We asked our friends at Powell’s for some tips on books that bring the fun and horror of Halloween home!
Vunce upon a Time
J. otto Seibold and Siobhan Vivian
Young Dagmar — a shy, vegetarian vampire — loves candy even more than he loves carrots and squash. But to get his hands on the sweets, he has to go trick-or-treating. And that means finding a scary costume (like a puppy... or a butterfly!) and mustering the courage to face all those terrifying human kids. Dagmar’s tale of bravery is endlessly endearing, and the digital illustrations are colorful and intricate — you could read this book a dozen times and find a new goody on each page.
Frankenstein Takes the Cake
Adam Rex
Frankenstein Takes the Cake is a fantastically weird collage of re-imagined horror tales: Frankenstein is about to marry the undead woman of his dreams, but his future mother-in-law won’t stop hassling him; Edgar Allen Poe works on a crossword puzzle when he knows he should be writing; and aliens finally make contact with earth... but only to send us spam. Rex’s humor appeals to both parents and kids, and all readers will be impressed by his use of unusual forms of storytelling, like angry blog posts from the Headless Horseman and a special advertising section featuring the water diet for witches — watch the pounds melt away!
Halloween Night
Marjorie Dennis Murray
A household of monsters and witches prepares a scary Halloween party for their neighborhood trick-or-treaters. But it turns out that they’ve done their job too well -- the kids run shrieking! The creatures don’t mind, however, because now they have all those delicious grubs and rotten eggs all to themselves. Loosely based on “The Night Before Christmas,” this quirky, rhyming story is a great read-aloud, and kids will be delightfully grossed-out.
Bone Soup
Cambria Evans
Finnigan the Eater, a hungry skeleton, arrives in a new town to find that his reputation has preceded him: the townspeople (er, towns-creatures, rather) have stashed all of their delicious bat wings, eyeballs, and frog legs safely out of his reach. But, this hungry little skeleton is resourceful, and he lures the towns-creatures out of their houses with his magical delicacy: bone soup! This fresh re-imagining of the classic Stone Soup will delight parents and kids alike.
