Written by Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Jennica Lounsbury
Tundra Books
978-1774886182
48 pp.
Ages 4–8
July, 2026
Mother Boo may sound a little scary but she's really a friendly old ghost and the titular character in one of Vikki VanSickle's poems from October County and Spookytown. After a welcoming poem, "Welcome to October County," Vikki VanSickle shares 13 more poems about the fall season and the happenings that come with Halloween.
The residents of Spookytownare just like you or I.They love a thrilling story —or better yet, a rhyme. (pg. 5)
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| Illustration by Jennica Lounsbury from Mother Boo: Poems from Spookytown, written by Vikki VanSickle |
In "Mother Boo," the ghostly grandmother-like spirit always seems to be around to help out, whether it's shutting a window from howling winds, blowing the clouds away on Halloween, or comforting a child. She's actually quite sweet and motherly.
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| Illustration by Jennica Lounsbury from Mother Boo: Poems from Spookytown, written by Vikki VanSickle |
The other poems include, "The Secret to Flying," "Countdown to Halloween,""The Year in Moons," "Ugga Bugga Baby," and "Ghosts Go A-Spooking." None are frightening but all are entertaining, leaving readers and future Halloweeners smiling and wishing the holiday of trick-or-treating wasn't so far away in time.
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| Illustration by Jennica Lounsbury from Mother Boo: Poems from Spookytown, written by Vikki VanSickle |
Vikki VanSickle could have emphasized the scarier aspects of this seasonal holiday, but she knows her audience. (Her earlier picture books, like How to Decorate a Christmas Tree [2023] and Teddy Bear of the Year [2020], can attest to this.) She gives them rhymes that carry them from parties and pumpkins, to ghosts and werewolves but without terror. Instead, young readers will imagine ghostly goings-on and things that might go bump in the night just like them. Vikki VanSickle even throws in a few poems that emphasize concepts like the alphabet and numbers, and varies her poetry to include limericks, an acrostic, and quatrains. I know Mother Boo: Poems from Spookytown will become a favourite read in October, but it will be incredibly useful for lessons for poetry units too.
With illustrations created by Hamilton's Jennica Lounsbury, Mother Boo: Poems from Spookytown keeps the holiday theme in content and colour, with only a smidgen of the creepy. Her characters are recognizable as ghosts or children in costumes, and she always gives them expressions that are placid or gleeful. Nothing to fear from these characters. Even Mother Boo is more grandmotherly than ghostly. And by using a limited palette of black and white with gray, and oranges, Jennica Lounsbury ensures that children will recognize Mother Boo: Poems from Spookytown as a book dedicated to Halloween.
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| Illustration by Jennica Lounsbury from Mother Boo: Poems from Spookytown, written by Vikki VanSickle |
Whether you wait until October—don't—or get Mother Boo: Poems from Spookytown now for some upbeat rhyming fun, this picture book will usher in some pumpkiny poetry and some spirited schooling that children will appreciate.
