Scarum Fair

by Jessica Swaim, Carol Ashley (Illustrator)

Overview

Enter the Scarum Fair ... if you dare! Take a ride on the Scary-Go-Round and Teacup Terror, or enter the Coffin Race. Meet The Head, The Hand, and Madame Ratowski, the palm reader who likes to be paid in swiss cheese. Visit the chiropractic tent of Dr. Crunch, who'll "pulverize your sternum, and disconnect your knee, then move your metatarsals where your tailbone used to be." And unusual food awaits: sample some cat-hair stew, I-scream, and a type-A blood-red punch. Cap off the entertainment with a special event: Count Dracula's wedding. Jessica Swaims's deliciously creepy, funny poems are brought to life by Carol Ashley's gorgeous, ghoulish illustrations in this CRA Eureka! Nonfiction Children's Silver Honor Book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590785904
Publisher:	Highlights
Publication date:	09/01/2010
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	920L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jessica Swaim is a former children's librarian and currently catalogs library materials for a school district in Colorado. She is the author of a rhyming picture book, The Hound from the Pound. She lives near Denver, Colorado.

Carol Ashley earned a BFA in animation and an MFA in film and art from the California Institute of the Arts. She worked on such films as Over the Hedge, Madagascar, and Flushed Away. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. This is her first picture book.

Editorial Reviews

A little bit silly, a little bit sinister, Swaim's poems introduce different denizens and attractions at the playfully twisted Scarum Fair. There's devil's food cake to eat, shrouds for sale, and a werewolf den to visit--"Like our friendly canine cousins,/ we're a cute and cuddly bunch./ Just think of us as puppies,/ and we'll think of you as... lunch." Ghoulish images of eyeless fanged creatures of every sort make this a punchy treat for fans of the macabre. Ages 9–11. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"A little bit silly, a little bit sinister. . . . A punchy treat for fans of the macabre." —Publishers Weekly

"Prepare for a deliciously scary and occasionally gross carnival experience. . . . Will keep kids turning pages." —Kirkus Reviews"Students will be clamoring to get their hands on it." —Library Media Connection

"There's something about the singsong nature of rhyming poetry - the assurance of that inevitable final-line shock - that makes it an ideal delivery method for the spooky." —Booklist

From the Publisher

Gr 3–6—Clever writing pulls children into a creepy carnival of 29 humorous poems. In a series of mostly four- to twelve-line selections, children ride the "Teacup Terror," "Scary-Go-Round," and "Rattler Coaster"; taste a bit of "Devil's Food Cake" and "I-Scream"; and attend "Count Dracula's Wedding." The first poem, "The Ghoul at the Gate," warns one kid to "Turn back,/or you'll regret it," and a large green claw comes onto the page to pick up an unsuspecting red-haired boy. Although the poems all seem to be written about that one boy becoming trapped ("Hey, kid...I told you/not to come here./Did you listen to me? No!/You'll never leave the Scarum Fair./The hand won't let you go..."), readers do not see that particular boy throughout but rather a cast of Caucasian children. Dark background colors add a sense of foreboding as the cartoon children meet the ghouls illustrated in acrylics, graphite, and pen and ink. This book will require little hand-selling and will be especially popular among fans of Adam Rex's Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich (2006) or Frankenstein Takes the Cake (2008, both Harcourt) and Jack Prelutsky's Awful Ogre's Awful Day (Greenwillow, 2001).—Julie R. Ranelli, Queen Anne's County Free Library, Stevensville, MD

School Library Journal

Prepare for a deliciously scary and occasionally gross carnival experience. This collection of poems takes brave readers on a journey past "The Ghoul at the Gate" and treats them to "Devil's Food Cake," "I-Scream" and "Cat-Hair Stew." Once fortified, there are activities to do—"Pumpkin Bowling" or a "Coffin Race," anyone?—and freaky folks to meet. Other creature features include the "Head Louse"—"This tiny pest / requires no care. / She's happy strolling / through your hair / and laying eggs / that quickly hatch. / So every day / you start from scratch"—and the "Poison Dart Frog": "Witch Clara has a tiny frog / that plays the cruelest joke / on creeps who try to capture him, / 'cause they're the ones who croak." Ghoulish subject matter, rollicking rhythms, lots of wordplay and Ashley's creepy cartoons, filled with interesting details, will keep kids turning pages. Pair with Frankenstein Takes the Cake, by Adam Rex (2008), or There Was a Man Who Loved a Rat and Other Vile Little Poems, by Gerda Rovetch and illustrated by Lissa Rovetch (2008), for some frightful fun. (Poetry. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews