The Ghoulyah sistahs were three very special ladies. A long time ago, they were known far and wide for their extraordinary beauty. While each was different, each possessed her own special charms. Thus, it was not surprising that the sistahs attracted mistahs from all over the world. Mistahs of all kinds would wait for days to meet these lovelies. In fact, there were so many, how could each sistah choose just one? Then an idea came to them...throw a party and invite them all. And so the invitations were sent, the spider legs fried, and the sistahs dressed in their best. The event became legendary. Soon everyone around the world aspired to have their own October celebration...a celebration that came to be known as Halloween.

The Bottom Line: Author Mark Kimball Moulton has written a fictional account of the "true story" of the first Halloween. While this title is somewhat humorous, it falls flat due to the forced rhyme and lengthy text. Good's watercolor illustrations are simple and a bit quirky; the earth tones are pleasing to the eye. Since the text is rather long for a picture book, save this one for kids in grades 3 - 4. Readers who enjoy stories about Halloween and witches will pick this up.

This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog. ( )

The three Ghoulyah sisters - Talulah-Rose, Agnes-Beulah, and Jezebel-Peculiah - were astonishingly attractive witches. With raven hair and green skin (Talulah-Rose), braided whiskers (Agnes-Beulah), and a wrinkled face with furry eyebrows (Jezebel-Peculiah), they had no shortage of 'mistahs' courting them. Unsure of just who to choose as mates, these 'twisted sistahs' decided to throw a ghoulish party, and survey their suitors. The resultant bash was such a success - as a party that is, rather than a match-making venture - that it became an annual tradition known as Halloween...

After reading Mark Kimball Moulton and Karen Hillard Good's Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies and finding it moderately enjoyable, despite some problems with the text - the rhyme scheme was rather awkward, and the rhythm had more than a few hiccups - I was curious to see what I would make of this other Halloween title from the same author/illustrator duo. Unfortunately, I thought Twisted Sistahs was a bit of a mess, and with the exception of the artwork, which I found enjoyably quirky, I was not at all impressed. The text was overly long, I think, and more to the point, it read poorly. The rhyme scheme often felt forced, with sentences clearly being shoehorned into the 'correct' position - "So they made a big, old 'X' mark through October thirty-first, / then consulted their address book and they soon became immersed" - and there were some odd word choices - can someone be 'statuesquely' thin? - that jarred me out of the narrative.

All in all, this was a disappointment - I'm surprised to see how highly other reviewers have rated it - and although I'm happy to have added it to my 'witchy-witches' shelf (what can I say? I'm a bit of a completist), cannot really recommend it. ( )