2007
WISE Score
A gentle Halloween board book where toddlers play peek-a-boo with a cackling witch and a clacking skeleton behind oversized flaps.
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If you want a Halloween book that won't cause bedtime nightmares for a two-year-old, this is it. It’s functional, interactive, and knows exactly what its audience wants: big flaps and silly noises.
It’s part of the same series as the classic Peek-a-Moo!, and it sticks to that winning formula. It isn't trying to be high art or a complex narrative—it’s a developmental tool disguised as a seasonal treat.
This is squarely for the 1-to-3-year-old crowd. It's built for kids who are still mastering object permanence and love the repetitive surprise of a flap book.
It is a pure, gentle, and playful introduction to a holiday that can otherwise be overwhelming for toddlers. No conflict, just friendly interaction.
While it follows a standard lift-the-flap format, the use of onomatopoeia and the 'guess who' structure encourages active participation and curiosity.
It is a board book for toddlers. The 'monsters' are explicitly designed to be friendly and non-threatening.
Excellent for developing fine motor skills and object permanence. It also builds the language comprehension strand of literacy through rhythmic, repetitive text.
For parents of toddlers, Halloween is a bit of a minefield. One minute you're looking at a cute pumpkin, and the next, you've turned a corner in a store and your kid is staring at a hyper-realistic animatronic zombie. Peek-a-Boooo! is the antidote to that. It takes the icons of the holiday—the witch, the ghost, the skeleton—and strips away the menace, replacing it with the universal toddler favorite: the game of peek-a-boo.
Marie Torres Cimarusti has a clear handle on what works for this age group. The book uses a 'guess who' structure that builds anticipation on every page. For a kid working on their language comprehension, these repetitive structures are gold. They start to predict the rhyme and the sounds, which is a key strand in the 'Reading Rope' of literacy. When you're reading this aloud, you aren't just entertaining them; you're helping them map narrative structure and vocabulary in a low-stakes way.
The physical design is the standout here. The flaps are oversized, making them much easier for clumsy toddler fingers to manipulate than the tiny, thin flaps found in many other books. Stephanie Peterson’s illustrations are bright and high-contrast, which helps keep the attention of younger toddlers.
One clever touch is the inclusion of smaller flaps at the very end. It’s a subtle 'level up' that provides a bit of a challenge once they've mastered the big ones. While it won't win any awards for deep storytelling, as a seasonal activity book that you can read while they sit in your lap, it’s a total win. Just be prepared to make the 'hee-hee-hee' witch cackle about forty times in a row.
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