The Halloween Tree

There wasn't so much wilderness around you couldn't see the town. But on the other hand there wasn't so much town you couldn't see and feel and touch and smell the wilderness. Such a beautiful beginning Ray!

Eight boys go on a journey and learn about Halloween and Samhain history, while trying to save their best friend.

This book is beautifully written, as expected being from Ray Bradbury, and the story is gripping and interesting. His writing takes us on the journey and we can easily picture ourselves in Egypt, Notre-Dame and Mexico, seeing everything unfold with our own eyes.

I'm sure I would have loved this as a kid. Unfortunately, I read it as an adult, and my experienced eyes caught something my brain and heart feel very passionate about.
You see, there is not one single female character on this book. Moreover, this is a story where the coolest of the boys that ever lived ”...hated girls more than all the other boys in the gang combined.”

What we get here is another story for boys, about “boys being boys”.

Gender plays no role in this story, as it shouldn't. Why would you, as a father of girls, write this sentence? Why couldn't you put a girl in the group? I'm not even asking for this book to pass the Bechdel test! My standards are not that high!

I wouldn't have noticed this as a kid because all I ever read was boys going on adventures and girls falling in love. In my mind, I would just change Tom to resemble me, and I would go in this adventure in his place.

If you ever wonder why Romantasies are such a hit, this is it! It's because women are finally going on adventures and men are falling hard and first.

Congratulations Ray, you loose two stars and join Tolkien on my prestigious list of “Not a single female character to be seen in the whole book”