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Summary
Summary
Get ready for a rollicking Day of the Dead celebration! Graveyard skeletons shake, rattle, and roll as a Mexican family marks the annual Day of the Dead holiday.
? ?[A zesty look at a special night.? ? School Library Journal , STARRED REVIEW
At dusk on the holiday known as Day of the Dead, a Mexican family has set out fiesta offerings in the graveyard in hopes that departed loved ones may return to visit. The playful skeletons rise from their graves to celebrate with gusto. All night long, they sing, dance, dine, tell stories, and play games. As morning approaches, they give thanks to the stars for their night of fun, tidy up after themselves, and leave no trace of their ?clatter bash? behind as they return to their coffins until next year?s Day of the Dead.
Author-illustrator Richard Keep?s rollicking rhyme?sprinkled with Spanish words?captures the bone-rattling sounds and fun of the evening. An illustrated afterword gives information about the customs associated with el D�a de los Muertos, a Mexican celebration of honoring relatives who have passed on.
Awards:
Children?s Choices ?International Reading Association/Children?s Book Council
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People ?National Council for the Social Studies/Children?s Book Council
Author Notes
RICHARD KEEP is the author-illustrator of A Thump from Upstairs: Starring Mr. Boo and Max and Clatter Bash! A Day of the Dead Celebration. He has collaborated with his wife, Linda Lowery, on three books for children: Who Wants a Valentine?, Merry Christmas, Everyone!, and The New York Times Children's Paperback best-seller Trick or Treat, It's Halloween! He lives in Mexico.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Black skies spattered with stars form the backdrop for most of the two-page illustrations in this zesty look at a special night. As the family members leave gifts at their loved ones' gravesites, the skeletons begin to exit their tombs. Quiet until the living are gone, they emerge, dressed in richly colored clothes and bearing horns, top hats, boas, and serapes. Visitors from other cemeteries arrive and they tell stories and sample the food left for them. The night culminates in a lively dance and fireworks before it's time to clean up and return to the grave. The minimal text, a rhyming mix of greetings, Spanish words, and onomatopoetic sounds, is printed along the bottom of the pages, functioning almost like subtitles. The joy on the characters' skeletal faces and in their excited movements is apparent as is their love of the lives they had. Small skeletons remind readers that even children are among the dead, and the beautiful details of the various aspects of the celebration reflect its Mexican roots. An afterword explains the holiday and its customs. This will be a popular title in Mexican-American communities and an eye-opener for others.-Coop Renner, Hillside Elementary, El Paso, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Honoring the Dead A trio of titles celebrates another tradition at the end of October. Clatter Bash! A Day of the Dead Celebration by Richard Keep honors both the memorial and festive aspects of this Mexican holiday. Cut-paper collages, accented with paints and markers show impeccably dressed skeletons feasting and chasing butterflies as night falls. "Swirl-twirl/ Cha-cha-cha/ Boom!/ Clatter Bash!" appears beneath a spread of fireworks exploding over bony dancers and sombrero-clad skeletons playing music. A more formal explanation of the holiday's traditions concludes the fiesta-bright volume. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Jaunty skeletons dance across double-page spreads in a colorful collage of cut-paper flowers and outdoor scenery. The Day of the Dead is not mournful, and Keep shows the well-dressed skeletons eating, playing, and making music. While slight, the rhyming words that appear across the bottom of the page echo the Spanish/English onomatopoeic sounds of the day. An afterword describes the Mexican holiday. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
With its mix of English and Spanish ("Knock-knock! Shh! Huh? Rattle-rattle ¿QuÉ?"), this celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertos), appears to combine the North American tradition of skeletons popping out of graves at Halloween with the Mexican concept of the skeleton as a reminder of mortality and symbol of death. As family members bring offerings to the cemetery at sunset, the skeletons begin lifting lids of the coffins in preparation for rising out of their graves to party. They dash off in a car and on a bicycle, "Putt-putt, Honk-whiz ¡Hola! ¡Hola! Hi!" then marvel at the marigolds, dance with butterflies, tell scary stories, eat, sing, and play before tidying up the cemetery and returning to their graves. "Shush-hush . . . Sigh . . . ¡Gracias!" An author's note provides information on the Day of the Dead, but these dancing, singing skeletons have little to do with this traditional holiday in which the spirits (not the skeletons) of the dead pay a visit. There are more appealing and authentic Day of the Dead books for this age group. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.