Halloween

 

Title: Halloween

Author: Jerry Seinfeld

Publisher: Byron Preiss

Date: 2002

Number of pages: 33

Reading level: Ages 5-9

Genre: Children's Picture Book

Summary: Seinfeld (and most kids would agree), the purpose of trick-or-treating contains two important words: "Get candy." In this book, a boy takes a trip through the neighborhood in search for name-brand chocolate bars. "I'll wear anything I have to wear... to get the candy from those fools who are so stupidly giving it away," he suggests. The young boy undergoes wardrobe malfunctions in which he urges his impatient friends to wait for him as he fixes his issue. The familiar boy is then made one year to wear a coat over his awaited costume. He always dreamt growing up that he was superman and would one day purchase one of the costumes from the store. He felt inferior in the jacket as him mom sent him out the door with friends wearing a jacket, which covered up the costume in all it's heroic glory. After the coat fiasco, young Seinfeld dresses as a nit picky accountant, with a green visor and a filing cabinet for "chewy things," "sour things" and "rejects." The story then ends as he collects all his candy in a large bowl and consumes them all in one night. After completely a sugar high, Seinfeld wakes up the following morning feeling on top of the world, therefore actually feeling like a true hero, his hero, superman. 

My Reaction: Jerry Seinfeld's Halloween reads like one of his stand up routines that has been oversimplified. I love silliness, good chocolate and holidays however this book makes it a bit distasteful to me

Potential Problems: The book is disrespectful to adults, gives some very bad examples for children and is poorly written. The fact that the protagonist goes around demanding candy and rudely tosses that which he does not care for back to the caring person - it rude. I would think that children should be taught respect and better presentation when approaching doorsteps who kindly give them candy.

My recommendation: I would only recommend this to older children probably... I don't think it's age appropriate for children who actually would be going door to door asking for trick-or-treats. I feel that we should have more respect for adults, especially those handing out candy on such a holiday. It should not be read-aloud in public schools (young aged children) as I don't feel its sets a positive example.