🎃Three Hauntingly Good Halloween Picture Books 👻

Here are a few picture books to add to your Halloween adventures. I hope you like them as much as my young readers did. 

Hardly Haunted

written and illustrated by Jessie Sima

Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2021, 48 pages

All House wants is for people to move in and live there, but no one ever does. House sits on a hill and looks a little creepy now. Could she be haunted, she wonders? Certainly that isn't what she wants. But, she has all the makings for a haunted house. She is a little dusty, has plenty of cobwebs, her doors creak, her pipes rattle, and even the little black cat who ventures inside gets scared. But maybe, just maybe, if House is very calm and quiet, someone will want her. Outside, the wind is having none of that and finally the house realizes she likes being noisy and maybe even likes the idea of being haunted. Now, if only the right family would move in, she could become a real haunted house. But wait, who is that coming up the walk? Halloween, ghosts, goblins and haunted houses can be pretty scary to young kids, but this is a perfect book for dispelling some of those fears. By anthropomorphizing the house, kids not only learn the importance of being themselves, but they may even begin to feel empathy for the empty house. After all, even kids experience loneliness and feelings of being unwanted sometimes. This is a perfect Halloween story that can just as easily be read and enjoyed all year round. 

Poultrygeist by Eric Geron,

illustrated by Pete Oswald

Candlewick Press, 2021, 32 pages

This isn't really a Halloween story per se, but feels like a good choice for this time of year. It is the very tongue-in-cheek story of a chicken who is crossing the road to get to the other side just as a truck is coming down the same road. And while the chicken definitely crosses the road to the other side, it just isn't the other side she was aiming for and it isn't the end of her story, either.  No, indeed, chicken wakes up on the Other Side where an array of scary ghostly animals who have met the same fate as chicken inform her that she has become a poultrygeist. Her job now is be noisy and to haunt, to be a cock-a-doodle Boo, to turn someone's sunny side up day into sunny side down. But chicken just wants to be a friendly ghost, she doesn't want to haunt anyone, especially not innocent readers. But then her anger gets the best of her and her transforms into scary poultrygeist. Be warned! This is kind of a dark story, and may not be for every young reader. For kids old enough to get the humor, they will find it to be a very punny book. Other kids might be relieved when chicken breaks the fourth wall to make sure they are OK. Wisely, Geron never lets chicken aim her ghostly scariness at readers, only at the other poltergeists. I did love the digitally created illustrations, they are humorous without being scary or grim. This is a fun twist on the old joke about the chicken crossing the road as well as a book that may help dispel the fear of ghosts in younger kids. 

Vampenguin 

written and illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins

Atheneum BFYR, 2021, 48 pages

This isn't really a Halloween book, but then again...vampenguins. One Sunday morning, the Dracula family, dad, mom, and two kids, head out to the zoo. Their first stop is the dark, chilly penguin room, where the youngest member of the family slips out of the stroller and performs an unnoticed switcheroo - trading places with one of the penguins, who is then strapped into the stroller by the unsuspecting, distracted dad. The Dracula family leaves the penguins and spends the day visiting all the other zoo exhibits and even eating lunch, all without noticing the switch. Meanwhile, baby Dracula hangs out with the penguins, eating their fish lunch, splashing in the pool and just having a grand old time. Funny enough, visitors to the penguin house don't hang out there for very long once they notice baby Dracula. At the end of the day, when the family is getting ready to leave the zoo, they stop for a photo near the penguin house where baby Dracula pulls another unnoticed switcheroo - trading places with the penguin in the stroller. And thanks to clever text and illustrations, no one in the Dracula family is the wiser about the switches, which is one of the things that makes this book so good. Of course, readers will love being in on the joke. My young readers certainly were.   

🎃Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko

 

If you are in the mood for a good, spooky story, go no further than Ghost Girl. Eleven-year-old Zee Puckett has been living with her older sister Abby, 18, ever since their dad left their home in Knobb's Ferry to find work. Zee's mother had died when she was born, but not before she had named her Zera, which the kids in school changed to Zero. Zee was also born with bone-white hair that never darkened.   

Zee has always had a taste for the macabre, and so, after a terrible storm floods Knobb's Ferry, and school is closed, Zee and her best and only friend Elijah head over to the cemetery to see if any coffins had been pulled out of the ground because of the heavy rain. Separated from Elijah, Zee finds nothing except a large dog with blood red eyes, who disappears when Elijah returns. Elijah thinks it's just one of Zee's stories, but even after they leave the cemetery, Zee feels like the shadow of the dog is following her. 

