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SUMMARY: October is officially here and that means that Halloween is just around the corner! In this first episode of Season 2, I’m recommending 5 of my favorite Halloween books to read to kids in the days leading up to October 31st. While, admittedly, there are some terrible, cutesy, vapid Halloween books out there—I mean, let’s be honest, how many pumpkin books does the world need?—there are also some really excellent books that are festive and perfect for Halloween in addition to being great for your child’s brain and social-emotional development. Happy October and Happy Reading!
Listen to the Podcast Episode:
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
*Eek! Halloween by Sandra Boynton
Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton
But Not the Hippopatomus by Sandra Boynton
Red Hat Green Hat (the Oops book) by Sandra Boynton
*Little Blue Truck’s Halloween by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Jill McElmurry
Little Blue Truck’s Christmas by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Jill McElmurry
Little Blue Truck’s Springtime by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Jill McElmurry
*The Trouble With Mum by Babette Cole
*Gustavo, the Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago
*Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
Note: Books marked with * are the focus books of this episode.
Toys and Activities Mentioned in this Episode:
Room on the Broom BBC Short Film
Room on the Broom Sticker and Activity Book
Podcast Transcript:
Hello Everyone! October is officially here and that means that Halloween is just around the corner! So today I’m going to be talking about 5 of my favorite Halloween books to read to my kids in the days leading up to October 31st! In my house, Halloween is one of the holidays that my family looks forward to most and each year we do a children’s literature-themed costume. My long-suffering husband Eric and I started doing this even before we had kids. In 2015 we dressed up as Fantastic Mr. and Mrs. Fox, and then we dressed up as Ron and Hermione in Herbology class and made James a baby mandrake in 2016; in 2017 we were Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the White Rabbit from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; 2018 was the year of James’s Paddington Bear obsession (and, since James was old enough to have a preference, we let him choose the family costume): James was of course Paddington, Eric was Paddington’s Uncle Pastuzo, and I was a very pregnant Aunt Lucy; and last year James’s favorite book was Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Gruffalo, so Eric dressed up as the titular character, James was the mouse, Luke was the fox, and I was the owl. And, by the way, if you’re a Gruffalo fan and you’re like, somebody is missing and you’ re wondering about the snake, we used a very large stuffed snake which still freaks me out whenever I accidentally come across it, which is more than you would think. I have our costume all set to go for this Halloween, so if you’d like to see which book James chose this year, you can check out my Instagram feed at exquisitelyeverafter on October 31st.
Okay, let’s get into the books! I’m really excited to chat Halloween books with you today because I really want to bring awareness to the fact that while there are some terrible, cutesy, vapid Halloween books out there—I mean, let’s be honest, how many pumpkin books does the world need?—there are also some really excellent books out there that are still festive and perfect for Halloween, that are also great for your child’s brain and development. So my goal today is to give you some great more literary options, if you’re looking for a Halloween book to give to a child in your life.
So the first two Halloween books I’d like to recommend are for toddlers. A lot of the time, very young children don’t totally get the whole Halloween thing and it can be a bit of an unnerving, stressful day for them. People are dressed up in sometimes alarming ways, they themselves are wearing clothes that might be cumbersome or uncomfortable, in normal years their parents might be taking them door to door to be greeted by strangers and accept candy from these strangers, and some of them might even find themselves naked in a pumpkin as their parents do a photoshoot—it’s just, you know, a really weird day for little kids. So what I like about the first book I’m going to talk about is that it takes small children’s confusion about Halloween and helps them make sense of the day in a surprising and funny way. The book is called EEK! Halloween! and it should come as no surprise that it is written and illustrated by the queen of board books herself, Sandra Boynton. Now, you all already know that I love Sandra Boynton’s board books (I talked about Moo Baa La La La in Episode 1, But Not the Hippopatomus in Episode 9, and I will be talking about Red Hat Green Hat (the Oops book) as part of next week’s episode), but the reason I chose EEK! Halloween for today’s episode is that it is literally one of my son Luke’s all-time favorite books, not just for Halloween, but just in general. I read this book to him for the first time last year around Halloween when he was just 9 months old and he has been obsessed with it ever since. We’ve read this book probably 4 or 5 times a week for the last 11 months. I’m not kidding. We read it on Christmas, we read it on Easter, Valentine’s Day, on the 4th of July—it did not matter to Luke that it was 90 degrees outside and we had just been swimming, he wanted to read EEK! Halloween! And, honestly, I didn’t mind because this book, while it is most definitely a Halloween book, it’s so charming and funny and produces such a great reaction in my toddler that I really love it, too.
So the book is about some chickens who are getting really freaked out by what’s going on around them. There are pumpkins with flickering eyes; cows dressed up as robots intoning “Trick-or-Treat;” ducks wearing green monster feet—all of these weird things are making the chickens very nervous. So nervous, in fact, that they can’t take it anymore and they all hide their eyes until finally someone shouts “Boo!” and the chickens all in disarrayed alarm squawk “EEK!” They’ve reached peak hysteria when finally a pig dressed up like a chicken tells them to “relax, silly chickens–it’s Halloween!”
EEK! Halloween! is done in Boynton’s signature joyfully wacky style. Like all of her books, it’s witty and a little zany, but underlying all of this is a lot of empathy for children and childhood. As I said earlier, Halloween can be overwhelming and frightening for little kids, and Boynton addresses this in a playful, funny, but also very sympathetic way. She takes the whole idea of “being a chicken” and makes it literal: these characters are literally nervous chickens and she illustrates them both as a brood, huddled anxiously together, and as individuals with wide eyes and uneasy expressions as they observe the spooky goings on around them. The language of EEK! Halloween! is also excellent because even though it’s a rhyming book for very young children, Boynton doesn’t ever compromise on vocabulary. She uses words like “flickering,” “enormous,” “ridiculous,” and, my personal favorite, “intone,” to describe how a cow dressed as a robot says “Trick or Treat.” And I also love that she has a panicked chicken yell, “What’s going on here? What does it mean?” as if she’s having an existential crisis and a nervous breakdown all at once—it’s hilarious and in this way, even though the book is geared toward toddlers, there’s still something for everyone, including the parents.
The moment that tickles young children most, though, is when Boynton re-enacts through the book the delicious hilarity of someone scaring you by jumping out unexpectedly. You can have so much fun with this moment as the adult narrating the book. My kids love it when I draw it out and say in a sing-song cadence, “They all hide their eyes. They don’t dare to peek…” and the accompanying illustration shows the overwhelmed chickens all huddled together with their wings over their eyes and with the page turn the narrator continues: “Then someone shouts BOO! and the chickens go EEK!” I always jump a little at the “boo” and “eek” parts so that the child on my lap bounces up and down, which I definitely recommend doing because it always makes them laugh. It’s just such a fun, clever little book and I highly recommend it for your children under 5, especially your toddlers.
And can I just quickly say before we move on, I’m looking at the book right now and the illustrations really are so great. I love the happy but bemused expression that some of the be-costumed animals have because they look so much like babies and toddlers who have been forced into cumbersome costumes and don’t know quite what’s going on and why their grown-ups are acting so weird. Sandra Boynton really captures that awkwardness of dressing up children on Halloween and their kind of puzzled amusement that they have to indulge their parents in this way. It’s so funny…
Okay, up next is another book for toddlers and it is Little Blue Truck’s Halloween by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Jill McElmurry. As I mentioned in Episode 1, my children are huge fans of all the Little Blue Truck books. A lot of the time when publishers create companion books to a successful picture book, the sequels aren’t that great, but this series of books is one of the exceptions to that rule. And, not only do I think Little Blue Truck’s Halloween is the best of Alice Schertle’s seasonal books (although my children and I still do like Little Blue Truck’s Christmas and Little Blue Truck’s Springtime), but I also think this book in particular is actually one of the better Halloween books I’ve found for toddlers, regardless of it being a part of a series. It’s just the right kind of book to keep your toddler’s attention at this age. It’s a lift-the-flap book, which is always so engaging for little ones of this age group who like to be tactile; and it’s about a truck, which again is great for this age when kids are really into things that move and who are themselves always on the move; AND it also has a lot of rhyme and repetition, which makes it perfect for little kids who are still learning the basics of speech.
