Celebrate October holidays with these kids books!

Columbus Day: Celebrating a famous explorer by Elaine Landau

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, Italy.  When he 

grew up, he realized that traders from Italy and other places

in Europe needed a safe, shorter route to Asia.  That was where

India, Japan, China, and the East Indies were.  These countries

had gold, silk, and spices.  At that time, spices were not just

for food.  They were also used as medicines, and people paid a lot

of money for them.

Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 with three ships - the Nina,

the Pinta, and the Santa Maria - and a total of ninety men.  He never reached

Asia.  But, today he is famous for crossing the Atlantic Ocean to reach the

Americas.  We remember Christopher Columbus each year on Columbus

Day - the second Monday in October.

The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson

The Herdmans plus Halloween have always spelled disaster.

Every year theses six kids - the worst in the history of Woodrow

Wilson School, and possibly even the world - wreak havoc on the whole

town.  They steal candy, spray-paint kids, and take anything that's not

nailed down.

Now the mayor has had it.  He's decided to cancel Halloween.  There

won't be any Herdmans to contend with this year, but there

won't be any candy, either.  And what's Halloween without candy?

And without trick-or-treating? The Herdmans manage to turn the 

worst Halloween ever into the best Halloween ever in this

uproarious sequel to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

Celebrate Halloween by Deborah Heiligman

A night for costumes. A night for candy.  Visiting

pumpkin patches, carving jack-o'-lanterns, and telling

scary stories. Dressing up in masks and costumes, going to

parties, and trick-or-treating for candy.  These are just

some of the traditions that make Halloween one of the most

anticipated holidays of the year for many children - and for lots

of grown-ups too!

In these colorful pages, author Deborah Heiligman explores this

fun holiday, which began as a festival in ancient Ireland and Britain

and is now celebrated in a number of countries around the world.

Readers will learn why ghosts and skeletons and other creepy

creatures are associated with Halloween, and also about the origins

of such Halloween customs as wearing masks and trick-or-treating.

Who Said Boo? by Nancy White Carlstrom

Trick or treat! What could be better than a

smiling jack-o-lantern to light the way on the spookiest

night of all - Halloween!

Follow a family's Halloween capers in this collection of

twelve poems by renowned children's book author

Nancy White Carlstrom.  The children don their costumes in

"Who Said Boo?" dare to visit the eerie "Haunted House" ; and

bob for apples at the "Halloween Carnival." R. W. Alley's sprightly 

drawings of the little goblins make this collection an especially sweet treat.