Hooks, Gwendolyn. Pet Costume Party. Stone Arch Books, 2011.
Pet Costume Party is written by Gwendolyn Hooks and illustrated by Mike Byrne. It is a story about a boy and his pet goldfish hosting a Halloween costume party, but what will their costume be? It is targeted for beginning readers (grades 1 – 3). This seems appropriate. The basic story line includes mostly sight words and primarily simple sentences so children in pre-Kindergarten may also enjoy this book as they venture into the world of reading.
The first spread introduces readers to the Pet Club, which includes four best friends and their pets. Andy wants to have a Halloween costume party. Everyone is able to attend. What should Andy and his pet, Nibbles the fish, wear as a costume? Andy checks his closet and his craft box, but is unable to find anything. Lions? No. Spiders? No. Andy gets an idea and crafts all afternoon. The Pet Club arrives with each member and pet in a costume. What were Andy and Nibbles? Sharks!
A majority of the text in Pet Costume Party are Dolch sight words. Most of these words are leveled pre-kindergarten through 1st grade. The non-sight words include character names (e.g, Andy, Nibbles, Kayla, Daisy), single syllable (e.g., friends, craft), contractions (e.g., let’s, you’re), and words with more than one syllable (e.g., closet, bubbles). The book includes a list of “story words” at the end so the reader can review either before or after reading. The average number of words per sentence is 5 and ranged from 2 to 17. There are mostly simple sentences with a couple of complex sentences throughout the story. It also includes dialogue between Andy and Bubbles as they decide on a Halloween costume.
Pet Costume Party is a fiction book. The book cover shows the image of a boy and his fish in the boy’s room with costumes around them. The readers are immediately introduced to the 4 characters in the Pet Club and their pets. This leads to Andy deciding a costume party would be a fun way for all the friends to celebrate Halloween. But what costume should he and Bubbles wear? Most children will want to find out.
The spreads are action-oriented. The readers read about Andy and Bubbles thinking about a costume idea, getting one, and then deciding if it will work for both of them. The process is repeated three times. A lion? No. More thinking and worrying. A spider? No. Then the characters come up with an idea and are working on it, but the reader can’t see what it is until they come out for the the party. Surprise! They are both sharks. The illustrations are helpful in adding meaning to the text. For example, there is an image of a light bulb over Andy’s head when he gets his final idea.
Pet Costume Party has 31 pages. The font size is about 18-point. The line length averages 5 to 6 words and ranges from 1 to 8. The font spacing between words and lines is about 18-point. There are generally 3 lines of text per page. There is an image on every page, which is realistically drawn with a crisp, fun feel (e.g., Nibbles the pet goldfish has a bow on her head). They are outlined cleanly and colored with a watercolor look. Additional lines highlight features (e.g., rosy cheeks). The images add meaning to the text. There is a good amount of white space for the reader’s eyes to rest.
Pet Costume Party is a story about a child thinking creatively to solve a problem. Readers will probably like the inclusion of pets in the book. It would make a good story time book and can be followed by a craft project to decorate a paper plate as a costume mask.
Book Notes 