It's Halloween, and when the trick-or-treaters are finished, the Jack-o'-lanterns come out to play. After midnight they sail off porches and through the woods, flying high into the night sky. Up and up they go to unite as the Pumpkin Moon.

The Bottom Line: Bartram's big, bold artwork is the highlight of this seasonal picture book. I read a well-used copy that older children will enjoy. However, this pick might be a bit frightening for little ones.

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

It's October 31st - Halloween night! - and the trick-or-treaters are out in force in this graphically striking picture-book from British author/illustrator team Tim Preston and Simon Bartram. When midnight comes, and the humans are in bed, the jack-o-lanterns take flight, joining witches, ghosts and other spooky creatures in a vast procession under a pumpkin moon. Spotted by a few people, this unusual occurrence prompts headlines the next day...

Preston's text in Pumpkin Moon is minimal - just enough to describe what is going on - leaving most of the attention on Bartram's eye-popping illustrations. The cover of my edition really doesn't do justice to the interior artwork, which is so much more vibrantly colorful and surreal than the fairly sedate image on the outside of the book. The cover image on the paperback edition gives a much better impression of the contents within, and the spooky beauty of these visuals. I see that a number of other reviewers didn't care for the artwork, finding the human figures, in particular, creepy. For my part, I thought the illustrations were the best thing here, elevating a mostly humdrum narrative to something truly spooky and magical. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for fun Halloween reads with a bold visual style. ( )

Apparently every Hallowe'en the moon takes on the form of a malevolent pumpkin and incites pumpkins on earth to go mental. Who knew? ( )

It's Halloween and the trick or treaters are sleeping. Out come every pumpkin in the city to meet up for a huge party in town square under the pumpkin moon only to leave behind traces for the city to figure out

All the pumpkins unite and fly away to create the great pumpkin moon. I didnt really like the book, found others that were better suited for autumn/ halloween, illustrations are beautiful!