Fright Night Flight

by Laura Krauss Melmed, Henry Cole (Illustrator)

First stop, off we pop to a craggy mountaintop. Spooky castle, creaky floor -- who is opening the door?
Is it a lurking, smirking Vampire? Or a howling, growling Werewolf? One by one, a ghoulish gang climbs onto this super jet-fueled broomstick for a frightfully fun flight on Halloween night.
Want to hop aboard? There might be room for just one more. But beware -- Laura Krauss Melmed's cumulative rhyming story and Henry Cole's hilarious illustrations will take you on the ride of your life!

Genres: Halloween, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Juvenile, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spunky witch flies around on her huge broom with her cat picking up friends to ride around with her. Each person adds a line to the rhyme of who is on the broom. It is cumulative. The witch is merry and she picks up vampires, ghosts, and werewolves to name a few.

The art is fun with lots of energy and action. The tone is darker and the broom is wild.

Our house had fun with this. The kids gave it 4 stars together. We had fun reading this together and making each other laugh.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura Krauss Melmed, perhaps best known for her classic picture-book, The Rainbabies , turns her attention toward Halloween (my favorite holiday!), in this tale of a witch and her jet-fueled broom. Told in rhyming verse, with a cumulative refrain, Fright Night Flight sees a succession of spooky creatures - "a lurking, smirking Vampire," or "a howling, growling Werewolf" - jumping on the broom, all eventually heading... to YOUR (the reader's) house!

Perfect for reading aloud, this spooky tale is particularly well suited for younger children (provided they aren't too easily scared by the idea of a group of monsters showing up on their doorstep), who will enjoy its snappy rhythm and fun illustrations. I've seen it compared to Julia Donaldson's Room on the Broom , which is currently on my to-read list - we'll see which one I prefer!

[♥♣Mary♦♠ If She So Pleases · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's entertaining.

[Set · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friendly witch invites creepy Halloween characters on her broom and then they hop off one by one. It's a counting and countdown rhyme book for Halloween. The pictures are nice and the rhymes are fun.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've mentioned before that my children love monsters, especially those associated with Halloween. Both will happily wear Halloween shirts year round if given the chance. With that passion for monsters, ghosts, witches and other things that go bump in the night, we have collected quite a number of Halloween books. Fright Night Flight by Laura Krauss Melmed is our latest addition to the collection.

Laura Melmed's cumulative rhyming scheme and Henry Cole's colorful illustrations bring this story of a witch and her friends riding a broomstick to a Halloween part to life. Her broomstick is no ordinary one; it's jet fueled and it's long enough to fit all of a witch's friends.

The story includes a trip to Egypt to pick up a mummy, a trip to a haunted house, a trip to a castle to pick up a vampire and a few other creepy places. My kids like seeing how crowded the broom gets and they are reminded of the Backyardigans episode "Scared of You." An added bonus from Harriet's point of view is the witch's cat who doesn't take kindly to having all these other montsers sharing the broomstick.

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

My son just read this book and gives it a "3". He read it with gusto, emphasizing each "Boooooo" but overall found it a bit boring and not at all "hilarious" unlike Dragon's Halloween by Dav Pilkey which had us both smiling from beginning to end. The repetitiveness of the repeated rhyming patterns was dull for an 8 year old and the creatures too spooky for my younger daughter who is not into ghoulies at all. The "mad doctor" brought back some memories of lost hours I'd like to recover while watching Stephen King's "Kingdom Hospital" but other than that I found it pretty blah as well. I'm glad I bought the cheapie Scholastic version.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First stop, off we pop to a craggy mountaintop. Spooky castle, creaky floor -- who is opening the door?

Is it a lurking, smirking Vampire? Or a howling, growling Werewolf? One by one, a ghoulish gang climbs onto this super jet-fueled broomstick for a frightfully fun flight on Halloween night.

Beware -- Laura Krauss Melmed's cumulative rhyming story and Henry Cole's hilarious illustrations will take you on the ride of your life! The kids love trying to guess who is just around the next page.

[Shayna Towle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is great because it has a lot of rhyming in it which helps kids learn to read because they have the same endings just different beginning letters. It would be a good book to read to the class and they could read along once they caught onto the patterns. I would also want to have books for each holiday to read and this would be fun for Halloween. This book would be good for k-3 I think.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fright Night Flight was a really excellent book to read. It had great illustrations and fun rhyming to go with it. This book also had some pages that kids could follow along with and say the words as well without having to see the book. It also made you feel like you were on the ride with them during the story.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars: I read this story to my pre-k class this morning before heading out on a trick-or-treat, Halloween parade. I pointed out the great rhyming words. They liked to count how many "things" were on the broom after each addition. It is also great for sequencing with the repetition. They especially liked the ending but I won't give it away.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son at age 3 loved this book when we came upon it around Halloween last year. He basically had it memorized and was so animated as he "read" it. Now 4 years he isn't as into it, but it was worth adding it to my collection. It's a great Halloween book.

[Julie K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ours is soft cover, we love the rhymes on this one, and we especially enjoy looking for the creatures in the illustrations.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

good rhymes and guessing what the next character will be

[Dorsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter & I have read this book numerous times and it is one of our favorites. The illustrations are also wonderful.

[Jennybug · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little witch fly's on her broom collecting various creatures. Fun rhyming and interesting pictures. They all end up going to your house to Trick or Treat.

[Horace Mann Family Reading Challenge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about monsters that come to life. Mattia & Tyler.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

the pictures in this book are awesome. My 5 year old son loved the pictures and the rhyming. a good bedtime story for october.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not one my favorites. It could be one to use at Halloween time, but probably not a read-aloud book.

[The Bougie Twins · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rebecca Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this a lot - a favorite for both boys, with monsters and odd jokes. Nearly every day in October, this was on the list and it makes us laugh and shiver.

[Abby Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe this book would be considered fantasy because the characters are a witch, vampire, werewolf, ghost, Frankenstein's monster, a skeleton, and a mummy.

This book is about a witch who is taking a flight during a full moon. She takes out her jet powered broom and picks up her friends the vampire, werewolf, ghost, Frankenstein’s monster, and the mummy. Together they all ride the jet powered broom through the night sky and land on a street. At the end of the book they stop at a house to join a Halloween party that is going on.

This book was okay to read. I did not find it very entertaining, but the illustrations were good. I can see why a child might like this book because it is repetitive and colorful. But I did not enjoy this book. It also ended up being a book about Halloween which I know for some people could be controversial in their beliefs. I also had a hard time understanding the point of the book until the very last page.

[W.A. Ashes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a gem. I loved reading it out loud to my kindergarten library class. The rhyming was fun and the kids got into the story so much they were trying to guess who the monsters on each page were.

My only criticism is that even though the ending was fun, it was anticlimactic. I would have preferred the ending a five year old told me should have happened instead. “The broom should have broke and they all should have falling into a party.”

That being said, it was great Halloween read.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this Halloween book! It could be interactive with the repeating intros of each monster.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok

[Rebecca Hawkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be great to read around Halloween time, it introduces all of the classic monsters such as a witch, ghost, werewolf, vampire and many more. In my opinion, the colorful illustrations make this book, each picture has at least one humorous thing on it. I also enjoyed the rhyming pattern that it was written in. After one or two times of reading his book out loud children would probably be able to read and follow along with it.

[Michelle Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute Halloween read aloud.