ANNOTATION

Sarah's rotten cat Ralph goes to a Halloween costume party dressed as her and creates horrible mischief under the protection of his disguise.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Sarah's rotten cat, Ralph, goes to a Halloween costume party disguised as Sarah and creates horrible mischief.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

When Sarah and her cat Rotten Ralph go to a Halloween party dressed as each other, Ralph's antics almost ruin their friendship. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3 Sarah and her sociopathic Best Beloved pet cat have begun making their way through the holidays (see Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas Houghton, 1984); here they are invited to a Halloween costume party, and Sarah decides that they will go as each other. When Ralph does his usual numberseizing all the candy, pouring goldfish into the punch, decorating the bathroom walls with gooey candy appleseveryone blames Sarah, and they are both ejected. As before, the illustrations are flat, stylized scenes with simple color and detail, dominated by the huge red cat. Since the two main characters are in disguise, readers will enjoy paying close attention to figure out who's who at any given moment. However, Ralph's nastiness used to have minor entertainment value, and in previous stories he has shown at least a hint of remorse. Not so this time; the humor has worn too thin, and Ralph has no redeeming qualities. John Peters, New York Public Library