The story invites the reader and child-listener on a ride with Little Blue and his friend toad who are on their way to a Halloween party. Along the way, they pick up their farmyard friends, each dressed up in a unique costume. Like EEK! Halloween, this book gently addresses the issue of people dressing in costume and not being able to recognize them for who they are at first. So, for example, when Little Blue approaches the third animal on the road, the narrator asks: “Who’s this queen with a golden crown and sparkling jewels and a velvet gown?” And then on the opposite page, the narrator asks: “Under the mask, who do you see?” and then, once the child lifts the flap, the response is “Moo!” says the cow. “It’s me! It’s me!” Each encounter with a new animal is a variation on this same situation and uses the same language. When all the costumed-animals arrive at the party, Toad announces that there is just one more costumed character to be revealed and the final flap lifts a white sheet off of a ghost who turns out to be Little Blue Truck himself.
So, again, I like the way this book ever-so-subtly deals with the issue of dressing up and not being able to recognize your friends at first. Without, you know, being too heavy-handed about it, it helps little kids of this age group prepare for Halloween costumes and reassures them that their friends are still the same people even if they are dressed up or wearing a mask. My kids both loved lifting the flaps and discovering who was wearing each costume and, since it isn’t very difficult for them to figure out what animal is under each costume, you can always play a game with your child and ask her to guess who’s underneath before lifting the flap. In addition to your toddler just being delighted by the animals being all dressed up and using her powers of perception to guess their identities, being able to recognize the character before the narrator reveals it builds your child’s confidence in herself. And, as an added bonus, I really like that, as in the first Little Blue Truck book, this is a great way for your child to practice animal identification and matching animals with their sounds.
Okay, next up is actually my favorite Halloween book from when I was a child and I’m very happy and relieved to report that it has held up over time because now my four-year-old loves this book, too, and we’ve been reading it a lot this month. It’s called The Trouble With Mum and it’s written and illustrated by Babette Cole. This book is actually out of print now, but you can find copies of it through independent used bookstores as well as on Amazon. The story begins with a little boy telling the reader: “The trouble with mum is the hats she wears…” and we see, in the accompanying illustration, a blonde woman in a fabulously outrageous witch’s hat—complete with a live salamander—adding a bright red lip to coordinate with her black robes and skull and crossbones earrings. Then the little boy goes on to illustrate more examples of why his mother just doesn’t quite fit in with the other parents: for example, the fact that she takes him to school on her broomstick, the way that she retaliates against the snooty parents who whisper about her by turning them into frogs, her refusal to unpickle her husband from his jar until he gives up late-night bowling, and her creation of exploding, insect-and-amphibian-stuffed cupcakes for the P.T.A. meeting. The last straw is when the little boy invites the other children over to play at their sore-thumb of a gothic mansion in quiet suburbia and the other parents show up, alarmed and incensed that their children were exposed to enormous, sinister-looking pet beasts, an old crone of a granny, and are allowed to go wild in the backyard. The other parents tell Mum off and she feels sad and ostracized… until one day, the school catches on fire. Mum comes to all the children’s rescue by harnessing the rainclouds and putting out the fire before they’re all roasted alive. The other parents are eternally grateful, thank Mum profusely, and the book ends with: “Now we all go wild at my house.”
So, as I said, this book was my favorite Halloween book as a child and one of the things I loved most about it was the absolutely hilarious and witty illustrations that accompanied the text. Babette Cole pays so much attention to detail and there’s so much to look at in her ink and watercolor illustrations. For example, I love the double-page spread illustrating the before and after of the parents sitting on a bench waiting for the P.T.A. meeting to start. In the first illustration, on the left-hand side, we see Mum’s flushed face and uncomfortable expression as she notices some of the parents glaring at her witchy attire and others ignoring her completely with their noses in the air… And then, in the second illustration, on the right-hand side, the scene is completely identical to that of the first with the notable exception that now all of the parents are frogs. What’s so hilarious is that they’re still wearing the glasses and neckties and hats from before and their handbags still remain next to them on the floor, but now, they have startled looks on their froggy faces while Mum wears an expression of fiendish satisfaction, complete with smoky eye. It is so great.
