I’m conflicted about this book. I like the idea of living in a town where it’s perpetually Halloween. I’d previously read another book in this series, ‘Harry’s Christmas Carol’, and quite enjoyed that so I had fairly high hopes for this, the first book in the series.

Harry is performing his magic show at his school’s annual Scary Talent Show but Titus, school bully and the evil mayor’s son, has other ideas. Titus is desperate to win and is prepared to do whatever it takes to make Harry withdraw from the show. Add to that a strange mix of magic and Christianity, a talking rabbit and some questionable content.

Quite a few things had me scratching my head including:

* Why this quote was included in the first place and how it made it through the editing process.

‘Hao was the newbie when he moved to town in the third grade. “Are you black or Asian or Indian or what?” asked Bailey when Hao came into the third grade classroom.’

* When Harry gets told he needs to rise above name calling after telling his parents about the school bully accosting him on his way home from a rehearsal, lifting him into the air and cutting off some of his hair with sheep shears.

* I’m not sure what 16 year old girl is going to be excited about being a magician’s assistant for a 13 year old boy she used to babysit at his middle school talent show. I’m also not sure how I feel about them kissing.

* There are multiple obvious Harry Potter parallels, the most obvious of which is the whole wizard in training called Harry thing. Harry also manages to walk past people undetected because he was able to make his cape and anything under it invisible.

* It’s mentioned that Harry is aware of another boy being physically abused by his father, which is then passed over with Harry thinking about how lucky he is that his father doesn’t hit him. Meanwhile this other kid is wandering around with welts.

Despite my problems with this book I quite liked the illustrations. My favourite was the row of pumpkins, with the one on the end winking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this book. I am rounding up from 2.5 stars.

Harry Moon is going to enter the school’s Annual Scary Talent Show as he wants to win the crown. Titus Kligore has plans to win again as he had won it last year. Harry’s little sister, Honey tells him he needs better tricks. Harry buys a new wand. He knows he still needs a fantastic trick but what? Will Harry find that new trick? Will he win the Scary Talent Show?

In this amazing story, Harry’s adventures show me a boy who doesn’t give up even when he is bullied. He remembers to do good only to there’s which I think is a very important rule to have in one’s life. At times, I found myself being upset, yet the next moment smiling. I found this story of Harry Moon a delight to read.

Harry Moon lives in a town, Sleepy Hollow, Massachusetts, that embraces everyday as if its Halloween to attract tourists and generate income.
The Middle School is holding a talent show and Harry Moon is up against the town bully, and son of the Mayor, Titus Kilgore. Harry has to find a new act to outdo his nemesis. With the wand he obtains from the man at the magic shop, Harry contemplates using the magic he has learned for evil but soon finds that his magic will only work for the good. The story develops around a central moral, and something Harry’s dad prints on the T-shirts that get distributed, “Do No Evil”.
A very well constructed story with a positive influence. I really enjoyed Harry, the town, his friends and family and his adventure. I like that this story has a good message for young readers.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher, Rabbit Publishing, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

We love everything about this book. We love the way it is formatted, love the writing, love the story and the photos/pictures -- well we love them too. It is a great book and we recommend it -- bet you love it too!

I had trouble getting into this series, but I am sure much younger readers would enjoy it. It seems very funny.

A great middle grade read for kids who love adventure. Halloween is my favorite holiday, and there's never a dull moment in a town where it's always Halloween. Harry and friends just can't stay away from an adventure in this fun book.

I have been reading a lot of children books and this one sounded interesting like the other Harry Moon book I read. And again, I felt disapointed. This series isn't for me! I didn't like it again and the Honey Moonseries isn't for me as well. The illustrations were good like the other book.

Harry Moon's town has a bully. He likes to pick on Harry. Little does he know that Harry has magical powers...

Rabbit Publishing and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It has been published.

This series would be great for middle graders. The stories are exciting and there are puns and jokes interspersed in the chapters. After all, Harry Moon gets teased because the older boys mooned the younger ones when they were going by on the bus to go to the away game. Now they call him "Hairy Moon" and laugh.

When Harry was born, his mother was visited by a man who told her he was special. He meant in a magical way. Harry is thirteen and he's noticed a few things but he needs something more to fight Titus' bullying. The man at the magic shop gives him a wand. He has to choose the right one and he does. But his magic won't work for bad, it will only do good. Harry has to find another way to get around Titus. His dad even makes up t-shirts for everyone that say "Do No Evil". Harry's solution is a good one.

This is fun read with a good message for children. I have enjoyed this whole series.

I have chosen not to review this title at this time.

Oh, I did like this, but not quite as much as the Honey Moon book. This was fun and I like the characters.

Cute little story about Harry and his adventures. This is a book that I would read for my children if I had any. :)

I’d never heard of Harry Moon, let alone Mark Andrew Poe before I stumbled on these books in the Netgalley. I fished out some information from the depths of internet and learned that the series has numerous volumes and is very popular in the US. Having now read three volumes; Harry Moon Wand Paper Scissors, Harry Moon Halloween Nightmares and Honey Moon Dog Daze, I can see were the success comes from. The books are indeed very professionally produced and the stories perfectly tailored to the goals stated in the Rabbit Publisher’s website:

Rabbit's aspirations for our young readership:
To cultivate their minds to utmost capacity.
To become familiar with our cultural heritage.
To respect and have affection for the natural world.
To strive for excellence in creative expression in all fields of learning, literature and art.
To seek effective ways to live a fulfilling life.

The three books all have interesting stories and fabulous illustrations. I think these would be perfect for the readers from 7 – 10 years, after that they’d feel a tad bit too childish. The length of the books might prevent all 7-year-olds from tackling them through, but they could go as parent & child read-along books too.

One thing that intrigued me was, that there seems to be absolutely no information on Mark Andrew Poe in the web, other than what’s on the publisher’s own website. Is this a pen name?

This very easily could have gotten a one star rating from me, but when I'm reading children's books I try to think 'would I like this as a child' and then sometimes that bumps the rating up a bit. I still think you would have to be a VERY young child to enjoy this though. Usually I look at the age of the characters in the book - 13 in this case - and try to decide 'would I have liked this book at that age?' In this case the answer is a resounding no. Although if I remember correctly I was actually reading Lord of the Rings at that age so maybe I'm a poor example. But even if you compare it to other popular stories in the same age group like Percy Jackson or Harry Potter [and you're going to get comparisons to Harry Potter if you write a middle grade book with a wizard named Harry] it still falls incredibly short. I could maybe see a 7 or 8 year old enjoying this I guess, although there are certainly much better things they could be reading at the same level. I feel like this book definitely 'talks down' to children and that's not something I appreciate.

The premise is interesting at first glance but there aren't many details and the ones that are there seem to be liberally 'borrowed' from other big name franchises. There's also a bunch of weird stuff thrown in about God and church and Sunday School that I feel the author only put there because of Christian backlash to things like Harry Potter and seem completely out of place with the magical mood that the author is trying to convey. Also there's a ~token diversity character~ who is mentioned like twice by the name of Hao and at one point Harry remembers meeting him and how one of his friends asked 'are you black or Asian or Hispanic or what' and apparently this is just seen as a normal and polite way to phrase that question, despite the fact that it's literally none of their business and doesn't need to be asked in the first place. We understood that the character wasn't white from the name alone, that weird exchange didn't need to be added. Especially since he wasn't a real character anyway and really just made it more obvious how completely white the rest of the cast was.

If I was rating this solely for myself it would probably get a one star but like I said, I can conceivably see this as being enjoyable to a VERY young child so I decided to be 'nice' and give it a two.

I found the narration stiff and unnatural. For instance, why continually refer to the family members by their whole names? The plot was cute but the writing style left a lot to be desired.

When I started reading this first book in the Harry Moon series, I can't stop turning the page because the author, Mark Andrew Poe, did a good job on making this a page-turner. Harry Moon is an 8th grader who loves magic and he joined the annual talent show in their school. But it's not that easy to win if you are competing with Titus, the son of the Mayor of their town. Not to mentioned that Titus is always trying to bully Harry whenever he can just to scare him from no longer joining. But due to a turn of events, Harry and Titus made peace at each other in the end. I was able to finished this book within an hour and I'm really satisfied with what this book contains.

DNF - really needed to be more engaging and more carefully thought-through for me to stick with it.