It’s that time of the year when readers of all ages are eager to scare themselves and others silly by telling terrifying tales of magic and mayhem. PW checked in with a handful of booksellers around the country to find out which books have been flying off shelves this month in anticipation of Halloween.
Jamie Thomas, the manager of Women & Children First in Chicago, said that Halloween has become one of the store’s most popular holidays for selling children’s books and that picture books are especially hot. “We have a great variety on hand,” she added, “but Gustavo, the Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago [Candlewick], which is a few years old, is quickly becoming our annual bestselling Halloween picture book.” Another big hit this year with customers looking for Halloween-themed picture books is Stumpkin by Lucy Ruth Cummins (Atheneum), another backlist title that co-owner Sarah Hollenbeck called “adorably loveable.”
Out west in Los Angeles, Brein Lopez, manager of Children’s Book World, said that fall is the store’s “favorite time of the year,” and that CBW booksellers celebrate Halloween on October 31 and then Día de los Muertos on November 1, as do many West Coast residents of Latinx ancestry.
Lopez recommends three bilingual reads: Vamos! Let's Celebrate Halloween and Día de los Muertos by Raúl the Third (Versify), and The Ofrenda That We Built by Jolene Gutiérrez and Shaian Gutiérrez, illustrated by Gabby Zapata (Chronicle)
CBW booksellers love Halloween-themed picture books, Lopez explained, and have been handselling several new releases: Into the Goblin Market by Vikki Van Sickle, illustrated by Jensine Eckwall (Tundra) and Little Ghost Makes a Friend by Maggie Edkins Willis (S&S/Wiseman). “A fun book that is great for both Halloween and Filipino Heritage Month in October,” Lopez said, is Bunso Meets a Mumu by Rev Valdez (Paw Prints). Middle grade readers will enjoy Remy Lai’s graphic novel, Ghost Book (Holt), he added, calling it “a wonderful treat,” and for teens, he gave a shoutout to The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror by Erica Waters, Chloe Gong, et al. (Page Street YA).
Books Are Magic in Brooklyn is also anticipating a busy Halloween, and marketing manager and events coordinator Tiffany Gonzalez set up a book display a month ago that includes her favorite scary reads—with the picture books and YA novels that are most popular with customers who want to get into the spirit of the holiday. John the Skeleton by Triinu Laan, translated from the Estonian by Adam Cullen, and illustrated by Marja-Liisa Plats (Yonder), is among the books Gonzalez recommends for young readers, a picture book that she compares to Jon Klassen’s The Skull (Candlewick). “I love how John the Skeleton takes the fear out of what a skeleton looks like,” Gonzalez said. “John helps out Grams and Gramps, and enriches their lives and they face adventures daily.”
For YA readers, Gonzalez recommends the Clown in a Cornfield series by Adam Cesare (HarperTeen), which is “filled with classic slasher horror tropes and written in such a way that it feels like a horror film unfolding in your mind. In reality, adults are usually the safe space, but in these books, it’s the adults we must fear and question.”
She also recommends Such Lovely Skin by Tatina Schlote-Bonne (Page Street YA), “an impressive debut” that “masterfully blends elements of social media obsession, demons, and the chilling loss of control.” The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington (S&S) is “such a love letter to Brooklyn and drips with classic horror movie tropes, including one of my favorites, the Scream franchise. For a horror movie and book lover, this book is what dreams are made of. I can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it.”
As for The Next Chapter in St. Paul, Minn., not only does the store have a display table filled with frontlist and backlist Halloween picture books, including Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden by Christy Mandin (Orchard); The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler (Tundra); and If I Had a Vampire Bat by Gabby Dawnay, illustrated by Alex Barrow (Thames & Hudson), but it is also celebrating its first Bookstore Horror Day on October 26. The day of thrills and chills will begin, said store outreach and social media manager Emily Kallas, “with the Not-Too-Spooky Story Time.” The Next Chapter’s resident storyteller will read Griselda Snook’s Spectacular Books by Barry Timms, illustrated by Laura Borio (Tiger Tales), and How Do Dinosaurs Say Trick or Treat? by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague (Scholastic Press).