There are several other reasons that I think this book is such a terrific choice for a Halloween book for young kids and why I think it’s a crime that it has fallen out of circulation. It’s so great and I’m on a mission to bring it back. But, anyway, the first reason is that it has all the trappings of Halloween with the witch and the haunted house and the scary monsters, but Babette Cole’s illustrations make all of these things more funny and fantastical than creepy and scary, which I think is great when you want to read a themed, seasonal book to your young kids, but you don’t want to freak them out with something spooky. I was one of those kids that didn’t enjoy being scared, but who still loved Halloween, so this book was the perfect blend of humor and heart—and witchy-ness.
Second, the message of this story, of accepting the people that we love for who they are, is so heartwarming. I love that the little boy, even though he describes all the ways his mother sticks out, clearly adores her and appreciates how much she tries to fit in for his sake. The fact that she wants so much to be a part of things like the P.T.A. and wants so much for the other kids to have a nice time playing at her house, but just gets everything slightly wrong endears her to the reader and makes us root for her. And then, I love that Babette Cole chose to have Mum succeed in winning the parents over not because she finally manages to conform and become like them, but because that they all finally see how special and valuable her difference makes her, something that her son and his classmates knew from the very beginning. I really like this confidence that Babette Cole has in children to be open-minded and accepting even if their parents are not.
I had so much fun reading this book with my preschooler, and this book actually lends itself well to a Halloween activity that James and II both enjoyed. Since we both like to bake, we decided to make “Trouble With Mum Halloween Cupcakes” as part of our lead up to Halloween this year. We just made ordinary cupcakes and then used a cupcake corer to hollow them out and we put gummy worms and sprinkles and little edible gummy bugs and eyes and such in the center and in the icing. And they turned out to be a big success, so if you’re looking for something to do with your young children this year since many of us won’t be doing a traditional trick-or-treat, this is a fun activity to try.
Okay, in contrast to The Trouble With Mum which was my childhood favorite, next up is a picture book that is almost brand-new (it came out in July of this year) called Gustavo, The Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago. As I mentioned, we always get a little over-excited for Halloween in our house and this year we started even earlier than normal because I think, like everyone else, we’re trying to make the most out of the things we can control in 2020, so we’ve been reading this book since August and, I have to say, it’s still as adorable and as engaging as the first time we read it.
The story is about a sweet little rosy-cheeked ghost named Gustavo, who loves doing normal paranormal things like floating through walls and glowing in the dark and spending time with his spooky family and especially playing the violin, but who also has a problem. He is so shy that he has trouble doing some ordinary things, like ordering “eye scream,: (which is, I guess, the ghost equivalent for ice cream) but mainly, he is really terrified of making friends. He tries to get near the other monsters in his community, but they don’t ever seem to notice him. Gustavo is so lonely and wants so much to make a friend that he decides that things have to change. “I have to be brave,” he thinks, “I have to let the others see me.” So Gustavo decides to invite all the other monsters to his solo violin concert which will take place at the Day of the Dead party at the cemetery. The night finally arrives, Gustavo musters up his courage… and no one shows up. Alone in the graveyard, Gustavo decides to play his violin anyway, and his music makes him so happy that he glows. And then, the other monsters arrive, apologizing for being late and getting lost. They tell Gustavo that they were finally able to find him because they heard his music and saw him glowing. The other monsters ask Gustavo to hang out with them and discover that even though he isn’t a big talker, he’s the best at helping and protecting his friends. Gustavo’s life changes forever because by letting people see him for who he is, he becomes part of a loving community of friends.
