Irish Hallowe'en, An - Tapa dura

Halloween, the fastest growing holiday in the United States, is rooted in the ancient Irish celebration of "Snap Apple Night."

One Snap Apple Night proves trickier than most, however, thanks to three goblins who want to help their sick friend, the goblin Rua.

As the wee lads and lasses of the Emerald Isle prepare to bob for apples, dress up as spirits, and carve turnips, the ghastly goblins concoct a plan to capture Maise Magee. Maise, the mother of eleven children, is also a "Wise Woman," and the terrible trio hopes that she can use her magic to heal Rua.

Will she be able to help the little devil? And if she does, will she be able to escape and return home to her husband and their eleven "t'ank Gods"? You never know, because anything can happen on An Irish Hallowe'en!

Sarah Kirwan Blazek was born in County Wexford, Ireland, where she celebrated many an Irish Hallowe'en. The author now makes her home in Chicago, Illinois, and teaches at Sacred Heart Academy/Hardey Preparatory School for Boys. She also is the author of An Irish Night Before Christmas, now with more than 45,000 copies in print, and A Leprechaun's St. Patrick's Day. Mrs. Blazek is the narrator of the companion audiocassette, which is a compilation of these two books. All are published by Pelican.

Illustrator James Rice, who provided the artwork for her previous books, has also collaborated with Mrs. Blazek on An Irish Hallowe'en. With more than one million copies of his fifty-plus books in print, he is lauded as one of the most respected and prolific creators of children's books today.