A fresh look at Halloween is always intriguing, and Booklist’s October 15 suggestions are really kind of fun. A librarian who emailed us recently told us a children’s librarian who used our Halloween List for Kids found many books to promote for Halloween that were already in her collection, that she hadn’t even thought of. And Booklist made some suggestions here that really extend the connections Halloween has to nonfiction topics outside the picture books and the 398’s (that’s folklore and fairy tales, for those not intimately familiar with the Dewey Decimal System). Joke books, poetry, and intermediate level spooky mysteries pepper their list of suggested titles published in the current year. What’s most interesting, though, that if you scroll down past that list, you’ll find their suggestion that a time of year that traditionally includes skeletons and blood could be extended into displays, programs, or lessons about, well, skeletons and blood (as well as other parts of the human body). I love this idea! And it’s even linked to lesson plans.

I’m sad to report that my son’s elementary school will not have a Halloween party or Halloween parade… no mention of Halloween at all, as far as I can tell. It’s a first for me. as I’ve never actually not experienced this, as either a kid, school librarian, or parent. Just look at all the ways to incorporate the trappings of the holiday into engaged learning experiences! Please, don’t be afraid to invite the holiday in. Your kids will love you for it, and learn from it as well.