What a terrifically morbid idea, and this is in a young adult book! For some reason, I imagine Bradbury laughing evilly and rubbing his hands together when he came up with the idea heck, I would have. In order to save their friend Pipkin, they each have to give up one year of their own lives. To emphasize this point about life and death, and our united experience with it, the children at the end have to make an incredibly difficult choice. Not an easy task to do, so the fact Bradbury can do it so effortlessly in a young adult novel shows how masterful a storyteller he was. It moves the conversation from I will die to we all will die and what does that mean about life. See, in the book he takes the concept of death and the ending of one’s own life from a personal to a global discussion.
And such a macabre celebration helps us think about what it means to be alive.įor a writer who claimed to be immortal-a favorite story Bradbury loved to tell people which sadly was proven false-his perspective on life and death is wonderful. "The Halloween Tree" argues that the holiday is more than simply an excuse for candy, it is a celebration of death. From there, we are taken on a tour of Halloween and Halloween-like celebrations from around the world and time, from Ancient Egypt to modern-day Mexico. It is there at this mysterious location that the children meet Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, a Willy-Wonka like character who offers to help them find their friend, but they need to learn the truth about Halloween first. Their investigation leads them to a gloriously gothic haunted house with a tree covered in lit jack-o-lanterns. The Halloween Tree is the story of eight friends who are searching for their lost friend Pipkin on Halloween. Besides the thrill of hearing Bradbury’s narration, the cartoon is a disaster and definitely doesn’t live up to the potential of this metaphor-rich story.
Some might know this story only because of a bad animated cartoon. In 1972, Ray Bradbury saw this problem and created, what is now, in my opinion, a lost classic-"The Halloween Tree".
Yes, Halloween has a collection of monsters stolen from black-and-white horror movies and a long history with witches and the like, but when it comes to an actual story, a fable to be brought out each year with the pumpkins, the holiday is sadly lacking. Christmas has "A Christmas Carol", "It’s a Wonderful Life", "Miracle on 34th Street", Halloween has…
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