Behind the Books

“The great commemoration of the dead was held on Samhain eve…” — J. A. MacCulloch, The Religion of the Ancient Celts   Halloween that we know today has travelled a long way from the older autumn traditions that helped shape it into the familiar holiday we celebrate each fall. Samhain : Une histoire sur l’Halloween , is our French edition of Samhain: A Story About Halloween. Samhain is now available in hardcover and softcover at your favourite bookstore and the ebook is coming soon. The book follows some of the traditions connected to Samhain and Halloween through time, from bonfires, carved turnips, apple games and guising to pumpkins, costumes and trick-or-treating today. Along the way, it looks at how customs moved with people, changed in new places and became part of the Halloween many children recognize now. Like the English edition, the French book is written for children ages 4–8 and uses a simple nonfiction picture-book format to introduce the history behind familiar tr...

"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." — Gustav Mahler One of the best things about creating the Changing Traditions  series is discovering facts that I never knew myself and bringing them to life in these books. When I started researching Samhain: A Story About Halloween , I assumed pumpkins had always been part of Halloween. After all, these orange glowing jack-o'-lanterns seem just as much a symbol of the holiday as costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating. It turns out, pumpkins weren't the original Halloween lanterns at all. Long before pumpkins lined front porches across North America, people in parts of Ireland and Britain carved turnips, rutabagas, and other large root vegetables into lanterns. And that discovery sent me down a fascinating rabbit hole looking at all the different casts of these lantern carvings like the one below from Ireland.  A traditional Irish turnip Jack-o'-lantern from the early 20th century. Photographe...

There’s something magical about reading by lamplight in October. The air feels crisp, the pumpkins glow on porches, and little ones start wondering which costume to wear next. Whether your family loves a bit of silliness or prefers a cozy not-too-spooky story, these Halloween picture books are perfect for sharing with children under six. Room on the Broom Buy Room on the Broom on Amazon by Julia Donaldson Illustrated bye Axel Scheffler A cheerful witch, a helpful cat, and a sky full of surprises. This rhyming classic reminds us that there’s always room for one more friend, even on a broomstick. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Buy It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on Amazon by Charles M. Schluz This classic Halloween story that we we watch every year is also a book. It’s Halloween night, which means costumes, trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples…and waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Is this finally the year that it shows up? The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything...