There’s a good story here but the execution was poorly done. Esther’s parents are jerks and the message is a bit iffy. I don’t think you need to stop enjoying your favorite holiday to grow up. ( )

I was too old for this
nevertheless, I teared up
goddammit Joseph Fink ( )

A Halloween-themed middle grade book by Joseph Fink of Welcome to Night Vale fame, featuring thirteen-year-old Esther Gold, who really, really, really loves Halloween. Although maybe not quite enough to live in the dream of it forever, which is currently in danger of happening.

This was a decent kids' novel, with some nifty ideas, some fun moments, and some pretty good thematic stuff about growing up and being willing to change. I did kind of wish the main bad guy and the supernatural elements surrounding her felt a bit better-defined, though, as I kept waiting for an deeper exploration of them that never really came. The story also feels like it's constantly verging on being really nicely creepy, in a way that I do think would be fine for a kids' book, but it constantly stops just short of being satisfyingly spooky.

I do find the narrative voice kind of interesting. It's very much the voice of an adult, even though the story is written from the POV of a kid, and it sometimes gets a leeeeeetle now-I-will-offer-the-kids-a-lesson preachy. Other times, it goes off on philosophical digressions that are well-written, but that leave me wondering if they're likely to really connect with kids or not. I keep trying to imagine how I'd have felt about it when I was in the target age range, but I genuinely don't know whether I'd find it deeply meaningful, or just a bit boringly adult.

All of which probably means people should go and ask an actual kid for an opinion of this one, really, rather than listening to ol' middle-aged me. ( )

#FirstLine - The Bennington Museum of the Unusual and Rare was not an attraction that received many visitors.

This was a great Halloween story, but one that could be enjoyed year round. I loved the characters and it was such a blast to watch the story unfold. It was really fun and a book the whole family will love! ( )

The Halloween Moon is a cute and fun book, but there is not a lot of depth to it. The main character, Esther, is rather obsessed with Halloween and pretty much lives her life thinking about how to celebrate the next Halloween once the previous one has passed. I don't have an issue with it, thought it was rather cute, until I discovered her age. I love Halloween as well, but I enjoy the creepy and macabre to begin with, and it's those aspects of the holiday that I enjoy, the stories, the movies, the fright, etc... Going trick-or-treating just to collect candy that you don't really want to eat just seems sort of silly. But if that's what you like, then why not?

First of all, I liked the characters in the story. Esther Gold was not always a likeable character, but that suits me just fine as there is potential to develop a character like that which is exactly what happened. There were times the author allowed Esther to reflect on her own behaviour towards others and she realized she was not always the victim in a lot of situations; many times she could have handled things differently or looked at things from a different perspective. I do wish the author had taken the time to develop these reflections a bit more, especially in terms of the two relationships that developed in the story as they would have felt more real with that development. When enemies become frenemies then friends, you have to buy into it, and you have to believe in it as well. I liked Esther's friends and thought their growth, along with hers, would have been a lot of fun. Her parents though? They must hate Halloween. The author never did give a good reason for their behaviour however, and the 'you are too old' argument didn't really work in this story. It was a bit jarring. Mr. Gabler though, was the best thing about this book.

The plot itself was pretty generic, although I think I am basing this more on the author's other works which are a bit more creative and original. While interesting, I just felt like there was something missing, some major excitement, and I wasn't as invested in the outcome as I should have been. It's not that there weren't elements of creativity and originality, because there were, and there were some really good parts. It's just when you put the whole thing together, it doesn't seem to work and I can't seem to put my finger on exactly what it was. Perhaps my biggest issue is with Esther and her age as she doesn't really feel like a 13-year-old and I had to keep reminding myself she was older than I thought. I'm also not against exploring puberty and feelings and whatnot, but it just seemed so out of place in this book as well.

Verdict
The Halloween Moon is one that I thought would be interesting simply because there are not a lot of Halloween books for this age group. Unfortunately, the writing style used was more descriptive rather than dialogue based which made the reader feel detached from the action and the characters. And the book didn't really have the creepy factor that I think some young readers would like in a book like this; the villains were more silly than creepy. While I would not necessarily recommend this one, I would recommend his Welcome to Night Vale Episodes. Overall, while this definitely contained some of the author's writing that I love and I enjoyed the concept, I do think he struggled with that fine line between adolescent and child which made the writing style awkward and disjointed. ( )