Halloween is cool because you can wear a costume and be anybody you want. People decorate their houses to look spooky, trick-or-treating is really fun, and we have a costume party at school. Even my teachers wear costumes, and some are really funny.
One of my favorite things to do is to read, and there are some very good books out there for Halloween. Three of my favorite books are written by Alvin Schwartz: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Collected from American Folklore; More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark; and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones. They have cool drawings by
Stephen Gammell that are very spooky looking.
I like stories that leave me wondering what will happen next. My favorite book is the third one, especially the story, “Maybe You Will Remember.” It is about a girl and her mother on vacation in Paris, France, in a strange hotel. The mother suddenly does not feel well and then disappears. When the girl asks for the key to their room she is told she is in the wrong hotel. What happened to her mother and all of their things? Each story ends with a mystery you must try to solve, and the answers are at the end of the book.
Some of the stories are funny, too. “The Toe,” in the second book, is cool—and kind of gross. Read it and you will find out why!
These books are fun to read with friends, and Schwartz even tells you how to read the story so you give everyone a good fright. It is fun to watch people jump when you read the scary parts!
I really like reading these stories at night, under the covers with a book-light. But if you do that, don’t get caught if you are supposed to be sleeping!
“What Kids Are Reading” is a regular feature in the Sun, highlighting children’s books available for young readers in Santa Maria. This week’s recommendation was made by Samuel Waterman, who attends fourth grade at the Laureate School and likes to read books with his grandmother, Ariel Waterman. This Halloween they are going to be Angry Birds.
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 3, 2011.