By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Emily Walters

Title: Porkenstein
Author: Kathryn Lasky
Illustrator: David Jarvis
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Number of pages: 29

Is it Frankenstein? No worse Porkenstein lives! What could be more terrible than spending Halloween night all by yourself? Dr. Smart Pig wondered this question over and over. It was Halloween night and no one was there to be with him. He would have celebrated this Holiday with his two brothers, but in the last year the big bad wolf had eaten them. The doctor was a very smart inventor so he thought that he could invent a friend. Hopefully a pig friend. After two tries, no success came. But then on the third his pal came to live as PORKENSTEIN! A large fat piggy! At first the doctor doesn't like his porky chum. But in the end the two characters become friends after an unlikely enemy shows up. I loved the illustrations and the funny story in the book! It had a perfect fairy tale twist in it! Not to mention how it made you want to go out and trick or treat yourself! I would recommend this book because of the humor and the great pictures. Elementary schoolteachers should get this book for a great Halloween story that their students will always enjoy again and again! I would recommend this book for ages 3-11! Don't miss out on it! (October, 2002)