Spooktacular Reads!

 I love Halloween! I love over-the-top decorations, the elaborate costumes. And all the apple-picking and pumpkin spice muffins. And CHOCOLATE!

I love the spooky stories too. I don’t go for the gore, and I'm not a fan of sparkly vampires. But I don’t mind the spine-tinglers, the ghosts and goblins and witches. I like my monsters to have a heart, and sometimes a funny bone (all puns intended).  For example, Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire (1991);  Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820);  Dav Pilkey’s The Hallo-Wiener (1995); Sandra Boynton’s EEK! Halloween! (2016); Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002); Carols Fuentes' AURA (1986); and, of course, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818).

 SO here’s a treat for you! Check out these favorite reads at your local library (or bookstore). You can thank me with chocolate.

 

Pandemic. Yvonne Ventresca. One of my absolute favorite reads!

From Simon and Schuster’s website: With friends and neighbors dying all around her, Lil does everything she can just to survive. But as the disease rages on, so does an unexpected tension as Lil is torn between an old ex and a new romantic interest. Just when it all seems too much, the cause of her original trauma shows up at her door. Lil must find a way to survive not only the outbreak and its real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons.

 

Halloween Forest. Marion Dane Bauer. A gentle, perfect read aloud!

From Marion’s website: If you take your trick-or-treat sack and venture into the dark woods on Halloween night, you'll find cat bones, rat bones, and bat bones — and all are looking at YOU!

 

Little Old Lady Who Was Note Afraid of Anything. Linda Williams. Full disclosure: Megan also illustrated my picturebooks, so I am quite biased. I LOVE her work.

You'll love this YouTube Video. And you'll find some fun teaching activities HERE! 

From the Back Cover: Once upon a time, there was a little old lady who was not afraid of anything! But one autumn night, while walking in the woods, the little old lady heard . . . clomp, clomp, shake, shake, clap, clap. And the little old lady who was not afraid of anything had the scare of her life! 

 

Crankenstein. Samantha Berger. This will keep you up all night with the giggles!

Who is Crankenstein? 

From Samantha’s website: HE IS A MONSTER OF GRUMPINESS THAT NO ONE CAN DESTROY! MEHHRRRR!!! HE'S ALIVE!

 

The Ogress and the Orphans. Kelly Barnhill. This is my current read, and I love it more than her Girl Who Drank the Moon (2016).

You'll love this Book Trailer!

And for an extra treat, here's an excellent interview with Kelly Barnhill!  

From Publisher’s Weekly: Employing a benevolent, omniscient narrator (“Listen,” the voice urges) and a slowly unfurling, deliberately paced telling, Newbery Medalist Barnhill incorporates ancient stories, crow linguistics, and a history of dragonkind into an ambitious, fantastical sociopolitical allegory that asks keen questions about the nature of time, the import of community care, and what makes a neighbor.

 What are your favorite spooktacular reads?

--Bobbi Miller