When we’re visiting my parents’ house, my kids play with micromachines, polly pocket, and rainbow bright while I sneak over to the bookshelf to enjoy the faded prints of berenstain bears and the little critter.
Most of these books from my childhood have little pieces of white paper attached to them, with my elementary letter indicating their “library number”.
You are reading: Children’s halloween books from the 80s
for example, on the back of berenstain bears trick or treating there is a label that says “a28b”.
I may not have fully understood the dewy decimal system, but I was pretty sure how to play by the books.
images from my childhood books remind me…
one look at any bullock cart man page, for example, and I’m home.
home at 1081 p.m. driving, doing homework at the dining room table, having family dinners in the kitchen, throwing out a loaf of bread in the garage, or putting on a play in the basement with my friends from the neighborhood. I look at the picture of the oxcart man walking down the long road to portsmouth, and I can hear the creak of our front door, smell the thanksgiving stuffing, feel the warmth of a down vest in a house where, in January, the thermostat stayed below 65 all day, and dipped above 50, all night. my parents didn’t think it was necessary to be warm in winter.
so every other Thursday or so, I invite you to come back with me, as I write about the picture books of my past.
and since today, my first throwback thursday, is halloween, I’ll start with the berenstain bears and three scary books about pumpkins.
the berenstain bears trick or treating by stan and jan berenstain (random house, 1989)
It appears that even though I pasted the “library label” on the back, this book actually belongs to my brother, as his name is written, in my mother’s handwriting, on the inside of the cover. But as we all learned in berenstain bears fight, brothers and sisters have to share.
Like all berenstain bear books, this one has a short, rhyming trailer that foreshadows the story’s theme.
this one says: “even teddy bears/expect a good scare/when they go out for treats/on halloween night.”
Like most of Berenstain’s bear books, this one is as much about Mom teaching Dad right and wrong as it is about Mom teaching the cubs. in trick or treat, the lesson is this: “‘appearances are deceiving’”.
The pups (and dad) learn that Miz McGrizz isn’t a “scary-looking old curmudgeon” after all, and thankfully, Too Tall and his gang don’t execute their plan to make a teepee at their house. Complete with costumed puppies, trick-or-treat maps, and a moonlit Halloween eve, this book not only teaches a lesson about acceptance, but it’s also funny and even a little creepy.
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The next three books aren’t just a little creepy, they’re terrifying. although he was also convinced that e.t. I would come out of my closet and eat myself.
the pumpkin masher by anita benarde (weekly readers, 1972)
this flimsy paperback, with newspaper-thin pages and a color palette of just black, beige, and orange, begins: “in october, when the red and gold leaves fall to the ground, the people of cranbury getting ready for halloween.” and goes on to explain that this means decorating the town, the whole town, with pumpkins.
“every year, the whole town gets into the halloween spirit of spooky fun, until…one halloween…”
(page change)
“the pumpkin smasher attacks!”
After three years, three halloween, of smashed pumpkins, the townspeople of cranbury are ready to cancel halloween, but the “terrible turner twins” have a idea.
they paint a giant rock to look like a pumpkin, and the “witch”, who turns out to be the pumpkin crusher, gets so mad when she can’t crush this pumpkin-rock that she jumps on her broom and flies away.
The image that drives me home in this book is the double page spread of the dark, very dark town on Halloween night. everything is black except for the pumpkins on each door. It feels like sharp, bare tree branches are going to fly off the page and scrape my face, and a giant orange moon slowly rises behind the church steeple.
It’s this page I think of when I read the last line, “I hope the pumpkin-smashing witch doesn’t find your town, but if she does, you know what to do about it.” ”, with a chill.
Lucille’s magical pumpkin. sofa, illustrated by phyllis l. tildes (weekly reading books, 1984)
from the town of cranbury to the town of dayfield we go.
the magicalpumpkin begins, “no one in dayfield liked old mr. doodle. he was grumpy. he was grumpy. he was nasty he was mean!”
“also, mr. squiggs didn’t want anyone in dayfield. he didn’t like children. they were too happy. he didn’t like animals. they were too noisy. he didn’t like adults. they were too nosy.”
and so every halloween mr. the doodles picked an ugly pumpkin and carved a scary face out of it to terrify the kids into screaming.
“that’s what happened every halloween until…until…a special halloween and a very special pumpkin.”
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think grinch.
the magic pumpkin mr. squiggs chosen that year would not keep the terrifying face he carved into it. rather, he began to smile, and his smile attracted the children, the happy children, even mr. doodles.
“and then… and then… the real magic happened!”
pumpkin winked, mr. the doodles smiled and everyone had a happy halloween forever.
This is exactly the kind of book people should pay to hear my father read aloud. That, my friends, is true magic.
the little old lady who was afraid of nothing by linda williams, illustrated by megan lloyd (the trumpet club, 1986)
Speaking of reading aloud, today at story time in the library, Miss B. i read my last halloween themed thursday book, a book i have been too afraid to read aloud to my kids thinking they would be, well, too scared.
Contrary to my fears, they loved every word of this tale, every clomp of the two big shoes that followed the old lady through the dark forest, every “wag” of the pants behind, every “shake” of the shirt, “clap” of the gloves, “nod” of the hat, and “boo” of the pumpkin head!
Like the little old lady, who said to each article, “I’m not afraid of you”, my children weren’t afraid either. not one bit. they were on their feet, kicking and clapping and moving and shaking.
But it turns out the old lady was at least a little scared, and when she finally got home, she locked the door.
but then he hears a knock.
“Should I answer it?”
Miss b., (who was dressed as a baby) looked at all of us after reading this question and chimed in (“I wouldn’t!”)
me neither! but the brave little old lady who is afraid of nothing opens the door and works with those haunted clothes and pumpkin head to make a scarecrow that will “scare all the crows”.
“and that, friends”, as miss b. she always says, it’s “the end!”
proving that good illustrated books are timeless.
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