How to Drive Your Family Crazy. . . on Halloween

Lizzie and Booker

by Dean Marney

A Pumpkin a Day Keeps Little Brothers Away!

Lizzie's brother, Booker, is a big pain. "Booger," as Lizzie calls him, always gets her into trouble--especially when she's not doing anything wrong! But that doesn't mean she wants him swallowed up by a giant pumpkin--does it?

When Lizzie's shadow starts moving by itself, she knows something's up. And it only gets weirder when she notices the crazy lady hanging around. Now Booger's stuck inside a pumpkin! Mom and Dad will probably not be pleased. . .

Can Lizzie figure it all out in time? Or will Booger be pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving?

Genres: Halloween, Childrens, Horror, Paranormal, Middle Grade, Chapter Books

107 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Justin Tate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bizarre kid horror that I somehow missed in the '90s. Love that it's a series of books where holiday icons eat various family members. Up next are titles like 'The Turkey That Ate My Father' and 'The Christmas Tree That Ate My Mother'.

One might expect a wacky story about a killer pumpkin on the loose, but in actuality it's even more bonkers than that. Marney has little regard for coherency, preferring to take the reader on an unbelievable journey that gets crazier and crazier with each page. Best of all, our kid narrator Lizzie just goes with it. She's as unbelievable as the plot, but her attitude and nonchalance make it fun. Sure, she cries and screams constantly, but most of the time she's just rolling with the punches. And in this case, the punches include Medusa-inspired witches, floating houses in the sky, shadows with a mind of their own, and, yes, a child-consuming pumpkin.

Most would assume these books were cheap cash-ins on Goosebumps popularity, but Dean Marney actually had inanimate objects eating family all the way back in 1987 with 'The Computer That Ate My Brother'. That's a whole five years before the first Goosebumps book!

By now I think we can safely describe this book as a 'deep cut' from the depths of '90s pre-teen horror. It existed, it was popular, but not something to make a monument over. The writing is good, but the story is so all-over-the-place that it's difficult to even evaluate as a chapter book. It's more of a collage of middle grade bizarro, with every paragraph somehow being a journey all unto itself.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The saga continues! Last December I looked at The Christmas Tree that Ate My Mother, the first in an epic series that wasn't that good. But I wanted to see how the series was later so we're finally here with part 2. I was curious to see how this played out.

And my thoughts are mixed...but in the end this was a mild step up. It was borderline but I somewhat liked it despite its big flaws. This time around, Lizzie has to take Booker trick or treating, which she whines about. Things aren't too bad though until they hit up a witch who makes Booker vanish when he touches a pumpkin. Yep, it doesn't eat him. Another lie. From there Lizzy is sent on a wild adventure in a spooky house to get him back.

Well, really it takes until like halfway through to get there. Before that it's antics at school and home that don't all add up. We get some mystery as this witch first appears randomly, as well as her shadow doing odd things.

The structure is less tight than before but I like some of the build up. Let's get the flaws out of the way. It takes a bit to get to the real stuff and there is some clear filler. Some of it pays off, but then you have her getting in trouble which is just there so that having to take Booker will be a punishment. Lizzy sadly is still annoying here, mostly to Booker.

She's just a jerk to him for no reason and that does drag down some of this, especially since the writing is clunky. And things don't make any sense. Why does this witch stat showing up and do what she does? What's with the shadows? We never get any answers, the way she is defeated just leaves more questions.

The wrapup is kinda decent but rushed as well. With that said, it does itself in a few ways. Lizzy gets in some good snark about the word around her that was fun, had a bit of a Junie B Jones vibe to me. She actually got development here as she does wanna save Booker and has a sweet moment with him. They don't undo it, this sticks, for now at least.

There's a bit of a moral about not beating yourself up for your flaws, which the villain feeds into, which is a bit half baked as it's not a thing Lizzy deals with before it becomes a big thing from the witch but is still a good lesson. It gets fun when we get into the scary antics, as there is a decent atmosphere to it and some creative bits. The witch is a fun enough villain too.

Halloween element is decent, lacking more in the third act but not terribly so. So it's a mixed bag. I can see most rating it lower but I think it barely evened out. Even with the logic and writting problems, the concept ending up being fun enough with more clear development and mild attempts at themes.

It doesn't come together all the way but it was enough to be a mild step up for me. There's also not much connection to the first one. The guy who sold them the tree shows up but he isn't important, he doesn't supply the pumpkin, just foreshadowing. Lizzy only has slight memories of what went down which is odd.

Overall, pretty flawed but has enough to barely get a Decent. Not the biggest endorsement but I'll take what I can get. With that, the Halloween 2022 reviews have begun. I spun the wheel and next time, it picked one I added last, as it's recent. Like, a couple months old if that, recent. And it follows up something I covered previously.

See ya then.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very obnoxious narrator. Also disappointingly a pumpkin does not come alive and eat someone.

[Rea K]

Ohmygoodness. I was just thinking about Lizzie Borden and suddenly remembered this book. Yeah, unfortunately I don't remember much about this book besides Lizzie Borden and the Lizzie Borden rhyme, which when I was little I sang to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down. I even contemplated doing a report on Lizzie Borden once, but couldn't find much information in our encyclopedias about her so I did a report on something else. And I don't remember that something else.
Since I read this, I learned a tad more about Lizzie Borden and even contemplated going to the Lizzie Borden house. Field trip anyone?

The rhyme? Something liiike: Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her father forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her mother forty-one. <-- I swear it's a real thing, guys. I READ IT IN MORE THAN ONE PLACE.

So, in the end, what the hell was this boo about? No effing clue. Except there was a pumpkin that ate someone and it all worked out in the end and we learned about Lizzie Borden and now I am tempted to google her. (and how many times will I mention Lizzie Borden in this review?)

[Mary-Anne Swift · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh this book. Ha! I recently found it in an old box of my childhood books and my kids really wanted me to read it to them. They are 7 and 8 years old and they liked the book. It was published in 1994 and you could tell the book was a little outdated. But it was still fun for my kids. Kind of a weird book and a little spooky at times for them, but they love stuff like that right now. They couldn’t believe the ending was the ending! They wanted to know if it was all a dream...I said “you’ll just have to use your imagination.”

[CallumIsQueer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so underrated! I loved it and still do. I read it every year at Halloween.

[Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read this originally when I was in elementary school and the part where a hand touches hers when she turns on the light switch has stuck with me to this day, and it's what pops into my head every time I turn on a light switch in a dark room. So that's pretty powerful if something like that is remembered for 20 or so years! and really freaking scary, good job on that! However, the rest of the book was unmemorable, I had forgotten almost everything else. So overall, I'd say this is a cute Halloween book for kids, not great, but not bad either.

[Qt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wavered between 3 and 4 stars, but I went with 4 because I loved the Halloween feel of the book. I could relate to much of it, and I really liked the humor--and of course, I loved all the Halloween parts!

[Shawn Deal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay and my fourth grade class would say the same thing. The main character whines throughout the whole story. Not one page goes by where she is not whining or complaining about something. She is a character with really only one trait. It brought down the rest of the story.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this as much as The Christmas Tree that Ate My Mother (when I was younger) and that held true reading it to Samantha.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I read with my students. They loved trying to figure out who the real witch was.