When school begins again, Zee's class goes on a field trip to the main library, where she is caught talking to a boy only she can see. Caught by her nemesis Nellie Bloom, Zee is quickly nicknamed Ghost Girl. Back at school, Zee learns that the principal and the new kindergarten teacher are both mysteriously missing, and a new principal is immediately hired. Principal Scratch is as creepy as his name sounds, and he seems to mesmerize the students in his first assembly, well, except Zee and Elijah.  

Still plagued by the shadow of the dog with the blood red eyes, Zee discovers that like her mother, she has the ability to communicate with the dead, and it is the ghost of the kindergarten teacher who helps them figure what happened to her.

Soon, Principal Scratch is visiting the homes of Knobb's Ferry residents, including Abby, and telling everyone to visualize what they most desire. For Abby, that means hearing from their dad, whom they have not heard from in quite some time. Pretty soon, everyone in town is under Principal Scratch's spell, but what exactly is that spell? Is Abby really speaking to their dad all the time now, even though he isn't on the line when she gives the phone to Zee? And is that really Elijah's seriously ill mom, healthy now, even when Zee spies her still in bed at the same time? Is everyone really getting the thing they most desire so easily, but at what cost?

When Nellie's beloved dog Max goes missing, and it is Principal Scratch who finds the dog, she is convinced it isn't her Max that he returns to her. Now, she must join forces with Zee and Elijah to discover what is going on. Luckily, she has an aunt who the same ability to speak to ghosts as Zee has. 

But can three kids go up against a powerful, paranormal force like Principal Scratch, especially now that everyone in town is under his spell? And to what end does this benefit their very creepy principal?

I thought this would be a perfect book to read just before Halloween and Ghost Girl certainly lives up to its promised creepy storyline. I didn't particularly like Zee at first. I thought that running off to the cemetery after a storm to see if any coffins has surfaced a bit morbid, and I also found her to a little too headstrong, like just an annoying step beyond spunky. But as her plight got worse and it was clear Principal Scratch had his sights especially on her, I began to feel more empathy for her.   

Principal Scratch certainly is evil incarnate - literally. Zee seems to be the only one with the ability to resist his seductive suggestions to visualize what is most desired that everyone else in town seems to fall for, with the exception of Nellie. Even Elijah believes his sick mother has made a recovery until he realizes what her cake batter consists of. 

I know that my 11-year-old self would have loved this book, hanging on every word and reading it in one sitting. My now self didn't love it as much as I would have, partly because of the convenient coincidences (Nellie's aunt, the kindergarten teacher) and the quick resolution. Even so, this is a fun book and for the most part, I enjoyed reading it. It's also a nice commentary on how easily people can be led to believe anything if they want it badly enough and there is a charismatic enough leader who seems able to provide the means to get it. 

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

Thank you to Talish and Sabrina at SparkPoint Studio for providing me with a review copy of this book.

Susie B. Won't Back Down by Margaret Finnegan

Fifth grader Susie B. describes herself as a "butterfly brain" because of her attention and impulse control issues. When it is announced that Student Council elections will be held, she decides she wants to run for president and her best friend Joselyn decides to run treasurer. Together, they plan their strategy, but Susie B.'s motivations aren't exactly presidential - she really just wants to be able to use the microphone for leading the Pledge of Allegiance everyday, fighting for "the rights of all people, all the time," including polar bears and paragraph writers, and for having eternal glory. 

Of course, the most popular kids in fifth grade are also running for office. Susie and Joselyn realize that their best hope of getting elected is to have popular, perfect Chloe and her friends on their side. Only problem is they don't like each other.

Meanwhile, their teacher, Mr. Springer, has assigned the class a hero's project in which each student can choose the hero of their choice. Susie B., who has always disliked being call that, decides it isn't so bad after all when she chooses Susan B. Anthony. Except that the more she learns about her chosen hero, the more Susie B. becomes disillusioned.

The, when Susie B. gets angry and tells Chloe she's mean in class, Joselyn thinks they have lost any chance of winning the election. When she tells Susie to let her deal with Chloe. Susie B. agrees, but it's beginning to look like Joselyn is really having a lot more fun with Chloe and her friends. 

