Boo!

by Robert Munsch

When Lance goes trick-or-treating, his scary Halloween face spooks his neighbors so much that they instantly faint at the sight of him--leaving Lance with all their Halloween goodies.

Genres: Picture Books, Halloween, Childrens, Canada, Holiday, School, Fiction

32 pages, Library Binding

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Fordham University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and from Boston University in 1971 with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology.

He studied to become a Jesuit priest, but decided he would rather work with children after jobs at orphanages and daycare centers. In 1973, he received a Master of Education in Child Studies from Tufts University. In 1975 he moved to Canada to work at the preschool at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. He also taught in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph as a lecturer and as an assistant professor. In Guelph he was encouraged to publish the many stories he made up for the children he worked with.

Munsch's wife delivered two stillborn babies in 1979 and 1980. Out of the tragedy, he produced one of his best-known books, Love You Forever. This book was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Best selling Children's Books list for paperbacks at 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies). The Munsches have since become adoptive parents of Julie, Andrew and Tyya (see them all in Something Good!)

Munsch has obsessive-compulsive disorder and has also suffered from manic depression. In August 2008, Munsch suffered a stroke that affected his ability to speak in normal sentences. He has recovered enough that he is able to perform live, but has put his writing career on hold until he is fully recovered.

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some may go through three phases while reading this book to your child for the first time.

1. Excitement because you’re reading a Robert Munch book.
2. Slight concern, but you will prevail because you know there will be a moral of the story.
3. Mad at yourself for being suckered by a Robert Munch book.

Basically, a black kid goes about the neighbourhood, on Halloween, with a pillowcase with eyes cut out over his head. He terrorizes his neighbours at their front door, enters their homes when they are passed out cold from fear, and robs them of not only all their candy but also the groceries and meals in their fridges. He is then confronted by a cop who he talks back to and orders to carry his massive bag of candy, and neighbour’s food, home for him.
At the end, he out-scares a thug teenager who shows up at his door and steals the teenager’s candy, too. The End.

Terrible, stupid, stereotypical, memorable for the wrong reasons; some may feel like they need to debrief with their toddler after reading it.

[Mary Cartwright · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically the book says that stealing is ok. Even the police in the book don't see anything wrong with stealing candy from your neighbors. The message is that it's ok to eat candy for every meal, every day.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Moral: stealing is cute, clever, and fun.

[Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

You don’t take candy from someone’s house, that’s not kind, right?

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Ariane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un autre classique de mon enfance qui reste toujours aussi bon!

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun! I read this gem while in the waiting room at my dentist's office.

[Marvis Sylvers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is horrifically racist and problematic on so many levels!!! My grandson’s teacher read this on the first day of class and it had my daughter livid & in tears! Thank goodness we were remote and could turn it off! First the little boy Lance’s hair converts to “Topsy’s hair” then he puts on a hood and goes to white neighbors homes scaring them with ‘his face’ until they pass out from fear, then he robs them and takes not only ALL their candy but food from their fridge including ‘3 watermelons’ (in October mind you); then he’s has an interaction with the police... can this get any worse...
Yes it can, not only is he a thief but he obviously has no parental supervision because he eats candy anytime he wants for a year... all of this is so problematic, not funny and there are no redeeming qualities in this young Black child!

This book should only be sold at white supremacy rallies because it’s chock full of negative Black stereotypes and images! Any teacher or parent that would read this to a child is perpetuating some very deep and negative stereotypes! I don’t believe in banning books ever... but if I did this would definitely make the list! Please don’t perpetuate stereotypes by reading things like this to your children!

They really need to add a negative rating or zero stars option! I had to give it one star in order to post this!

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 Update: I was reading this to a 3rd grade class today, and I realized the key to getting the kids to really mean it when they scream "BOO!" back at me, is to emphasize how patronizing the adults are to Lance before he reveals his scary face makeup. The BOO line, is their revenge, their power, and you need to play the role of the condescending grown-ups well to make it more satisfying for them.

For instance I took the repeated line from the adults: "Ooh my first trick or treater! I'm so excited to have a little trick or treater" and exaggerated the power dynamic with a cutesy-wutesy voice, something like: "I'm so excited to have an adorable widdle twick or tweater! SO CUTE! YES YOU ARE!" and the 3rd graders were outraged and eager to be extra scary to show me (A) they weren't cute, and (B) they weren't to be trifled with. It's all the sweeter when the adults faint from fright at their BOOs.

Same goes for portraying the scary teen, I really made it clear I didn't respect them much as little kids, and added a little extra nyah-nyah 80s high school bully to the voice.

[paige turner ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this cute little story by Robert Munsch.

Halloween is my favourite time of the year, and this book does not disappoint especially since my kids love the idea of this book. Being so scary that they make people faint, and then they take all the candy? That is a dream come true!

The officer didn't even care that he went into the houses and took all the candy, and then some food. The officer was so scared he ran away anyway, would you really want to mess with such a scary kid?

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all Munsch, this one is a fun read aloud. The fact that the kid basically steals candy after scaring the daylights out of unsuspecting adults is a bit of a questionable plot point. Not only that, but he's basically rewarded for his malfeasance. This one requires a serious chat about Trick or Treat safety if you're reading to little ones.

[M.M. Hudson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read a few children's books from this author and picked this one from my local library because I like his books. I wish that this book could be among my tops for him but it isn't.

Pros: As a Halloween book goes, a kid wants to dress up and have fun on Halloween. His goal is to be the scariest around. So scary that he makes people fall over in fright...he even scares his Dad.

