Creepy Castle

By John S. Goodall

Book Overview

In "Creepy Castle", a brave young mouse and his lady fair find a seemingly deserted castle one summer day. Once inside, the villain locks them in! Dramatic and enthralling, this spooky story unfolds in delicate watercolor paintings without words. Full color.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689500270
• ISBN13: 9780689500275
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Atheneum
• Length: 60 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

If You Give a Mouse a Castle

A dashing, green-clad, Robin Hood-like mouse and his dressed-to-the-nines wife (think of the "Robin Hood" movie with Olivia de Haviland) find adventure while confront scary objects (e.g., bats, a green monster with whiskers, a mysterious person following them along the way) in and around a castle. The only real violence is the stabbing (without blood) of the monster. The intruder, on the other hand, gets bumped into a river when he aims his bow and arrow at some geese! There are no words (watercolorist Goodall wrote more than 35 such books), but the fairy-tale setting, the beautiful illustrations, and the foldaway half pages that reveal action when peeled back will stimulate the young "reader." For very small fry, somewhat older readers, especially girls, may not relate to the female mouse always being scared, and the male mouse always coming to her rescue. But then, while the book is innovative in the use of foldaway half pages, the story is fairly traditional. In general, this is a very fun book that promises lots of good quality talk between you and your young one!

Cute, creative wordless story.

What a cute idea! A medieval mouse couple find an adventure, and your child gets to imagine the dialogue and create the narration as she goes along.The story is told without words, using half-pages that show action (each page has a little page you turn to see what is happening - for instance, the mice approach a drawbridge... flip the tiny page, and you see them crossing the drawbridge.)It's a small book, but nicely illustrated. We like it!

Great for imaginations!

My son LOVED the John Goodall books.....they have no words, but have wonderful illustrations that tell the story. My son would make up the story in his own words as we went through the book. Creepy Castle was his favorite and he never tired of it and neither did I! Can't wait for my future grandbabies to "read" this one to their Grandma some day!

Beloved of toddlers

My niece made me "read" this to her over and over and over again. It has no words, so you can tell the story to suit the interests of the listener (for a one and a half year old, focusing on the mice climbing UP the stairs or saying "Bye-bye" to the frog boatman). It is indeed a cute book, although for an adult one or two times through it would suffice. . . .