Andy Shane and the Pumpkin Trick is by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. The illustrations are by Abby Carter. The paperback has fifty-eight pages. There are four short chapters. The book is for children between the ages six and nine-years-old. It is an early reader chapter book for children making the transition from picture books to chapter books.

Welcome Andy Shane back! It is Halloween. Andy and Granny Webb are in the garden. They are selecting the Halloween pumpkin. Andy spies bossy Dolores walking up the path. He dives behind a gigantic pumpkin. Too late! Dolores spies his maneuver. Halloween is her birthday, Dolores invites Shane to her party. Young Shane cringes. To make matters worse, he has to help Dolores decorate her house.

Dolores has a serious problem. Halloween tricksters are destroying her pumpkins. In the evening, they smash her pumpkin. Shane wants to scare away the tricksters. He shares his boy detective plans with Dolores. Dolores finds a flaw in each of Shane’s ideas. Will detective Shane scare away the Halloween tricksters?

Abby Carter’s illustrations give visual clues to Jennifer Richard Jacobson’s text. She clearly depicts Andy and Dolores’ emotions. Shane’s disgust, of being trapped into helping Dolores, is etched on his face. Tears flow when Dolores finds the second pumpkin smashed. Black pencil and black watercolor wash illustrations adorned almost every page in the Halloween book.

Andy Shane and the Pumpkin Trick as well as the other books in the Andy Shane series appeal to both boys and girls. It is a good mystery book for children in the first to third grades. The chapters are the length of the stories in their school readers. Kids, unable to read the book in one sitting, can read a chapter at a time. Children are familiar with Halloween celebrations. They will enjoy reading about Andy, Dolores and the Halloween Tricksters.





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Note: Andy Shane and the Pumpkin Trick by Jennifer Richard Jacobson was received from Candlewick Press. 9780763633066