Halloween can be tricky; while a young child may need comfort, more experienced Halloweeners want to maximize their delight of fright. Books are the perfect treat to satisfy children of all ages.
While there are some preschoolers that might be thrilled by a Halloween adventure, many seek security. These three books provided for both needs.
Lois Ehlert’s bright orange backgrounds, upbeat rhymes, and seasonal collages will cheer children in Boo to You! (Simon and Schuster, ages 3-5). The two mice heroes, crafted of torn blue paper, act as stand-ins for young children with fears. They aren’t afraid of “raccoon or squirrel who might bite a veggie, but a cat loves meat and that makes us edgy.” These mice aren’t willing to sacrifice fun. They decorate for a harvest party with festive pumpkins, acorns, and turning leaves. When, at book’s end, they feel threatened, the masked mice “know exactly what to do. We’ll scare that scary cat. Boo to you!” and the last line screams across three pages, broadcasting the mice’s bravery. Ehlert shows her love of the natural world and her knowledge of young children. Listeners will identify with the small courageous heroes and take to heart the book’s secure message: when things seem scary, scare them back. A final page identifies the natural objects in Ehlert’s illustrations, inviting a second look and encouraging outside discoveries.
Andrea Beaty uses rhythm, rhyme and role reversal to comfort children Hush, Baby Ghostling (McElderry, ages 4-6). Pascal Lemaitre’s deep colors set the mood of a quiet night as mother ghost lulls her tearful ghostling to sleep. Nothing distracts the nervous ghostie -- not a skeleton dolly, nor “turning the darkness on”, nor the mother’s happy “wishes for nightmares filled with ghoulies and monsters.” Her child fears a “boy with ten pink toes, blue eyes and golden hair” and she can’t pacify him with the promises that “they’re only make-believe.” As the sun fills his room, the ghostling drifts off and his mother, now shaded with a dawn rainbow, whispers one last “I love you”. For a fearful child, this is definitely a book you want to introduce in the daytime. It’s sure to lead to a discussion about night fears and the parallels between story and life.
Familiarity and friendship are keys in Maryann Cocca-Leffler’s It’s Halloween Night (HarperCollins, ages 3-5). Two cuddly kitties, Rascal and Rosie, act as guides, holding hands through their Halloween adventure. They carve a grinning pumpkin, dress in costumes, and trick-or-treat with others who look more friendly than fiendish. But “the last house is dark and spooky” and a cutout in the page shows a ghost whose eyes seem menacing. The kitties flee, guided safely home by lit pumpkins. The book has more fun than fright and illustrates all the Halloween elements you need to explain Halloween happenings.
Safe-scary is the secret for 6-9 year-olds. They trust Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House books, a series that draws fans like Halloween candy. In their 42nd adventure, Jack and Annie set off to New Orleans in A Good Night for Ghosts (Random House). This book is part of the “Merlin Mission series” wherein the siblings seek out and support creative people. They arrive in 1915 New Orleans for All Saint’s Day, a holiday known for ghost sightings. Their mission is to find Louis “Dipper” Armstrong direct him towards his destiny. They must convince the fourteen-year-old to stop shoveling coal and follow his musical path to becoming the “King of Jazz”. Eventually, Jack and Annie succeed as Dipper uses music to scare away Jean Lafitte and ten ghostly pirates in Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. The fiction is loaded with famous places and people and there are more ghost stories in the non-fiction companion, Ghosts (Random House).
Children at the older end of elementary school crave all the spookiness and humor Halloween has to offer. Two new books satisfy these desires.
David Lubar welcomes us to the world of his newest hero in My Rotten Life: Nathan Abercrombie Accidental Zombie (Starscape) Nathan is so sensitive and so unpopular. That’s even before his accident with the experimental “Hurt-Be-Gone” formula that may turn him into a zombie. But Nathaniel discovers being a zombie might not be all bad. Not breathing turns him into the star of field day, not sleeping makes him an expert at video games, and not smelling makes him immune to his best friend Mookie’s potent gas emissions.
Over seventy authors and illustrators contributed short stories to Half-Minute Horrors (Harper), edited by Susan Rich. The two-page speedy reads are certain to hook this audience. There are spooky first lines like Kenneth Oppel’s “My father and I lay tensely side by side in total darkness, not daring to breathe.” And twisted endings like Angela Johnson’s “Nanny” when the end reveals that the main character plans a scary visit to the charge she’s just tucked in. Contributors include children’s favorites like Lemony Snickett, Avi, Jack Gantos, Neil Gaiman, and Gail Carson Levine. Whether their stories set the tone for laughter, shivers, or thought, all are amazingly effective in this short, short format.
If you think Halloween only for the under tens, you don’t know the power of candy and you haven’t experienced the recent Twilight phenomena that haunts the minds of preteens and teens with everything vampire. For preteens, there’s Treval Vorgard’s A Practical Guide to Vampires (Mirrorstone). Vorgard, a “vampire enthusiast and occasional hunter”, gives all the basics including recognizing vampires, understanding their powers and reading their body language. Teens will be sucked into The Vampire is just not that into You (Scholastic). Vampire author Vlad Mezrich guides them through every phase of vampire dating--flow charts, quizzes and anecdotes are written with a snappy style that borders on snarky.