The Short Straw

by Irene Mathias, Uhren Anja (Illustrator)

A spooky night, a haunted house, are you man or are you mouse?  Who is brave enough to go inside and, more importantly, get out to tell the tale!?
Trick-or-treating has never been this much fun . . . or scary.  The Short Straw, by Irene Mathias, is a narrative Halloween poem for children - spooky, but not too scary - and beautifully illustrated by artist Anja Uhren.

The Short Straw!  A great picture book choice for fans of Helen Ketteman, author of  At the Old Haunted House, Julia Donaldson, author of  Room on the Broom, or the classic  Five Little Pumpkins .

32 pages, Paperback

Published May 3, 2017

About the author

Irene currently lives in Paisley, Scotland, with her husband and her daughter, where she loves to write stories and poetry for children. Her stories are influenced by the period of time she spent living in Canada. It was here that she acquired her love of all things Christmas and Halloween. Irene's first book, The Short Straw, was a winner in the New York City Big Book Award 2017.

Reviews

[Tina]

Our 4 boys loved the book and the illustrations. It is definitely a book that should be added to your children's collection. Our one son wanted to go through the book and find all the words that rhymed which was great for his learning and reading. For teachers or librarians looking for fall/Halloween themed books I would recommended adding this book to your collection.

[Nichole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful picture book. The beautiful and eerie illustrations go perfectly with the spooky poem. It is suitable for children four and up, but I think older readers will appreciate the poetry and artwork the most.

My favorite part is the end. just when you think his adventure is over . . . you'll have to check it out to see!

[Wyshona D. Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great!

[Cindy Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining read. A book to be kept and read year after year for Halloween fun!