Monsters in bathrooms, parades of goblins, a love stuck werewolf, “An Eyeball in my Garden” is the perfect collection of spine-tingling poems made for children. The book features 44 poems from authors all across the states, including Coppell’s very own Jennifer Cole Judd. In total Judd contributed seven poems as well as selected and critiqued the content of the book.

Judd’s poems include: “Bat”, “My Date with Mummy”, “Voices”, Love Song of a Werewolf”, “Spooky Jack”, “The Goblin Parade” and “Coming Home from Trick-or-Treating”. A notable poem of Judd’s would be “My Date with Mummy”. The way she expresses how Frankenstein's monster prepares for his date with Mummy is adorably spooky. “I’ve burned the scones and muffins, and brewed my blackest tea...I’ve draped the lamps with cobwebs, placed flowers on the still. The finest roses, dead and dried, will give her such a thrill.”

Of all seven poems I connected most with “Spooky Jack”. It brings back the nostalgic feelings of choosing out the perfect pumpkin to carve out “eyes, a ghoulish grin” and putting “a burning candle in” to evoke the creepy look on the jack-o-lanterns face.

A contributing author aside from Judd was William Shakespeery. The book is actually named after his poem “An Eyeball in my Garden”. He wrote a poem called “Haunted” that was incredibly eerie. Greta Lynn is “scarcely bone with paper skin...her breath is stale and cold as snow”, she is a lonely child with no friends and “every night at twelve o’clock...she tries my lock...gives my door a hollow knock.” If I were a child this would give me nightmares despite how incredibly well Shakespeery wrote it.

The illustrations in the book are created by artist Johan Olander. The realism of each black and white picture makes the poems more vivid in your mind. Nearly each poem has an illustration off to the side that complements the overall tone of the book.

All poems in “An Eyeball in my Garden”, scary or nostalgic, are an excellent fun read for children. As an adult you will appreciate the poetic styles of all 14 authors when reading your child this book, and maybe you will feel like a kid again too.