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picture books
ages 9-12
for teens
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The
Halloween Tree
by Ray Bradbury
Amazon.com
Special indeed are holiday stories
with the right mix of high spirits and subtle mystery
to please both adults and children--Charles Dickens's
"A Christmas Carol," for example. Or Ray Bradbury's
classic The Halloween Tree. Eight boys set out on a Halloween
night and are led into the depths of the past by a tall,
mysterious character named Moundshroud. They ride on a
black wind to autumn scenes in distant lands and times,
where they witness other ways of celebrating this holiday. |
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Bunnicula
: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
by Deborah Howe
Amazon.com
This immensely popular children's story is told from the
point of view of a dog named Harold. It all starts when
Harold's human family, the Monroes, goes to see the movie
Dracula, and young Toby accidentally sits on a baby rabbit
wrapped in a bundle on his seat. How could the family
help but take the rabbit home and name it Bunnicula? Chester,
the literate, sensitive, and keenly observant family cat,
soon decides there is something weird about this rabbit. |
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A
Newbery Halloween : A Dozen Scary Stories by Newbery Award-Winning
Authors
by Martin Harry Greenberg
From Booklist , September 1, 1993
Gr. 3-6. Norman Rockwell's painting
of the pipe-smoking old-timer helping a young boy carve
pumpkins makes the perfect cover for this collection of
Halloween stories. Greenberg and Waugh have done their
choosing well. Among the 12 selections are an extract
from Phyllis Naylor's The Witch's Eye, the story "Camp
Fat" by E. L. Konigsburg, and the Halloween chapter
from Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary. This will serve
the dual purposes of read-aloud and read-alone and serve
them both well. |
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The
Dark-Thirty : Southern Tales of the Supernatural
by Pat McKissack
Amazon.com
These 10 spine-tinglers range from
straight-up ghost stories to eerie narratives. The tales
in this winner of the 1993 Coretta Scott King Award depict
racism, haunting and vengeance in a manner that can be
read out loud around a campfire or savored privately,
offering middle readers (fourth through eighth graders)
thoughtful exposure to important, though frightening,
historical themes. |
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Nightmare
Hour
by R. L. Stine
Amazon.com
The wind whispered through the vines, making them quiver
and bend. The scarecrows creaked, shaking their arms as
if waving us away. A large pumpkin came bouncing down
a hill. Thud thud thud!
A child loses his head inside a pumpkin. A skin-crawling
spider spell is cast on a sorcerer's apprentice. A visit
to the hospital for a tonsillectomy takes a ghoulish turn.
These things don't happen--do they? In Nightmare Hour
they do. |
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Midnight
Magic
by Avi
Book Description
Mangus the Magician must free a princess
from a terrifying ghost. But Mangus doesn't believe in
ghosts. Actually, he doesn't even believe in magic. His
servant boy, Fabrizio, is the princess's secret friend
and determined to prove that the ghost is real. |
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Witches,
Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts : The Story of the Halloween
Symbols
by Edna Barth
Amazon.com
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts:
The Story of the Halloween Symbols remains one of the
clearest, most accessible explanations of the history
of Halloween around. Edna Barth--author of many nonfiction
holiday books for children--sets her story 2,000 years
in the past, when October 31 marked a joyous harvest festival
for the Celts and, more frighteningly, when potentially
evil spirits were unleashed from the Celtic underworld. |
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Witches
and Witch-Hunts : A History of Persecution
by Milton Meltzer
Amazon.com
In Milton Meltzer's study of all
things witchy, it's all uphill from the first line, which
reads simply, "Witches, witches, witches!" A
person could get the impression that the author doesn't
really have a feel for the possibilities of his subject.
Keep reading, though, as this is a humanistic and well-researched
history... if a little dry. Meltzer has clearly set out
to debunk witch mythology, revealing the way that a community's
marginal figures often become persecuted by society. |
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Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by J. K. Rowling
Amazon.com
Say you've spent the first 10 years
of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who
loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate
you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy
owl, a phoenix-feather wand, and jellybeans that come
in every flavor, including strawberry, curry, grass, and
sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are
a wizard yourself! |
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