Candlewick Press delivers some great Halloween titles this fall to spook your own little goblins. (The following descriptions in italics are from Candlewick Press.)
Trick Or Treat?
by Melanie Walsh
3 yrs - 5 yrs
Where is the bat, and what is the spider doing? What could be in the cauldron, or rattling in the closet -- or outside the door? For young children awaiting Halloween, here is the perfect board book, full of bright colors, bold illustrations, and ever-so-slightly spooky surprises waiting beneath sturdy flaps. Trick or treat!
Where's My Mummy?
by Carolyn Crimi, illustrated by John Manders
4 yrs - 7 yrs
Little Baby Mummy wants just one more game of hide-and-shriek with Big Mama Mummy before bedtime. The night is deep and dark, full of friendly creatures that click their clacky teeth and whoosh past on flippy-floppy wings. But who will comfort Little Baby Mummy if a small, scritchy-scratchy someone gives him a scare? Big Mama Mummy, of course! Fresh, comical illustrations complement this ever-so-slightly suspenseful story with a satisfying ending.
And Then Comes Halloween
by Tom Brenner, illustrated by Holly Meade
4 yrs - 7 yrs
As soon as geese fly south, children take autumn's cue to start their preparations: it’s almost Halloween! With poetic language and vivid collage illustrations, Tom Brenner and Holly Meade follow all the familiar rituals, from hanging paper skeletons to carving pumpkins, from costume-making to trick-or-treating. Halloween lovers will be eager to grab a bag or bucket and join them on this lively and lyrical journey.
Dracula's Tomb
Popping up again by popular demand! Enter, if you dare, the bloodcurdling (and sidesplitting) world of Transylvania’s most infamous gourmet.Open the Velcro tabs on this coffin-shaped tomb -- er, tome -- for a peek at some little-known details of Dracula’s infancy, school days, cherished belongings, and lively nightlife. Peer inside a vampire’s fridge and closet, peruse photos of little Drac with boyhood friends, meet his many pets, and get a taste, so to speak, of what eternal life is like for the world’s biggest pain in the neck. Just beware of the final spread -- who knows what creepy consequences might spring up if visitors don’t obey the signs?
The Bag of Bones
by Vivian French, illustrated by Ross Collins
8 yrs - 12 yrs
When the quill writes GO GO GO frantically on the wall, and the House of the Ancient Crones heaves Gracie Gillypot outside onto the path, it can mean only one thing: there’s Trouble in the Five Kingdoms. This time it’s in the form of a beady-eyed, green-tongued witch named Truda Hangnail, who with her banished Deep Magic has vowed to succeed Queen Bluebell on the throne. Will the strengths, smarts, and charms of a spunky trueheart, a sweet-natured orphan, a scruffy prince, a substantial troll, and two squabbling bats be enough to foil her insidious plot?
Candlewick Press sent me a few of these titles to read with my children.
