There is nothing not to love about Paul Howard’s latest memory-testing story game book – I Went Trick-or-Treating – unless you aren’t a fan of Halloween, which means this book was never going to be for you!

In the style of the game, ‘I went to market and I bought…’ young readers are invited to an evening of trick or treating, remembering a range of spooky characters as they go. It is the third of Paul Howard’s memory books to be published by Bloomsbury’s after I Went To The Supermarket and I Went to See Santa.

This picture book has a perfect level of scares for little kids – they are the ones doing the scaring, and the toads, owls, skeletons and witches that they meet are jolly, friendly folk who are smiling and seem startled rather than petrified by our antics! Paul Howard’s illustrations are bright and bold, with a great Halloween colour scheme of blacks and oranges, purples and greens, enhanced by a good amount of fluorescent highlights that almost glow out of the page.

The text contains lots of alliteration and rhyme to help remember the huge cast of characters – super silly skeletons; creepy, sleepy spiders – and the text is spread carefully around each page so as not to overload the reader – especially as the list of characters we have scared gets longer as our adventure goes on.

I love this little book, which is an absolutely perfect read to snuggle up with on a cold October evening.

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