ALA Booklist (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Who could ask for more in a Halloween book than full-color illustrations oozing goo, eyeballs, and hideous creatures? In fact, this entry in the spooky book fest also delivers a fun story, though Murfin's pictures (reminiscent of the Lane Smith's in Math Curse, 1995) are enough to satisfy all on their own. The rhyming text, about facing down fears, centers on kids going through a haunted house. As they venture along, their leader, Simon Lester Henry Strauss, loudly proclaims: I'm not afraid of this haunted house! Nothing scares Simon--not the Vampire's Feast, the werewolf, the graveyard, or Frankenstein's wedding. The deliciously creepy yet comical pictures show Simon propelling running and tumbling kids from one fright to another--until he meets his own surprising match at the close.

Horn Book (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

When Cork the muskrat runs into Fuzz the opossum in the woods, they begin to learn about their differences and similarities. Cork likes to eat "veggie stuff" rather than Fuzz's beetles, and Fuzz is afraid of the water Cork lives in. But they both love rocks, and a new friendship is begun throughout four simple, appealingly illustrated chapters.

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

<p>"I'm Simon Lester Henry Strauss, / and I'm not afraid of this haunted house," says Simon as he drags his friends through a horror-filled haunted house. While they quail at the likes of a Vampire feast, a moving floor, a spider-eating goblin and a Frankenstein wedding (where the bride can't find her face), Simon just laughs. He withstands every shock the house has to offer and boasts he's looking forward to next year . . . until he sees a mouse and runs away as his friends laugh at him. Listeners will delight in the gruesome details of both the illustrations and the rhymed text. Some adults might wince at the blood, brains, guts and veins served at the reception after Frankenstein's wedding or the swimming pool full of blood, but school-age audiences will eat this up. Murfin's pictures, which really steal the show, seem a mixture of Nickelodeon's AHHH! Real Monsters and Hey, Arnold! A great, gross addition to Halloween collections of all sizes. (Picture book. 5-10)</p>

Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

I'm Simon Lester Henry Strauss,/ and I'm not afraid of this haunted house!" boasts this tale's tour guide as other boys and girls shiver and flail. "My friends all scream, 'Come on! Let's run!'/ But I march inside. This looks like fun!" Friedman (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">A Style All Her Own) composes nonstop couplets about the house's creatures and features, including a spider-eating goblin and "rows of coffins"; her swaggering hero finally reveals an Achilles heel ("I'm not afraid of this... eeeek... a <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">mouse!"). Murfin (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Hide and Seek Turkey) takes a cue from Lane Smith in her paintings of wide-faced characters, who dodge cobwebs and giggling ghouls. Her light-hearted visual approach mitigates the potentially goose-pimply details. Ages 5-8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Aug.)

School Library Journal (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Gr 1-3 Simon Lester Henry Strauss insists again and again that he is not afraid of this haunted house. As he and his friends go further inside it, the rhymes and his efforts to prove his bravery get more grotesque. Primary-grade children will love the verses of horrific comedy (I'm not afraid when a wedding takes place,/and Frankenstein's bride can't find her face) but, unfortunately, they may pass this picture book over, assuming that it is for the preschool set, which it clearly is not. The pictures and perfect singsong rhythm of the rhyming text belie some of the edgier and gorier couplets (At the reception, I try blood and brains./For dessert, I sample guts and veins). Simon's I'm-not-afraid mantra gets louder and larger on the page until the end when readers find that though he is bold and headstrong, there is one small thing that does in fact scare him quite a bit. Funny images in muted tones of a screaming ghoul, a werewolf, bloodsucking beasts, and a pool of blood dominate the pages, while the young protagonist relishes all that he encounters. Julie Roach, Watertown Free Public Library, MA