Susie B. records all the day to day fifth grade dramatics in epistolary form in a notebook addressed to Susan B. Anthony, including all the negative information she discovers about her hero/not hero. With the election isn't going well, Susan B. Anthony proving herself not to be the hero Susie B. thought she was, and now feeling like her best friend is abandoning her, Susie is feeling discouraged, but it also gives her the chance to get to know other kids in her class better, including Carson, who turns out to be a great artist and a real help, as well as her opponent Danny Rodriguez, who is pretty nice after all, and really doesn't want to be the golden boy he is forced to be by his parents. 

Susie B. Won't Back Down is a delightful novel about being who you are and finding where you fit in in the world. For Susie, that means being honest with yourself and others, but she still has a lot to learn and paradoxes to grapple with. For instance, can Susan B. Anthony be a hero and not a hero at the same time? Discovering that the people you think are perfect are quite fallible and not always who they appear to be is one of those lessons in life all kids must deal with sooner or later, and fifth grade is the year that Susie B. learns this lesson. And though she may deal with it inappropriately at times, it is a lesson she eventually comes to terms with. 

Although the novel is completely written in letters addressed to Susan B. Anthony, none of Susie B.'s exuberance, honesty, or disappointments is lost. I did like that Susie has an intact family who is supportive and seem to understand her attention challenges, though they don't seem to play a big part in her life and aren't really developed, unlike the character of her half brother, Lock. I did think it odd that though Lock is biracial, it never really figures into the story. However, Lock is the voice of reason in Susie's life, even if she doesn't want to hear what he has to say sometimes. But it is clear that the two love and care deeply about each other.

I wouldn't call Susie B. Won't Back Down a coming-of-age novel per se, but it is certainly the start of that self-discovery process for Susie B, and Finnegan handles it with honesty and humor and a few tears. Don't miss meeting this charming young lady. 

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was an ARC gratefully received from Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media.

  

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“Susie is energetic, breathless, enthusiastic, and genuinely, charmingly funny.” —Kirkus Reviews

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Margaret Finnegan is the author of the middle-grade novels Susie B. Won’t Back Down and We Could Be Heroes. Her writing often focuses on themes on inclusion, hard choices, and being true to yourself. She also makes a really good chocolate cake. To learn more, and to download free discussion guides, visit MargaretFinnegan.com.

Twitter: @FinneganBegin

Instagram: @finneganbegin

Check out the fun mock newspaper, The Susie B News--available for download here!

Sonny Rollins Plays the Bridge by Gary Golio, illustrated by James Ransome

 

Sonny Rollins Plays the Bridge 

written by Gary Golio, illustrated by James Ransome

Nancy Paulsen Books. 2021, 32 pages

Imagine being a jazz musician and not being about to practice playing your saxophone every day in your own apartment because the beautiful sounds you make disturbs your neighbors.

Well, that was exactly the situation Sonny Rollins found himself in. So, Sonny leaves his house, taking his saxophone with him, and walking down Delancey Street, he heads straight  to a place where he knows he can play to his heart's content, and as loudly as he wants/needs to. Sonny continues walking until he reaches the Bridge, taking the walkway to the highest point of this long suspension bridge, he pulls out his sax and begins to play.  But "is that a/ strange/ place/ to play his/ horn?" No, not when you need to do it, not when you are compelled to play. 

There, standing mid-Bridge, Sonny can practice playing his saxophone as loudly as he wants against the background noise of the city, the busy East River below, including squawking seagulls, the passing subway trains, and all the car traffic by his side. It is the perfect spot for this talented jazzman to freely hone his skills without disturbing anyone.

You're probably thought that Sonny found what he needed on the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, but no, indeed. At the end of Delancey Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where he lived is the Williamsburg Bridge and that Bridge and this Musician were perfect together.

Gary Golio is a picture book biography Meister with an already impressive oeuvre, and now, with the inspirational Sonny Rollins Plays the Bridge, he has once again proven this to be true. His poetic text reads like a jazz performance, by which I mean that instead of classical poetic forms, readers can feel the rhythmic beat and syncopation. It almost makes you want to snap your fingers as you read because of its musicality that capture's all of Rollins' moods and emotions throughout. 

Harmonizing with Golio's jazzy text are James Ransome's equally jazzy watercolor and collage illustrations. The illustrations range from detailed full color two page spreads to simple spot images, catching the busy streets of the Lower East Side as Sonny walks to the Bridge. I particularly liked the way Ransome represented the music from Sonny's horn - as various shapes of golden notes.

I love picture book biographies. They can be so inspiring and they are a wonderful way to introduce young readers to people and their achievements they might not otherwise learn about. And often, their stories show readers that problems and obstacles are solvable - and Sonny Rollins' is a prime example of that.

