November 27, 2025 By Maria
Halloween is over twenty days past. In my usual style I am behind in my writing. To be fair, I have been working on this post in spurts since before Halloween, but now I am finally getting the time to sit down and finish it. I know everyone is done with Halloween, skipping Thanksgiving and moving right on to Christmas. (Besides one of my aunts who may or may not have already started counting down to next Halloween). I know it’s over, but I still want to share this Halloween post before I move on to other things before winter and Christmas hit us at full force.
We had a fun, but blustery Halloween. A few days afterwards, I was still slowly taking down the Halloween decorations and our jack-o-lanterns outside on the front step were sadly at the end of their days. My kids and I all had fun carving and decorating pumpkins this year. I haven’t made a jack-o-lantern just for myself in quite a while. It was cathartic and relaxing to put it together just to my liking. My daughter and I love fairy houses and that was my original inspiration. After watching some Halloween and fall crafting videos with my younger two kids, my idea turned into a cozy Spirited Away inspired pumpkin cottage. After making the decision I started collecting items I would need while on walks with our puppy. I loved my slow crisp fall morning walks with the dog as I foraged for supplies. The leaves were gorgeous, and I loved taking my time and seeing the new colors unfurl each day. The puppy was pretty annoyed that I collected sticks and wouldn’t share them. When I was carefully gluing my gathered sticks into a cottage door, the puppy managed to grab one that fell off the table. He quickly destroyed his spoils from my crafting pile.
All the Halloween crafting with my kids got me remembering a Halloween from about ten years ago. When he was about two and half years old, my oldest son watched the very cute (not scary) Curious George Boo Fest and became very afraid of scarecrows and jack-o-lanterns. To help alleviate this fear we made a scarecrow together named Sam. Sam still guards our house every fall. We made other Halloween and fall crafts together including a glitter covered giant spider and of course, we read Halloween stories. I started looking for not too scary Halloween books that year. They very quickly became family favorites that we have continued to read for a decade.
Very Scary by Tony Johnston is one of my favorite Halloween books to read aloud. Contrary to the title, Very Scary is not very scary, though my son doubted that was true when I brought it home from the library the first time ten years ago. It’s a calm and mild Halloween story with watercolor illustrations by Douglas Florian. The book is about a pumpkin filled with magical Halloween moonlight and the reactions of those who pass by it or attempt to take it. The text has a repetitive element that small children enjoy and a magical “spooky” ending.
Before Halloween ended this year, we rewatched the Curious George Boo Fest together as a family. It was fun and silly. We also looked at old pictures of my oldest son dressed as No-Noggin (Curious George’s hat-stealing-scarecrow). When watching the movie, my oldest son commented on how silly the “scary” element of the story is: a scarecrow that steals hats on Halloween night. I reminded him that as a toddler he was terrified of No-Noggin. His response was a smile and a one-word answer, “True.” My goal with reading Halloween books and making crafts back then was to help my son understand not everything about Halloween is scary. It can be fun, too. I was very scared of Halloween as a child. I would not trick or treat, and I would not go near any place that was decorated for Halloween. I did not want my kids to go through that experience and be crippled by their fears.
In this aspect, my efforts were not in vain. My oldest son now loves Halloween and carefully plans his costume each year. He still doesn’t like scary or suspenseful movies, but that’s okay. This year he even made his own costume, with some help from me, and had a blast trick or treating with his friends.
So here on Thanksgiving night with the first Sunday of Advent and December right around the corner, I’m feeling thankful for Halloween and the time I spent with my kids this fall. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and wonderful end of autumn!
More Bookshelves Please 