LINDA’S FRIGHTFULLY GREAT PICTURE BOOK OF THE MONTH FOR KIDS



Adam Rex, FRANKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH and Other Stories You’re Sure to Like, Because They’re All About Monsters, and Some of Them are also About Food

Harcourt, $16.00 (unsigned first edition) Ages 5-10.

Only a very evil mind could come up with a poem about the Phantom of the Opera – to the tune of “It’s a Small World After All” – and Adam Rex is evidently very evil. He has penned poems about the difficulties the Invisible Man has in getting a haircut, and Frankenstein has going grocery shopping, Dracula’s son going to the dentist, and Godzilla pooping on a Honda. (I think I scared Bobby, as I giggled and chortled my way through this book – but I’ve got a whole skeleton’s worth of bones to pick with Mr. Rex about that darned song still going through my head!) The poet created the amazingly diverse styles of illustrations throughout the book.





FOR AGES 12 AND UP




THE BLOOD CONFESSION by Alisa M. Libby

Dutton, $18.99. Ages Young Adult

Erzebet is young, beautiful, rich, and imprisoned in her castle, waiting to be sentenced for murder. In a brilliant fiction debut, Alisa M. Libby resurrects the real-life Erzebet Bathory, a seventeenth-century countess who believed that bathing in human blood would preserve her looks forever. The jailed countess tells her story from her birth, which was overshadowed by a bad omen, to her mother’s mental deterioration, Erzebet’s own love for a mysterious figure, and the crimes she committed in pursuit of eternal life.





NEW MOON by Stephenie Meyer

Little, Brown, $17.99. Ages Young Adult

In this sequel to TWILIGHT, Bella is still in love with Edward – and Edward is still a vampire. Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural spin.





TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer

Little, Brown $8.99 (trade paperback). Ages Young Adult

Bella is certain of three things: first, her new boyfriend Edward is a vampire; second, there is a part of him that thirsts for her blood; and third, she is unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him. The author’s debut, this novel made hot lists and best book lists of Teen People magazine, the New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly.







ALL HALLOWS’ EVE: 13 Stories by Vivian Vande Velde

Harcourt, $17.00. Ages 12 and up

A deceased serial killer strikes again, a girl becomes trapped in a centuries-old mausoleum, and five friends meet their fate after an unsettling visit with a backwoods psychic – all within the pages of this haunting collection of stories that take place on Halloween night.






PEEPS by Scott Westerfeld

Razorbill, $8.99 (paperback). Ages Young Adult

A year ago, Cal Thompson was a college freshman more interested in meeting girls and partying than in attending biology class. Now, after a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman named Morgan, biology has become, literally, Cal’s life: he’s been infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he’s infected the girlfriends he’s had since Morgan. All three have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal calls Peeps. The rest of us know them as vampires. It’s Cal’s job to hunt them down before they can create more of their kind. . . . Bursting with the sharp intelligence and sly humor that are fast becoming his trademark, Scott Westerfeld’s novel is an utterly original take on an archetype of horror.





THE LAST DAYS by Scott Westerfeld

Penguin, $16.99. Ages Young Adult

Five teens in New York City’s rat-infested borough, Brooklyn. It’s summer, hot and steamy; a weird black, oily substance is oozing from the fire hydrants and faucets, and a mysterious epidemic is turning people into raving cannibals. But the kids have their priorities: they just want their rock band to succeed. Are they going to create the soundtrack for the end of the world? Westerfeld is a talented author (Peeps, So Yesterday, the Midnighters series), with a deft grasp of how to write well for teens – as well as entertain them.





FOR AGES 7-12




GHOSTHUNTERS AND THE GRUESCOME INVINCIBLE LIGHTNING GHOST! (Book 2) by Cornelia Funke

Scholastic, $16.99 (hardcover), $4.99 (paperback). Ages 7-10

No ghoul can defeat Tom and the ghosthunters – until their too close encounter with a Gruesome Invincible Lightning Ghost. This super-heated specter is passing its eternal vacation by turning hotel guests into ghosts themselves! We also have both hard cover and paperback editions of the first title in the series, Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost! By the author of Inkspell, Dragonrider and more.





BUNNICULA MEETS EDGAR ALLAN CROW by James Howe

Atheneum, $15.95. Ages 8-12

Our beloved vampire bunny is in danger: a visiting author, M.T. Graves, and his beady-eyed bird, Edgar Allan Crow, are showing an awful lot of interest in Bunnicula. It’s up to his animal friends Chester, Harold and Howie to find out if Graves and Crow are really devising a plot to make their pal . . .NEVERMORE!





WEREWOLF RISING by R.L. LaFevers

Dutton, $16.99. Ages 8-12

Luc is just like any other boy about to turn 13: his body is changing, and he suddenly finds himself faster, stronger, more aggressive. But maybe he isn’t like the other boys in his class. Maybe he’s really a shape-shifter, a werewolf – and maybe he’s in danger from the people of his own hometown.





HAUNTED CASTLE ON HALLOWS EVE: Magic Tree House #30 by Mary Pope Osborne

Random House, $11.95. Ages 7-10

Who is brave enough to brush cobwebs aside and go through the heavy doors of this mysterious castle? Who is smart enough to solve the mystery of how the castle became haunted and return it to its rightful owners? Merlin, Jack and Annie, of course: a wizard and two modern kids who have lots of experience with history, mystery and magic!






FOR AGES 3-8



HALLOWEEN COLORING BOOK

Golden Books, $5.99 (soft cover). Ages 3-7

Originally published in 1954, this is a fun and cheerful Halloween coloring book that will never go out of style. With black kitties and jack-o-lanterns galore to color, some connect-the-dots, mazes and other fun games.





OH NO, NOT GHOSTS! By Richard Michelson, illustrated by Adam McCauley

Harcourt, $16.00. Ages 3-7

My big brothers used to delight in scaring me with stories of ghosties and ghoulies, or by jumping out of closets in the middle of the night. This picture book has just such a big brother – and just such a little sister. It also has wickedly funny illustrations accompanying the cleverest of rhymes.






THE SPOOKY BOOK by Steve Patschke, illustrated by Matthew McElligott

Walker & Company, $6.95 (soft cover). Ages 4-8

Better keep your nightlights on as a dark and stormy night inspires not one but three scary stories that eerily intertwine, in this spooky book within a book.






THE SCARECROW’S NEW CLOTHES: A Silly Thriller with Peggy the Pig, written and illustrated by Lisa Thiesing

Dutton, $13.99. Ages 3-7

For those who like their Halloween thrills on the less spooky side, this is a very silly and fun book featuring Peggy the Pig. She’s a fashionable kind of gal who encounters a very stylish … scarecrow!





CALAVERA ABECEDARIO: A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book, written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter

Harcourt, $6.00 (soft cover). Ages 3-7

El Dia de los Muertos is almost here! On a rooftop patio in Mexico, Don Pedro’s papier-mâché skeletons, or calaveras, are coming to life. Come dance with them in this unusual alphabet book inspired by the colorful folk-art traditions surrounding the celebration of the Day of the Dead.