world's meanest creature, kind and gentle?
Answer: By showing him kindness and being gentle unlike the hag.
Wonders:
1. Was the hag always alone and mean?
2: What would happen to the potion if the hag had added the eye of newt, but forgotten another ingredient in her potion?
Content areas: This book can teach that you should always treat others better than they are treating you. Although the hag was continually putting Daisy through horrible situations, Daisy would always show the hag kindness. In the end, Daisy was actually able to make the hag smile, simply by not giving up on the witch.
Comprehension questions:
1: The book says that the hag lives in a "hovel in the swamp". What do you think the word "hovel" means?
Answer: A home, shack, rundown building.
2: How do you think Daisy was able to make Hisss, the world's meanest creature, kind and gentle?
Answer: By showing him kindness and being gentle unlike the hag.
Wonders:
1. Was the hag always alone and mean?
2: What would happen to the potion if the hag had added the eye of newt, but forgotten another ingredient in her potion?
November 21, 2011
This was a fun Halloween book. The kids enjoyed the fact that the cat was the meanest character around. It seemed silly. The old hag then tried to make a monster that was meaner than the meanest. Her efforts were amusing but it all went wrong when she forgot one of the ingredients. That lead to an unexpected result. The sweetest thing around came to life, quickly won over most of the crew and finally the old hag. The story just makes you smile.
November 4, 2013
Adorable story about a HAG (oh, how the kids loved hearing me read the word HAG) who goofs on a recipe and creates something sweeter than sweet when she aimed for meaner than meanest. The pictures are great and the atmosphere is built perfectly so that readers feel the mean and frustration of the main character - and the syrupy sweetness of another.
This is a great story and little life lesson for any time of the year.
This is a great story and little life lesson for any time of the year.
October 10, 2012
This book was pretty dang awesome! I don't usually like Halloween type stories because they are either scary or stupid or both! This one was just plain old cute!!! I love the twists and turns in the story. What a fun book! I love Daisy! This really got an LOL from me (which is rare)!!
June 29, 2013
A cute book about a witch trying to create something meaner and uglier than her. She doesn't quiet get what she wanted and does her best to try to achieve what she intended. In the end her stubborn creation succumbs on Halloween night.
July 8, 2015
I loved this so much that I had to buy it for my personal, overcrowded library. All readers of my review are subject to a privacy clause. The use of the adjective "overcrowded" shall not be shared with my husband.
November 23, 2008
fun book - great illustrations
August 20, 2009
Just found this in my school library. This book is brilliant. My new favorite. A great book about "letting your light so shine."
October 13, 2009
This is a fun book about Halloween and melting someone's mean-ness! Such a clever idea!
November 1, 2010
Great Book!!!
October 9, 2011
48 months - entertaining
October 30, 2011
I thought I was the meanest, not! Very cute. Kids will get a kick out of this one.
October 10, 2012
This is a fun story about mean witches. I think that younger children should be able to handle it but the witches are creepy looking.
November 2, 2012
Love this story. Fun to read with the kids
September 18, 2013
My 5 year old girls LOVED this book!!! It was so fun to read. A Halloween favorite!
October 10, 2014
I loved this one! Being a witch myself, I can really relate with the witch when she creates Daisy. Poor old witch!
September 12, 2016
Such a cute story! Great illustrations and fun twist. This is one of the best children's Halloween books I have read this year.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews