Friday, October 03, 2008

The Not-So-Random Shelf: Short Story Collection



As of 2:30 this afternoon, three people have asked me for Halloween books, and I've only been on the reference desk since noon (unfortunately for them, many of our Halloween books are already out). Halloween is definitely in the air! While most people are looking for picture books, I want to tell you about some Halloween books that your older children might enjoy.

If your child enjoys short stories, check out A Newbery Halloween. A Newbery Halloween is a mixed bag of short stories: some humorous, some spooky, some lengthy, and some short. Some stories are excerpts from full-length chapter books, while others were originally created for this collection. While children looking for very scary stories will probably be disappointed, the stories are fun and entertaining ("Camp Fat" by E.L. Konigsburg has a very "whoo whoo" ending).

Halloween figures into two of Beverly Cleary's Ramona books: Ramona the Pest, in which kindergartner Ramona, among other events in her first year of school life, marches in her school's Halloween parade and wonders if her mother will recognize her in the parade (this chapter is included in A Newbery Halloween), and Ramona and Her Father, in which Ramona's father carves a pumpkin, which ends in disaster, thanks to the cat.

Fans of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever will be happy to learn that the fun continues in The Best Halloween Ever (and also in The Best School Year Ever, the first sequel).

Happy Halloween reading!

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