Back matter includes information about Sonny Rollins as well as the Williamsburg Bridge and Sonny's Words about how this book came to be.

FYI: In 1962, Sonny Rollins recorded an album simply called The Bridge. It was his first album after taking a 3 year hiatus from music during which time he practiced his saxophone on the Williamsburg Bridge. 

This book is recommended for readers age 6+

This book was gratefully received from the author.

🎃10 Spooky Pumpkins written and illustrated by Gris Grimly

10 Spooky Pumpkins

written and illustrated by Gris Grimly

Orchard Books/Scholastic, 2021, 40 pages

It's Halloween and a little girl, dressed in a old, patched clown costume, heads out of her country home for some trick-or-treating. As she walks along, she passes 10 spooky pumpkins sitting on a low wall and looking for a cat, but finding nine cats. These nine black cats sitting are sitting on a fence and are looking for a bat and they find eight. 

Yes, this jolly story is a Halloween counting book and it counts backwards, but just because readers get down to number one, don't think that that is the end of the story. No, indeed and I liked how it ended so much. One of the other things I liked about this book was the nice way movement and time passing were so apparent. As the little girl walks along, unafraid, I might add, she passes different places and as she goes, the day turns to evening and then nighttime.

The watercolor illustrations are kind of goofy, with a somewhat Nightmare Before Christmas vibe. I was afraid the illustrations might be a little too scary for kids, so I did what I always do - I read this book to my young readers. They are just at the age where Halloween is beginning to mean something to them and they have been talking about costumes and trick-or-treating, so they were ready for a Halloween story anyway. We read it a number of times and my young readers loved it. The illustrations were just cartoony enough that they weren't scared and thought they were somewhat funny. Extra bonus - my five-year-olds can now count backwards from 10.

I have a few Halloween stories that are really favorites and 10 Spooky Pumpkins will definitely be part of the Alex Baugh canon of holiday books.

This book is recommended for readers age 4+

This book was borrowed from the NYPL 

Blog Tour: Between the Lines written and illustrated by Lindsay Ward

Welcome to my stop on the Between the Lines blog tour. Today, I am featuring a picture book that I think we can all relate to. 

Between the Lines 

written and illustrated by Lindsay Ward

Two Lions, 2021, 48 pages

It begins on a busy, diverse city street, when a young boy and his friend begin to notice that the colors and sounds of everyday life are beginning to fade. 

No one else seems to notice the colors fading and the sounds dimming until one night there was a wild, violent storm. The next day, almost all the color is gone and there is a deep rift separating one side of the street from the other, thus separating the boy from his friend. 

At first, people question what happened, but soon they just begin to accept it and get one with their now colorless lives. Time goes by - a week, a month, a year. But the young boy can't forget his friend and at night, he dreams of how colorful it used to be on his street - "...rust redbrick roads bathed in ripe, orange mornings. Lemon Popsicle yellow melting, sticky sweet. Freshly cut green against bluebird skies. And a sea of stars sprinkled on velvet purple nights." Then one night, there are no more dreams, the young boy has forgotten the colors.

There is only one thing left for him to do -

But, can one young boy make a difference and do what no one else has tried to do - bring his friends and neighbors together again to work as a team and bring back the colors? You bet he can and does. How does he do it, you might ask. Well, just read the book to discover the answer and maybe find a little inspiration to change something you think needs to be done.

Between the Lines is a concept book that can be read in so many different ways for so many different age groups. Whether you see it as a metaphor for COVID-19 or for climate change or even for the divisiveness of the country right now, or if you just see it as a book about bringing people together, one thing stands firm - it just takes one person, even a child, to bring about change and to make a difference.  

I wasn't sure about the aging for this book, the idea seemed a little to old for 4-and 5-year-olds to really grasp. So I decided to read it to my young readers (average age 4, and English isn't their first language). I read it once, and then we talked about it, then read it again. They liked it, and it understood it at its most basic level. I think slightly older kids will pick up the nuances more than younger readers and making this a book they can grow with.

As with all of Lindsay Ward's books, the digitally created artwork for this one is wonderful, ranging from bright, springlike pastels to images that resemble white chalk on a blackboard and back to colorful again. The street is full of friendly diverse children and adults, happily involved in different activities that are then captured in all their confusion, isolation, and sadness when their street is divided and color is lost. 

Between the Lines is definitely a book to be shared and talked about.

