The title The Good, The Bad, and the Spooky may slightly confuse readers, at least unless they see the little circle in the corner that adds a preface: “The Bad Seed Presents.” Then you might realize that this 2021 picture book is part of the Bad Seed series, which started in 2017 with The Bad Seed. Jory John (writer) and Pete Oswald (cover illustrator) and, in this case, Saba Joshaghani (interior illustrations) have been very successful with this series: The Bad Seed was a New York Times bestseller.
For me, it is the concept and the illustrations that make the series appeal. A seed as a main character is at once nicely ridiculous and an automatic metaphor: seeds always change and grow. And this particular seed, with the dark moods and heavy eyebrows, really expresses the dark cloud feel that some of us have at times (especially sad/angry kids).
In this case, the Bad Seed is in this terrible mood because he loves Halloween, but can’t find the right costume. Readers get to see some of the rejected costumes (and why they failed the seed). We also get memories of times when the Bad Seed got dressed up with all his friends, something that doesn’t happen anymore. This leaves the Bad Seed in a bad mood, dwelling on it, and acting on it, being rude to everyone around.
The Bad Seed stalks off to pout alone, only to be lectured by another seed (this one a pumpkin seed) on the real meaning of Halloween. The Bad Seed comes around, improvises a costume, and has a great time.
I liked the costumes, images, and premise, but the story’s easy resolution–get a lecture and poof, your bad mood goes away–falls considerably short, and some of the writing wavered. (The term “travesty” seems overly complicated, for example.)
On the other hand, it is always fun to read lines like “A baaaaaad mood” out loud.
