Happy Tuesday, kidlit friends! The Authors for Voices of Color auction, which benefits We Need Diverse Books, opens today and ends on October 3. There are lots of good kidlit things to bid on, like a dinner with Jacqueline Woodson, agent query critiques, signed books, and more.
Today, I review some of my favorite recent Halloween children’s books, plus two amazing new releases. Before I get to those reviews, Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, plus five mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!
Bookish Goods
Mystical Halloween Bookmark Set by EmilyCromwellDesigns
I love these vibrant, spooky Halloween bookmarks! You can buy the set or specific bookmarks. $3+
New Releases
This Book is Banned by Raj Haldar, illustrated by Julia Patton (picture book)
This hilarious picture book mocks book bans. When horses are offended by unicorn horns, unicorns are banned. When children bicker over who eats the birthday cake piece with the flower on top, birthday cakes and birthday parties are banned. When hippos complain about giraffes, they both get banned. It’s silly and a great book to read alongside The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale. Banned Books Week starts next week, so it’s perfect timing to check this one out.
Dragon’s First Taco by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri (board book)
This board book will be enjoyed by taco-loving toddlers and fans of all ages of Dragons Love Tacos. This taco-shaped book shows baby dragon making and eating their very first taco. It’s an adorable and cleverly designed board book. The Book Riot team was discussing tacos in a recent Slack chat, so I had to include this one!
In my September new release list for the main website, I also review Something, Someday by Amanda Gorman and Christian Robinson, The Vanderbeekers Ever After by Karina Yan Glaser, and more. For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter
Riot Recommendations
I confess, I pulled out all our Halloween children’s books at the beginning of September to start reading with my daughter. While typically I think people start in on holidays way too early, Halloween is an exception for me, and I feel like a two-month lead-in celebration to the day is perfectly appropriate. 🙂 Anyway, here are some of our favorite new Halloween children’s books!
The Goblin Twins by Frances Cha, illustrated by Jaime Kim
This adorable picture book stars two twin Dokkaebi—Korean mythical tricksters—named Doki and Kebi. Doki and Kebi are exact opposites. Doki is sweet and helpful, while Kebi is mischievous and loves to scare people. However, when humans tear down their centuries-old home, they move to New York City. Can they find the perfect haunted house to make into their home? They do, and just in time for Halloween.
Benita and the Night Creatures by Mariana Llanos, illustrated by Cocoretto
Every night a new monster from Peruvian folklore tries to scare Benita, but she’s too busy reading to be scared, and she wishes they would just be quiet. Curious, the monsters join her to read. This is a hilarious and very relatable picture book. Back matter includes more about the creatures in the book as well as author and illustrator notes about their connection to Peruvian folklore.
The Light Inside by Dan Misdea
This hand-sized, wordless picture book follows a pumpkin-headed child as they chase after a black cat who has stolen their mouse lovey. No matter how spooky things get, they’re not going to give up. Told in a series of panels, this is a sweetly spooky Halloween read.
Happy Halloweenie by Katie Vernon
This hilarious board book depicts a hotdog named Weenie dressing up for Halloween. What should Weenie be? A mummy? A hamburger? An earthworm? Really, all costumes are quite fetching on Weenie. The vibrant illustrations are definitely going to get big laughs.
Please enjoy my daughter’s witch drawing. I particularly enjoy their expressions. We’ve been playing a lot of witch’s cauldron games, and I’m surprised by the ingredients she comes up with: a frog’s eye, a zombie’s tongue, an earthworm’s skin. I’m not sure where she’s coming up with these ideas! We then have to search the house (or outside) for things that look enough like the ingredients to put in the cauldron (aka her Halloween trick-or-treat bucket).
If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, Twitter @AReaderlyMom, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is kingsbury.margaret@gmail.com.
All the best reading,
Margaret Kingsbury