Just because Banned Books Week is over doesn't mean you can't continue to spread the joy of reading. All Hallow's Read is a proud tradition that goes all the way back to October 2010. Okay, so it's not the oldest tradition in the world, but it's a great one. The goal is to share scary books with friends, family, and trick or treaters leading into Halloween.
Neil Gaiman explains it the best.
Obviously, you don't give a little four year old The Shining and you don't give your best friend Where the Wild Things Are. You match the content up to the age group you're dealing with.
Neil Gaiman came up with the idea and it's turned into a much bigger thing with graphics and guides and all that good stuff. It's also just plain fun. Everyone loves a good scary story. Why not share your favorites with the people you love?
And, for full clarification, no one is advocating you hand out books instead of candy on Halloween. That would be a terrible idea for the cleanliness of your house. Nor is anyone advocating you spend hundreds of dollars buying brand new books to give to every trick or treater who comes to your door. Save the physical books for people you know.
You can search online and find plenty of free scary short stories and comics for children that you can print out and add to your trick or treat bags. You can also find bookmarks and print them out on nice card stock, instead. From my years of experience being an in-demand home haunter with hundreds of children banging on the door each year, kids appreciate extra goodies like stickers and coloring pages if they get candy as well. A nice little story to read while chowing down on chocolate could become the highlight of their Halloween night.
Now, if you have some adult friends who aren't opposed to dreadful stories, I strongly recommend the following recent releases:
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell: The novel is finally back in print in a one-two punch edition also featuring the novella What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?
- The Waking that Kills by Stephen Gregory: It's been a very long time since a novel scared me this much
- The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson, Clayton Cowles, Hannah Donovan: a comic series imagining a world where the gods return ever few decades to inspire humanity for two years before dying in tragedy
- NOS4A2 by Joe Hill and Doctor Sleep by Stephen King: These interconnected horror novels mark the first time the son and father have collaborated, writing two terrifying new tales in the same universe as The Shining
- Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton: A non-fiction book chronicling the history of the best holiday in the world