Review Detail

Luna wants to be a witch just like her grandma, so she decides to go across the street where the witch lives. Luna finds that the witch, Pheenie, wants to throw a fantastic Halloween party that everyone will attend. Luna decides to strike a deal with Pheenie; she will help her pull off this party as long as Pheenie teaches her how to be a witch. Luna finds that there’s a lot of work to do if they’re going to ensure that this party gets on track by the time everyone is scheduled to arrive.


What I Liked: This book begins by introducing you to Luna Lopez, who wants to be a witch, along with the neighborhood kids who are telling scary stories about the witch who lives on their block. Luna isn’t afraid, though, so she decides that she will approach this witch regardless of the spooky stories and the sign on the witch’s porch warning people to keep out.


The illustrations throughout this book do a great job of breaking up the text; otherwise, there would be blocks of text on some pages. The text throughout the book is framed by the images, and there is a good contrast between the background images and the text, so you don’t have to squint to read. The book incorporates various spells throughout as Pheenie brings her magic into play, and these are included in different fonts to distinguish them from the rest of the text.


There are fun and silly moments in this book as Luna teaches the witch how to throw a fantastic party that humans will enjoy. These moments include her wanting to use spiders as candy, wanting the party to be full of dust and cobwebs, and wanting to fill apples with worms for trick-or-treaters. Luna is amazing as she doesn’t bat an eye at any of these suggestions, but instead finds ways to incorporate Pheenie’s suggestions, such as making troll fingers as cookies, and using the apples to make a cider.


Final Verdict: Luna and the Witch Throw a Halloween Party is a cute and fun way to bring in the Halloween season and to teach children how working together helps both parties. Children ages 3 and up will enjoy seeing how Luna and Pheenie work together to accomplish their goals, and just how the party plays out in a night of fun for all. It’s interesting to see who ends up at the party and to see how this party changed Pheenie’s tune, which you see in her expressions and the clothes she is wearing.