Fold-up Halloween fortune tellers

Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408888629
(Age: Middle primary) To quote the blurb: "Dare to be scared with these ghoulishly gruesome fortune tellers. Can you avoid the wicked witch's spell? Can you outrun the speedy vampire with his toothy grin? Or will you get caught in the blast of the snozzle-nose snot monster's sneeze?
With colourful illustrations on every page, you can make creepy, crazy and completely hilarious Halloween fortunes for all your friends."
Despite my first glance making me wonder why this book would hold much appeal, closer investigation proved that it would be something which lots of children would enjoy. I suspect it would prompt them to create their own fortunes as some are only half written and others completely blank. There is room for plenty of creativity and imagination as children would be inclined to write the spookiest endings possible. As I looked through the pages, they brought back memories of my own childhood, creating 'chatter-boxes' to trick my friends. Given that ours were made on scraps of paper, carefully trimmed and folded, these have way more visual appeal with their colourful patterns and illustrations. The stories contained in these pages are more creative than our 'truth or dare' type fortune tellers. Linking them to the celebration of Halloween provides a certain appeal and there is a possibility that teachers could use these as a basis for story writing for any special celebration being recognised in the classroom. This publication should provide lots of fun for children in middle primary classes.
Jo Schenkel