What Others Are Saying About Between the Lines:

"A Vibrant neighborhood loses its color, literally, as the community becomes fractured." - Kirkus Reviews

"The illustrations...bring the atmosphere and ideas of the story to life. The depictions of both isolation and community in a dense urban neighborhood are poignant, especially after a year when COVID-19 forced people worldwide to forgo, and then to reinvent, community togetherness." - Booklist 

Meet the Author:

Lindsay Ward is the creator of the Dexter T. Rexter series as well as Rosie: Stronger than Steel; This Book is Gray; Brobarians; Helping Hospital; the Wheels on the Go series; Rosco vs. the Baby; and The importance of Being 3. Her book Please Bring Balloons was also made into a play. Lindsay lives with her family in Peninsula, Ohio. Learn more about her online at 

Lindsay Ward: Words + Pictures

Twitter: @lindsaymward

Instagram: lindsaymward

Check out a storytime for Between the Lines and other books HERE on Lindsay Ward's website:

This book was gratefully received from Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media

The Secret of the Magic Pearl by Elisa Sabatinelli, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno, translated by Christopher Turner

 

The Secret of the Magic Pearly by Elisa Sabatinelli,

illustrated by Iacopo Bruno, translated by Christopher Turner

Red Comet Press, 2021, 92 pages

Set in a seaside village somewhere on the Italian coast, our young narrator Hector tells readers that he comes from a family of deep-sea divers, and he cannot wait until his eight birthday so he make his very first dive. He also tells us that his hero is the red watch cap wearing Jaques Cousteau, hence, Hector's red cap. He has grown up listening to his grandfather's stories about the sea, most of which came from his imagination. The one exception is the story about the Pearl. The Pearl lives in the sea, and is the "rarest, whitest, and purest pearl in the world. A pearl that can light up a whole room." (pg 5)

Hector's family had always lived in the Marina, a place that attracts tourists and offers lots of sea-side attractions and things to do, but they were pushed out by a shady businessman named Amedeo Limonta and his complex called Rivadoro, charging tourists less money that anyone else for dives and boat rides. Limonta has a daughter named Carlotta, and Hector's best friend Richard has a big crush on her. 

Finally, Hector's birthday arrives and after cobbling together a deep-sea diving suit for himself, he and his father head to the sea. Sure enough, on his first dive, Hector discovers the Pearl and brings it home. Soon, it is an attraction drawing tourists, newspapermen, and even television reporters. One visitor even asks to be alone with the Pearl, but after his visit, Hector notices the Pearl begins to lose it luminescence. It appears to be dying. But why? Now, everyone thinks Hector pulled a fast one on them, accusing him of lying to them. Hector decides the Pearl needs to return to the sea to hopefully get back some of its magic. It doesn't take long to figure out what has happened, but if the lone visitor has taken the real Pearl and left a fake substitute in its place, how can Hector return the real Pearl to the sea? 

Hector narrates his story in simple declarative but very expressive sentences, which may sound boring but is far from it. In fact, it allows him to smoothly and seamlessly introduce family past and present, friends, and enemies, and the part they all play in the mystery of the Pearl. 

Since the setting seems to take place somewhere between reality and fantasy, it just stands to reason that the timing of the story is somewhere between long ago and today all at once. But perhaps Hector explains it best when he says he lives "...in a small but ancient village where one day time decided to stop for a cup of tea and never got started again." (pg. 69)

There is so much to be culled from this book besides a good story. Right from the start, there is a two page spread of maritime signal flags, alphabet and numbers, used for signaling other ships. Each chapter is introduced with the chapter number using these flags, so you begin to recognize them pretty quickly.

But wait, there's more. Not only are readers treated to the nautical flags, there is also a 2-page spread of the parts of an old-timey diving suit, the kind not many kids might be familiar with.

So you can see that this is definitely a book to spend time with, not just reading but thoroughly combing through the illustrations, relishing all the details from beginning to end. Done in a colorful palette of nautical colors, the full page illustrations are clear and sharp, and completely harmonize and extend the story and there are lots of colorful spot illustrations throughout the book as well. 

After readers are done being charmed by Hector's story, they can download an activity kit utilizing the nautical flags HERE

The Secret of the Magic Pearl is a chapter book that combines past and present in a magical story. It will enchant readers in the same way that stories by Kate DiCamillo does. 

The Secret of the Magic Pearl will be available October 12, 2021.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+

This book was gratefully received from Red Comet Press and Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media