honeybunch

Not yet having a sense of time, themed holidays are Stella's sundial: "First comes Halloween, then comes Christmas then comes my birthday, right?" Every holiday is a thing of joy to a four-year old. A feast of decorations, songs with hand gestures (turkeys turkeys all around. turkeys up. turkeys down. turkeys on the ground), crafting and, if you're lucky, chocolate. They're all pretty great, but an extra helping of enthusiasm is reserved for Halloween. We've been talking about it for two months and now that the first signs of lawn decor are springing up around the block, it is the only subject at dinner. "Can I be a pirate this year Mom? But a sea pirate, OK? Can you make a sea pirate costume? Or could I be a ghost with a pumpkin head? But next year I want to be a bamfire (trans: vampire). I want to be everything that's scary in the world."

So you'll understand why, with sincere apologies for the inconvenience, anyone looking for Halloween books at the Eatonville public library will find them at my house. I just could not say no to the little girl - how could I force her to choose between The Craziest Halloween and Attack of the Fifty Foot Teacher - so we kind of took them all. This one, The Littlest Witch, is my favourite. The beautiful illustrations aside, how could you not be hooked with this opener:

"It was Hallowe'en - whispery, shadowy, ghostly - and twenty-four witches sat around a magic circle in the exact centre of a deep forest. They stirred restlessly on their toadstools and mumbled angrily among themselves. It was almost midnight - time for their frolic - and one witch had not yet come."





I have a monthly budget for library late fees, but I promise to return this one on time.