Trick or treat? Celebrate Halloween is definitely a real treat. Vivid images and Deborah Heiligman’s lively, inviting text illuminate the spookiest night of the year. The book lets readers explore Halloween celebrations around the globe as it uncovers the rich history of this holiday, the creepy creatures that come to life in the night, and the origins of such customs as dressing up in costume, carving jack-o’-lanterns, and trick-or-treating.Readers will witness Halloween bonfires in Ireland—believed to be the birthplace of the holiday—Halloween parades in Japan, a costumed pooch in the U.S., and a pumpkin patch by the Eiffel Tower in Paris.Halloween folklore, food, games, costumes, and traditions all combine in a most bewitching brew.

“not just a hugely entertaining travel memoir or a delightfully dire catalogue of horrors; it’s first and foremost an insightful, personal exploration of humankind’s global fascination with the monstrous.” —Lisa Morton, author of Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween Inspired by a fascination with fear culture, writer Chris Kullstroem left her job and home to experience firsthand some of the world’s most legendary scare shows. Under the guidance of locals, she saw it all: attractions like the Day of the Dead, the haunts of New Zealand, and even the mythical Krampus brought to life in the streets of Austria. Each eerie enactment evokes a sense of wonder, demonstrating powerful emotions that transcend language and culture to reveal a connection we all share.   Chris Kullstroem is a lifelong Halloween, horror, and dark tourism enthusiast. She holds seminars on how scare venues blend history, theater, and social interaction, and she enjoys exploring what these shows can teach us about our society and the people around us. Kullstroem worked as a traveling correspondent on the radio show Paranormal Talk and received her master’s degree in philosophy from the University of... [Read More]

Unleash your inner monster and trick-or-treat your way into a connection with the most magical and scary night of the year: Halloween! Festivals of the Dead like Halloween have been celebrated for thousands of years across many different world cultures. They serve to honor those who have passed and to celebrate death as a natural part of life and an opportunity to welcome in a new beginning. During Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival from which Halloween originates, the veil between this world and the next was believed to be at its thinnest and so since the very beginning, Halloween has been an occasion for effective and potent divination―a chance to connect with "the other side" or get a glimpse into your future. Now you can harness the eerie power of Halloween every night of year, encountering black cats, vampires, zombies, witches, werewolves, jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, mummies and characters from the Mexican Day of the Dead tradition (including Lady de los Muertos), exquisite candy skulls, and more! Each of the 36 richly illustrated cards has an accompanying meaning in the guidebook featuring rhyming couplets like those used in ancient storytelling as well as a message of d... [Read More]

Every year, children and adults alike take to the streets dressed as witches, demons, animals, celebrities, and more. They carve pumpkins and play pranks, and the braver ones watch scary movies and go on ghost tours. There are parades, fireworks displays, cornfield mazes, and haunted houses—and, most important, copious amounts of bite-sized candy. The popularity of Halloween has spread around the globe to places as diverse as Russia, China, and Japan, but its association with death and the supernatural and its inevitable commercialization has made it one of our most misunderstood holidays. How did it become what it is today? In Trick or Treat, Halloween aficionado Lisa Morton provides a thorough history of this spooky day. She begins by looking at how holidays like the Celtic Samhain, a Gaelic harvest festival, have blended with the British Guy Fawkes Day and the Catholic All Souls’ Day to produce the modern Halloween, and she explains how the holiday was reborn in America, where costumes and trick-or-treat rituals have become new customs. Morton takes into account the influence of related but independent holidays, especially the Mexican Day of the Dead, as well as the explosi... [Read More]

A New York Times Best Cookbook of Fall 2016 • A warm and inviting guide to turning birthdays, holidays, and everyday occasions into cherished traditions, with more than 100 time-tested recipes—from the creator of the popular blog and book Dinner: A Love Story and author of the New York Times bestseller Dinner: The Playbook “Families crave rituals,” says Jenny Rosenstrach, and by rituals she means not just the big celebrations—Valentine’s Day dinners, Mother’s Day brunches, Halloween send-offs, Thanksgiving feasts, holiday cocktail parties—but the little ones we may not even realize are rituals: a platter of deluxe nachos on Super Bowl Sunday, or a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes after every braces-tightening session. Whether simple or elaborate, daily or annual, these rituals all serve the same purpose for Rosenstrach: to bring comfort, connection, and meaning to every day.    100+ recipes, including: • popovers, apple fritters, and golden pancakes, perfect for sleepover mornings or birthday breakfasts • “Interfaith Sliders”: one version with ham and another with brisket • Rosenstrach’s legendary chocolate Mud Cake—plus an entire section on birthday... [Read More]

Loyally accompanying a mysterious knife-wielding gentleman named Jack on his midnight rounds through the murky streets of London, good dog Snuff is busy helping his master collect the grisly ingredients needed for an unearthly rite that will take place not long after the death of the moon. But Snuff and his master are not alone. All manner of participants, both human and not, are gathering with their ancient tools and their animal familiars in preparation for the dread night. It is brave, devoted Snuff who must calculate the patterns of the Game and keep track of the Players—the witch, the mad monk, the vengeful vicar, the Count who sleeps by day, the Good Doctor and the hulking Experiment Man he fashioned from human body parts, and a wild-card American named Larry Talbot—all the while keeping Things at bay and staying a leap ahead of the Great Detective, who knows quite a bit more than he lets on.               Boldly original and wildly entertaining, A Night in the Lonesome October is a darkly sparkling gem, an amalgam of horror, humor, mystery, and fantasy. First published in 1993, it was Zelazny’s last book prior to his untimely death. Many consider it the bes... [Read More]

Explores Halloween and Day of the Dead traditions from around the world, including All Saint's and All Soul's Days, the Day of the Dead, and other celebrations for the dead.

A new generation of children love Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, inspired by the classic series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood! It’s a very merry Christmas with all your friends from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood in this charming board book with flaps!It’s Christmastime in the Neighborhood of Make Believe, and Daniel Tiger and his family can’t wait to celebrate! Join Daniel as he makes cookies for Santa with Baker Aker, decorates the Christmas tree with Mom Tiger, unwraps presents with Baby Margaret, and much more! This board book features lift-and-reveal flaps on each spread. © 2015 The Fred Rogers Company

Open a window each day of Advent onto the natural world. Here are twenty-five fresh images of the foundational truth that lies beneath and within the Christ story. In twenty-five portraits depicting how wild animals of the northern hemisphere ingeniously adapt when darkness and cold descend, we see and hear as if for the first time the ancient wisdom of Advent:  The dark is not an end but the way a new beginning comes.   Short, daily reflections that paint vivid, poetic images of familiar animals, paired with charming original wood-cuts, will engage both children and adults. Anyone who does not want to be caught, again, in the consumer hype of “the holiday season” but rather to be taken up into the eternal truth the natural world reveals will welcome this book.  

Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is one of the best-known works of American literature. But what other myths lie hidden behind the landscape of New York’s Hudson Valley? Imps cause mischief on the Hudson River, a white lady haunts Raven Rock, Major Andre’s ghost seeks redemption and real headless Hessians search for their severed skulls. Local storyteller Jonathan Kruk tells these and other tales of the lore of the Hudson Valley―the stories that have created an atmosphere of mystery that helped inspire Irving’s legend.

This collection describes the traditions of what children from around the world do when they lose a

For use in schools and libraries only. Travel around the world and discover the surprising things children do when they lose a

Consists of brief statements relating what children from around the world do with a tooth that has fallen