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Special indeed are holiday stories with the right mix of high spirits and subtle mystery to please both adults and children--Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," for example. Or Ray Bradbury's classic The Halloween Tree. Eight boys set out on a Halloween night and are led into the depths of the past by a tall, mysterious character named Moundshroud. They ride on a black wind to autumn scenes in distant lands and times, where they witness other ways of celebrating this holiday about the dark time of year. Bradbury's lyrical prose whooshes along with the pell-mell rhythms of children running at night, screaming and laughing, and the reader is carried along by its sheer exuberance.
Bradbury's stories about children are always attended by dread--of change, adulthood, death. The Halloween Tree, while sweeter than his adult literature, is also touched at moments by the cold specter of loss--which is only fitting, of course, for a holiday in honor of the waning of the sun.
This is a superb book for adults to read to children, a way to teach them, quite painlessly, about customs and imagery related to Halloween from ancient Egypt, Mediterranean cultures, Celtic Druidism, Mexico, and even a cathedral in Paris. (One caveat, though: Bradbury unfortunately perpetuates a couple of misconceptions about Samhain, or summer's end, the Halloween of ancient Celts and contemporary pagans.) This beautiful reprint edition has the original black-and-white illustrations and a new color painting on the dust jacket. --Fiona Webster --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
"If you want to know what Halloween is, or if you simply want an eerie adventure, take this mystery-history trip. You couldn't have a better guide than Ray Bradbury."--Boston Globe
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but more of a poem than a story,
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This review is from: The Halloween Tree (Hardcover)
This is the story of how seven boys go on a Halloween quest to save their eighth friend from what seems to be an early death. Along the way they view the origins of their costumes and what the analagous Halloween rituals would be for the historical period where the costume comes from. It is an interesting read, but the story reads more like a poem than a traditional story. The plot is kind of shoddy and arbitrary, but again, that suits the lyrical prose of the story (I especially liked the part with Samhain and the Romans). Bradbury paints vivid pictures in each different era as the boys chase their friend in an ever-more desperate battle to reach him and pull him back from the jaws of death. The boys, other than their leader Tom, are quite one-dimensional and don't contribute much to the story beyond their costumes. The bottom lines include what one is willing to sacrifice to save another and what Halloween has to say about our own fears and knowledge of life and death.So while I enjoyed reading it, I can't say that I really loved it. I also don't think that this is a great book for younger readers, as the poetic writing is challenging enough that I think only very good pre-teen readers would be able to fully absorb it. That said, the imagery is quite poetic and Bradbury paints several vivid images that are worth reading and imagining. Thus I don't mind recommending it, so long as you realize that you're getting something more like a long poem than a short story.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Classic,
By
This review is from: The Halloween Tree (Paperback)
Halloween is fast approaching. A recent conversation with a stranger in the lands beyond Avalon regarding the holiday and its origins have made me decide to review another old book that some may have overlooked. The book is called THE HALLOWEEN TREE and was written by Ray Bradbury.This book tells the story of a group of small boys and a dangerous adventure they all share one Halloween with a spooky character named Clarence Clavicle Moundshroud. Much of the tale is taken up by the search for a missing friend. But while the plot is simple and originally aimed at younger readers the book has a second level. The second level concerns Halloween and its history. But it also touches on similar celebrations in other cultures, such as the Mexican Day of the Dead, and the common origins for these festivals. While the story is entertaining it manages to keep you from realizing just how much you are learning when reading the book. THE HALLOWEEN TREE was adapted for television at one point but I feel that production just doesn't hold a candle (or jack-o-lantern) to the book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Glowingly ghostly,
By Jeronimo (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Halloween Tree (Paperback)
In one of his finest works, Ray Bradbury explores the origins of Halloween, the imaginative spirit of youth and the strength of friendship in his quick, breathlessly paced Halloween Tree. The story is simple: on Halloween night, eight trick or treaters set out with a dashingly grim Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud (who may or may not be the grim reaper himself) on a journey across time to learn the secrets of Halloween night, and more importantly to save the soul of their dear friend Pipkin, whom they saw snatched up in front of their eyes by a dark shadow of death and blustered away to who knows where. The boys learn about the strange origins of their favorite holiday, and at the great climax discover a courage and selfless love within themselves they never knew they possessed.This book is at once a chilling supernatural tale, an interesting lesson in Halloween's beginnings, and a glorious exercise in elegant, soaring prose that is nearly poetry in its dark beauty. Moundshroud is a fascinating tour guide, and the boys are all eager listeners. With the exception of the skeleton boy Tom, none of the children are truly fleshed out characters, but that's perfectly fine for this story. Bradbury seems to want his readers to be Moundshroud's sole audience. Moundshroud leads us across a supernatural dreamscape paved with Bradbury's lush, descriptive words, and we should feel his glowing green eyes upon US. Bradbury knows this, and he delivers us a beautiful story, meant especially and solely for us, the readers. For anyone who loves Halloween, or appreciates a touch of magic in everyday life, this is a perfect book for both adults and children. When asked whether their night was a trick or a treat, the boys answer 'both!' They are entirely right.
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