Book Review: Halloween Books for Kids and Adults
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
Halloween Books for Kids and Adults
c.2022, various publishers $16.95-$29.99
various page counts
The leaves are crunchy beneath your feet.
There’s a chill in the air, too, and darkness creeps into the day earlier and earlier. It’s the perfect time to get terrified, isn’t it? These three books will do it to you…
Let’s start with something for everybody over the age of 8 in your haunted house: “Tales to Keep You Up at Night” by Dan Poblocki (Penguin Workshop, $17.99). In it, young Amelia’s grandma has disappeared and it’s natural that Amelia would look for her, right? But grandma’s not in the attic. What is there is a book, one that sure looks like a library book but the library says it’s not. Nope, it’s a book of stories and as Amelia begins to read them, they start to look a lot like real-life, making her wonder exactly what’s merely story and what’s not.
This book is written in chapters that are the perfect length for reading aloud every evening. Start a tradition: turn off the lights, bring a spooky candle, but do it well before bedtime.
Are all ghosts made alike? No, as you’ll see in “A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts” by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes (Citadel Press, $16.95). The ghosts among us are as different as the stories of their lives before death, say the authors, and their haunting methods are equally unique.
This book traces the history of female ghosts, famous, not-famous, and infamous. You’ll read about the ghost of Mary Surrat, who was implicated in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Learn about the woman who haunted Joan Rivers’ apartment. Read about ghosts who haunt cemeteries, ghostly groups, and female spectres who will never let anyone forget how they died. Bonus: there’s hidden history in these stories, making them even more interesting.
And finally, if a good session with bad monsters is more to your liking, then find “Screams From the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous,” edited by Ellen Datlow (Nightfire, $29.99).
Sure, you’ve read plenty of tales about vampires, werewolves, demons, and yeah, they might make an appearance or two inside this book. You’re prepared for them. But what about the other things that make you jump and yelp? What about monsters that don’t look one bit like your stereotypical monsters? Yikes.
This is the kind of book that you don’t have to read from cover to cover. You can pick and choose your chills, ignore some and read others twice, laugh at this one, lay wide awake all night after reading that one. For the most part, though, this anthology of stories by various authors will scare the socks off you, and make you want to sleep with a teddy bear close and a light on.
Still not scared enough? Well, then, you need to haunt your favorite library or bookstore. The people there are experts on scary stuff, monsters, ghosts, and things that make you scream. Ask for their help in finding the best boo-k, and don’t leaf without it.
“The Book of Phobias & Manias” is a serious book, seriously fun, and good for anyone age 15-to-adults. Look for it. It’ll make you scream in delight.
The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 13,000 books.