The Banshee by Eve Bunting

Bunting, Eve The Banshee illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully 32 pgs. Clarion Books, 2009. PICTURE BOOK. $16.00. This would make a great Halloween read-a-loud! My heart was pounding the whole time. Terry, who lives in Ireland, is asleep when he is awoken by a "Scree....Scree....." sound. He thinks its the Banshee, a ghost figure of a woman who wails when there may be death near. Terrified, he deals with it the only way he knows how...by courageously going outside to confront the Banshee. 

This is a pretty scary book and the fact that it is written in first person makes it seem even more real. The dark pictures add to the spookiness of the story. One thing I didn't like was that the Irish voice wasn't consistent throughout the story. Sometimes it sounded Irish and other times it didn't. I would definitely put this book out during Halloween, but I probably wouldn't read it aloud to 2nd grade or younger. EL-ADVISABLE. Whitney, Library-Teacher.