The kid goes out and succeeds in getting his candy...so much candy that he cannot even lift it and someone else has to take it home for him.

The author attempted to make this a multicultural book.

Cons: The author failed! Wow, so much wrong here. I get that this book is meant to be for children but you have to remember who you are writing for.

The kid is a black child who unfortunately is oozing with very stereotypical racism. It was absolutely appalling to read when it could have been so good. Sad!

I do see the author rewrote an updated version. I cannot say that I will read it. I give this book a "boo" for sure with a one pumpkin.

Disclosure: I obtained this book from my local library. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. Note: Although I abhor this book, I will not ask my library to remove it. I do read banned books and do not like censorship. I will however, voice my concerns. This is a reminder though that authors need to be better at what they write and know their audience. ~Michelle, Reading Authors Network

[Deborah Dupre' · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not buy or read this book to children. This book is so outrageously inappropriate on so many levels, it is injurious to child development. The author should recall it. It offers no lessons learned of any merit; is horrifically gory; teaches stealing is cute, fun and acceptable; and condones knocking people down as amusing. I'd never seen nor heard about it. My grandson chose it for his bedtime story. Thirty minutes after in bed, he was screaming for me to go get him. He'd been crying and was severely trembling in my arms until I was able to console him. Perhaps this story did not cause his extreme distress. but no doubt it contributed to it. If the author Robert Munsch cared about well-being of children, he'd not have written it and by now, would have recalled it. After this experience, I will never buy a Robert Munch book. Many wonderful alternatives exist.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is cute, except where does the kid get the nerve to take these families' ENTIRE SUPPLY of candy just because he made them faint when he scared them? Rude!! I liked when he scared the teenager, tho

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like booooo. I love all his work...except this one. I couldn’t even rescue it with dramatic flair when reading it to my son. It somehow felt forced. Perhaps I would have loved it as a kid...but the story was like the faint echo of the much better “Something Good”.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kid paints his face so scary that when he trick-or-treats, the people faint and he steals all their candy (and raids their fridge!?!) No repercussions. His mountain of candy lasts all year despite him eating as much as he wants daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

[Adam Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Halloween book. The kids always want to see the boy's face, but I don't show it to them. I have theeem draw what they think he looks like.
I boy is a bit greedy in the book and takes WAY to much candy, but the students get that this is wrong. It is a cute book.

[Veeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a funny book for kids!

[Set · Rating 1 out of 5]

The kid is a thief.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story is silly, the moral is not moral, but the illustrations are fun. Not recommended.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many ways to get kids interacting with this story!

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The focus on a child stuffing himself with candy is somewhat disturbing. I did appreciate the kid scaring the teenager.

[Julia Singleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has always been one of my favorite books. Such a fun story with a little bit of "scary" art for kids. Super fun read

[Chinook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The girls loved helping with the screaming (my ears!) and Kait was pleased that she read the entire first page by herself (some sounding out help provided.)

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is every bit like all the other Robert Munsch books. It’s enjoyable and silly - a great Halloween read.

[Timothy Morrison]

Was this written by a 5 year old? The story is out there! I can ugly people and steal their stuff

[AJ Elford · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m actually not a huge Robert Munch fan, but that’s neither here nor there. The true joy of this book is reading the reviews here on Goodreads.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

The hyperbole really tells the story

[Patricia R · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story Boo! is about a boy named Lance who wanted to paint his face very scary for Halloween. He refused dressing up in a costume, which his parents were overjoyed about because they didn't have to spend any money on him dressing up. After Lance painted his face, he tested it out on his dad who was sacred but didn't fall over, which is what Lance wanted. Lance went and put some mor scary images on his face like, green brains coming out the side of his head and an eyeball falling down over his face. He tried scaring his dad again for which his dad then fell over from the fright of Lance's face. Lance was satisfied with his painted face and went out trick o treating. His first two house stops scared the people so much that they fell over when they saw Lance's scary face. He then went into their home and took all the candy and food that he could find. He even scared a policeman. But his biggest scare of them all was a teenage boy who also painted his face scary for Halloween. He came to take all of Lance's candy. However, Lance's faced ended up being scarier than the teenage boy who ran away leaving his big bag of candy on Lance's porch after Lance scared him. Even though Lance ate Candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, he still ended up having Halloween candy until next Halloween.

I really loved this book as it talks about Halloween and how one might take part in the festivities. My favorite page was on page 26 where you finally got to see Lance's scary face. There was some true artistry to get all that was described shown in that one facial picture. It seemed very scary indeed. I didn't like that it portrays him basically stealing candy from people's houses because the people fell over and couldn't respond to his line of 'trick or treat', which allows them to reward him with candy. He just went into their house took the candy and put it in his bag. That was not very honest.

Kids would love this book because it talked about how they Lance scared grown people until they fell over. That would be very funny to them. It can also be a great discussion figuring out what they thought about Lance taking all the candy and food he found from the people's houses. There can be requests for a different ending.

[Rebecca Ashley Teague · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about a boy named Lance, who paints his face instead of wearing a costume on Halloween. Lance’s face is too scary and he ends up scaring all of his neighbors. Lance uses his scary get-up to get candy from his scared neighbors, but he has so much that he can’t carry it all. In the end, Lance ends up sharing his candy with the rest of his neighbors. I would use this story to teach students about repetition and help develop their narrative skills around Halloween. It would also be a good story to use to discuss the importance of sharing as well.