No Zombies Allowed by Matt Novak

This book is about two witches who are planning a party. While cleaning the house, they find pictures from their party last year. First they find pictures of zombies and they remember that they practically ruined the party by dropping their eyes into the punch bowl so they made a sign that said "No Zombies Allowed." Next, they found pictures of werewolves from the party last year. They didn't like how the werewolves would cough up furballs all over the house so they made a sign that said "No Werewolves Allowed." Next, they found pictures of swamp creatures, ghosts, skeletons, and vampires and made the necessary signs to make sure that they stayed out. Finally, they found pictures of witches and they didn't like how their brooms knocked everything over. They were going to make a sign that said "No Witches Allowed" when they realized that it was them in the pictures. Afterwards, they decided that it was a fun party so they took down all the signs and allowed everyone to come to the party but there was only one rule: "No Photos Allowed."

I like this book because of its humor. It is funny that the skeletons called everyone "Fatso" and that the vampires sucked the juice out of all the fruit. The book plays on characteristics of these fictional characters and I think that is what makes it so funny. This would be a great book to read around Halloween time.

A lot of the humor also comes from the pictures. Matt Novak is also the illustrator and he does a good job of making the pictures relate to the text. He draws all the photos that the witches find while they are cleaning their house and if the witches don't want the werewolves to come because of their furballs, then the picture is of werewolves coughing up furballs. But he also goes beyond just a picture of werewolves coughing up furballs; he puts in detail and draws the characters in a funny manner.

This is a great book for beginner readers. There are some words that they may have trouble with because they aren't used to seeing them, such as vampires and skeletons, but the pictures are a great resource for the kids because they can infer what the words are and this is a great reading strategy.