Trick or Treat?

by Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson, Paul Meisel (Illustrator)

Having had a successful day of trick-or-treating in his apartment building, a young boy's bag of goodies is turned into a crazy collection of unusual items after his encounter with a wizard on the top floor, yet luckily a hug from his father breaks the spell and brings back his big bag of sweets.

Genres: Halloween, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Bill Martin, Jr. (1916-2004) was an elementary-school principal, teacher, writer, and poet. His more than 300 books, among them the bestselling classics Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See ; Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear ; Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See ; and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , are a testament to his ability to speak directly to children. Martin held a doctoral degree in early childhood education. Born in Kansas, he worked as an elementary-school principal in Chicago before moving to New York City, where he worked in publishing, developing innovative reading programs for schools. After several years, he devoted himself full-time to writing his children's books. He lived in New York until 1993, when he moved to Texas. He lived in the east Texas woods, near the town of Commerce, until he passed away in 2004.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/billma...

Reviews

[Magpie67 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun title about a boy trick or treating in his apartment and how everyone gave him treats on the way up and tricks on the way down. Loved the play on words like 'silly belly jeans'. Fun to get your tongue all twisted up while reading and the children will surely enjoy saying the silly phrases with you.

[Marti (Letstalkaboutbooksbaybee) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay I usually love Bill Martin Jr books but this one was so weird??? And made no sense?

If Magic Merlin made everything backwards, does this mean that the boy’s daddy doesn’t typically hug him and that it’s because of the spell that he actually does? And the mom says at the beginning that they’re only going to knock on doors of people they know, so why did she even let them knock on Merlin’s door? So weird.

[Elly Schultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: Modern Fantasy Grade: K-4
I think that it was interesting how the boy had gone from the second floor of the hotel to the nine floor of the hotel with getting a lot of candy but then when he had gotten to the tenth floor where Merlin lived he had made the the treats backwards. So on the way back downstairs when he was knocking on the door the people had mixed up the first letter in each word. It is neat how it can switch up a word with doing that.

[Katherine Cowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was annoyed by this book for its first half, and then I read the second half, which is basically Halloween tricks as literary puns/reversals brought to life. And my kids thought it was amazing--from my three-year-old to my eight-year-old, each kid wanted to read it again and again, and each had their favorite page/reversal.

[Andrea Hallahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a silly story that would be suitable to read during Halloween time. I like the spunkiness of this book such as saying the candy names backwards. It is goofy and could help children not fear ghosts, witches, and skeletons since they are kind in this story. The characters are definitely weird, but it makes this book unique and special.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martin Quest #24
Another Halloween themed book with kid apparently living in a very tall building and getting a mountain of candy, and then a whole series of twisted ways of saying the candy, with a little added storyline about Merlin.
It was OK but Halloween is still this weird thing that the Yanks do.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the concept of all the candy names getting jumbled up and turning into other things ("Belly Jeans" instead of "Jelly Beans", etc) but they felt kind of forced, and all his neighbors had such goofy nicknames that it got a little too silly.

[Khloe Howie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long winding Halloween story that has a lot of unique characters with wild tricks and treats. The cute illustrations allow you to enjoy the adventure. It is a perfect story for a Grandparent to read to a group of grandchildren.

[Audrey Pollard · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Halloween a boy goes trick or treating and he gets treats all night and at the last stop he gets a trick which makes all of his treats he got turn backwards and the spell was broken from a hug from his dad.

[Justin Dolezal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to have in the classroom for the Halloween holiday. Not a whole lot of teaching material, but really fun read for the holiday, and funny story line!

[Little Seesaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silly mix up book with lots of treats and a lot of tricks.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see how some people don't like this book but we enjoyed the strangeness!

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magic Merlin zaps a trick-or-treater and madness ensues afterwards until the curse is broken.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I have so many great memories of reading this to my little cousin. I especially love the different apartment building floors and doors- so much fun!

[Carrie Wills · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confusing

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

My preschool class loves this book, but I hate it. I don’t think it’s funny or clever - just weird. The “backwards candy” thing makes no sense, and the “solution” to the backwards problem...? I can’t stand reading it, though they constantly request it.

[Numa Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wasn’t very enjoyable to read

[Cameron]

i decided to read this with the kid i work with because the art style reminded me of the black lagoon books i used to read as a child. although the pictures were nice to look at, the story was just "meh" to me. the kid i read it to was barely focused too.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly and cute.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My student teacher used this book as the basis of some great speech therapy sessions. It's been a while, so I can't really remember the book or the specifics about the lessons. I just came across a sticky note in with the book title and author written down and it gave me the idea to start this new shelf. And to top it off, it's almost the perfect time of year to get it out of the library and use it with my current crew at home and work.

[Karen Arendt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Halloween story about a ghost who sends out invitations to his friends (witches and skeletons) for a Halloween party. Two boys see an invitation float down and go to the party on Halloween, too. The ghost, witches, and skeletons don't know what to do when the boys appear and say "Trick or Treat!" The ghost says "Treat" and invites the boys to the party.

[Audra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the names of the neighbors and the names of the candy were annoying to me - I get they had to be able to be flipped "Wackbards", my 3 year old was nuts over this book. We have read it several times a day for a week. I literally have this story memorized and "tell" it to her while cooking dinner. She loves it that much!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever story about a boy who trick-or-treats on each floor of his apartment building, gets a "WackBards" spell cast on him by Merlin, and gets all kinds of funny, backwards treats in his bag until his dad breaks the spell with a hug!

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

A backwards tale about trick or treating. Fun for a child in the mid grades in elementary school.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining book that follows a boy trick or treating in his apartment building. I would use this book as a fun read and maybe tie into a safety lesson around Halloween.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun book if you enjoy the play on words of all apartment dweller's names and the reversal of these names.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great illustrations and very clever story. The young trick or treater receives a "trick," and everything becomes backwards.

[Sarah Decarlo]

Rhyming and repetition