I love October. I love the changing leaves, the nip in the air, the bright orange pumpkins, the yummy treats. I especially love Halloween. My favorite Halloween book that I try to read every year or two in October is "The Halloween Tree" by Ray Bradbury. "The Halloween Tree" is filled with such beautifully descriptive words and vibe-y imagery that I can almost taste, touch, smell, and see Halloween. “Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve. Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet. Smoke panted up out of a thousand chimneys like the plumes of funeral parades. From kitchen windows drifted two pumpkin smells: gourds being cut, pies being baked.” Halloween could be weeks away, but when I read those words from Bradbury, I am there. Halloween surrounds me! Halloween is the one night a year where I feel all the energy and excitement of my youth, so for a book to take me there is a rare and lovely gift. If you, too, want to join the Halloween celebration and live Halloween through the pages of a book, check the list below!
Written by Christine Virnig
New York: Aladdin, 2024. Fiction. 310 pages.
When sixth-grader Caleb and his newly widowed mom move from L.A. to a small town in Wisconsin, it's a big adjustment for all sorts of reasons. One of the biggest adjustments Caleb has to get used to is how every day in Samhain, Wisconsin is Halloween. Everyone in town dresses up daily in costumes and buildings are decorated for spooky season year round. If all this wasn't weird enough, Caleb is starting to suspect that some of the locals might not actually be in costume...they may be revealing their real identities--witches, vampires, oh my!
By Celia Krampien
New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023. Fiction. 305 pages.
Ever since sixth-grader Abigail Snook went into the woods all those years ago and was never seen again, everyone has known that Fall Hollow is haunted. The Bellwoods Game was created and played yearly by other sixth-graders on Halloween night to protect the town from Abigail's ghost. Three students go into the woods and must ring a bell there to win the game and protect the town for another year. 6th grader, Bailee doesn't want to play, but legend has it that the game's winner also gets a wish granted. Bailee needs that wish, so into the woods she'll go. But what, or who, is waiting for her in the woods?
Written by D.W. Gillespie
New York : Delacorte Press, 2024. Fiction. 262 pages.
Seventh-grader, Mason, doesn't understand his town's radical celebrating of Halloween. He's convinced that every year on Halloween night, a child from town disappears and the town's memory of them is wiped clean. Even Mason's friend, Serge, dismisses Masons theories and concerns, until Mason's sister is the one snatched on Halloween night. Can Mason and Serge travel into a terrifying alternate world to save Mason's sister and, hopefully, future children of their town?
Written by Steven Banbury
New York: Little Brown & Co, 2024. Fiction.
An orphan ever since her parents' deaths, Eve has lived in a horrible orphanage, one she's determined to escape on Halloween night. Who should she encounter during her escape, but the Pumpkin King, who saves her, adopts her, and takes her back to his world of Hallowell Valley, where she is to be crowned the Pumpking Princess. Although being surrounded by vampires, witches, monsters, and ghosts take some getting used to, Eve is finally beginning to feel like she's found a home and family. Unfortunately for Eve, a dark force isn't going to make it easy for her to keep what she's found. It will take the help of new friends' and Eve's determination to save Hallowell Valley and all those Eve has come to care about.
Written by Alex Bell
London: Rock the Boat, 2024. Fiction. 326 pages.
Bess is the only one in her family who loved her grandad's crazy collection of curiosities, so while his death is heartbreaking to her, she's overjoyed that he's left his Odditorium to her. Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of loving it--Bess has to find a way to bring in paying customers or the Odditorium will be closed forever. Will Bess's plan to sneak onto a myterious train heading for The Land of Halloween Sweets bring her the solution she needs to keep the Odditorium going or only danger?
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