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Find out moreThere's a spooky book for everyone in our special Halloween selection!
A day devoted to stuffing your face with sweets and playing horrid tricks: Horrid Henry and Hallowe’en are made for one another! There are six stories in this collection, each one a tribute to Henry’s ability to cause trouble, upset Perfect Peter, and somehow, despite his parents’ best efforts, come out on top. There are extra treats too – spooky jokes and a section of puzzles, games, activities, even a gruesome recipe, just the thing for putting the Henry into Hallowe’en. ~ Andrea Reece
One of Our Books of the Year 2017 | In a nutshell: dicing with the dead has never been so thrilling Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co series about a company of teenage psychics attempting to keep the streets of a nearly-but-not contemporary London clear of malevolent spirits is thrilling stuff. Each episode offers a first-class helping of brilliantly-written, edge-of the-seat ghostly adventure packed with intrigue, humour and even a touch of romance. The Empty Grave brings the series to its conclusion and does so in style, with the fiercest test yet for our young heroes, and some uncomfortably close brushes with death. Readers who haven’t discovered this series yet are to be envied, they have such a treat in store! ~ Andrea Reece
This is one of those books that does exactly what it says on the tin: it’s full of recipes for dishes that really will freak out your friends, from ‘cat poo in the litter tray’ to ‘severed fingers’. Disgusting as these dishes sound and look however, they’ll taste very good; they’re all made out of regular, tasty ingredients just cleverly arranged to look like something revolting. Hidden among the recipes however are notes on some of the (to us anyway) bizarre or gruesome foods that are eaten in different parts of the world, e.g. witchetty grubs, fruit bats, fish eyeballs and duck embryos (in the shell). Part cookbook, part information book, this happily puts the yuk into cookery. ~ Andrea Reece
October 2017 Debut of the Month In a nutshell: love, loss and a skeleton in the garden Stanly is surprised but intrigued to discover a finger bone apparently growing in his garden. It could win him the Young Discoverer science prize and thereby bring his father home in which case it’s to be welcomed. As the finger grows into a skeleton though, Stanly is not so sure. His little sister Miren really takes to ‘Princy’ as she calls the skeleton and it’s able to cheer her up even with she is seriously ill and in pain. Stanly worries the skeleton is there to take Miren away. This debut novel is accomplished and original. Despite the surreal storyline it’s a story of real emotions, and Stanly’s worries are always gripping and credible. An examination of love and loss, with an ambient sense of myth or faith, this will appeal to fans of David Almond’s modern classic Skellig. ~ Andrea Reece
A wonderful boxed set of six of the spookiest Winnie and WIlbur stories and two special edition CDs. Includes the following Winnie and Wilbur titles: The Midnight Dragon, The Haunted House, The New Computer, The Amazing Pumpkin, The Big Bad Robot, Winnie the Witch. Lovereading comment to follow soon.
Stevenson’s classic is given a wildly inventive comic makeover by Fiona Ross. Squeak the mouse is a dab hand at competitions, but gets more than he bargained for when he wins a strange pot of jelly … One mouthful turns him into the terrifying monster Hyde, rampaging by night and guzzling down everything edible he finds! Squeak’s transformation from cute little mouse into nutty green monster and his night-time adventures are depicted via a wonderful series of comic-book style frames that burst with energy and fun. Don’t worry grown-ups, he’s restored to his normal self by the end and happily settled in front of the TV with Granny. This lively funny picture book is great for sharing. ~ Andrea Reece
A very special, spooky story from Dr. Seuss - with glow-in-the-dark ink! As always Dr. Seuss is an absolute joy to read aloud and What Was I Scared of? is no exception. A night time encounter with some rather scary pants (with nobody inside them!) takes us running through the wood in an effort to escape them. As this is Dr. Seuss though it all comes to a happy ending with a lesson learnt that the things we are scared of are more often then not rather less scary than we thought. This specil edition also has a rather wonderful glow in the dark finale that will have your little ones rushing to turn out the lights. ~ Shelley Fallows - You can also find Shelley here.
Usborne’s touchy-feely books are perfect for babies and very young children. The illustrations are bright and attractive, just busy enough to catch the eye, with lots of things to point out and name. Each page features a touchy-feely patch too – the little witch’s boots are shiny, her hat is fuzzy and her cat is fluffy. These tactile, strokable patches are not just an added treat but a means to develop sensory awareness alongside the language skills being learned. As ever the characters are smiley and hugely appealing. ~ Andrea Reece
Do you dare look round Skeleton School? There are monsters and witches, not to mention ghouls ... Huge fun from the bestselling author/illustrator of Calm Down, Boris, Mr Pusskins and First Day at Bug School. Lovereading comment to follow soon.
The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe'en, is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening before "All Hallows' Day" (also known as "All Saints' Day"). Halloween was also sometimes called All Saints' Eve.
The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries and given a Christian interpretation.
So to celebrate general spookiness and horror we have a selection of books that will hopefully fright and delight in equal measure children of all ages as well as grown-ups who have never quite grown up or don’t like to think they have!
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