Okay. There are so many reasons to love this book. First of all, the illustrations are absolutely stunning. The images are all so whimsical and full of so many interesting details for little kids to pore over. Flavia Drago was born and raised in Mexico City, and the illustrations are full of authentic details from Mexican culture, especially those relating to the Day of the Dead. Gustavo’s mother resembles La Catrina, there are panes de muerto on the tables and on the three-tiered offrendas along with candles and calaveras (or sugar skulls). There are other nods to Mexican folk art and music like papel picados, paper mache masks, and Mexican guitarrón. The drawings themselves are done in the style of folk art because they have so much color and texture and they have this joyful sense of movement. And I love how the illustrations, which are just bursting with life, are juxtaposed against a story about a lonely ghost—it’s so clever. The whole story is touchingly… I can’t figure out quite the best word…eccentric? Offbeat? In any case, it’s such an original, unique way of telling a story about a lonely introvert who is able to find the courage to let himself be known by others.
Which is another reason that I love this book. I think a lot of the time we talk about children “getting over” their shyness or “overcoming” their reserve, and I like that this book recognizes that introverts don’t need to change themselves to make friends; they just need to figure out strategies that will help them become part of their communities without having to change their natures. I like that this book emphasizes that introverts can successfully navigate the world and make deep, lasting relationships without compromising what makes them unique.
And related to this point, I also like that Gustavo was able to make himself happy by doing something that he loved. When he begins to play the violin, he is of course unhappy thinking that no one turned up for his concert, but he is still able to enjoy his own company and glows because he finds happiness within himself. This, again, is such an important lesson to learn when you’re young and I think it’s even more crucial now than it ever was because this generation of kids will be spending so much time online. When we have things like social media at our fingertips every minute of every day, it’s easy to just distract ourselves when we have a problem. And the constant bombardment of images and messages telling us that we should do this, or we should like that, it makes it very difficult for us to know ourselves or even just be alone by ourselves and enjoy our own company. So, I like that this book shows the reader that Gustavo is able to cope with being alone because he doesn’t depend on other people liking him to like himself. He wants to make friends because he wants to be a part of a community, not because he wants to change who he is. Gustavo begins the book as a shy ghost who loves to play the violin and he ends the book as a shy ghost who love to play the violin, but he has just managed to find a way to navigate the world in between. It’s a great book and I really recommend it and I’m really excited to see more titles from this author.
Okay, we’re on to our last book and my family’s personal favorite Halloween book, Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. And, honestly, just in general, Room on the Broom is one of my favorite picture books of all time, regardless of the season, and my family is equally as enamored with it. Both of my little boys love it and know it by heart, and my husband calls it a “perfect” children’s book, and we never get tired of reading it to our kids, which is a good thing because I think we’ve read it at least once a week for the last two years.
So here’s the story: A witch and her cat are flying gleefully through the air on her broomstick, when the wind begins to pick up and blows the witch’s hat off her head. The witch and her cat fly down to the ground and search for the hat, but they are unsuccessful. Then, a dog pops out of the bushes, bearing the hat. He politely returns it and asks if there’s room on the broom for him, too? “Yes!” The witch replies and the three set off, only for the wind to blow the witch’s bow off of her braid. This time they land and are helped by a bird, who also asks to join them on the broom. The four fly through the air until, yet again, the wind blows so wildly that in her attempt to save her bow, the witch drops her wand this time. After again searching unsuccessfully, they are helped by a frog, who joins them on the now very crowded, very burdened broom. As they all happily fly through the air once again, the frog jumps for joy and the broom finally snaps under the weight of the witch and all the animals. As the animals freefall into a bog, the witch, clutching onto the other half of the broomstick, finds herself pursued by a hungry dragon. She tries to escape and looks for help, but this time, it seems she is all alone and no help can be found. But, just as the dragon is about to eat her, all of the animals, who have banded together and disguised themselves as a monster with the mud and slime from the bog, confront the dragon and scare him off. The grateful witch takes the broken broom and tokens from each of the animals, stirs them up in her cauldron, and, with the help of a magic spell, creates the most magnificent, state-of-the-art broom with room on it for everyone. The book ends with the witch, the cat, the dog, the bird, and the frog zooming joyfully through the air once again.
Okay, I just have to start by saying that my summary of this book just doesn’t do it justice. Julia Donaldson’s poetry, her ability to create such a vivid world through her rhyming text, is just amazing and unparalled. She really is like a witch or wizard herself when it comes to wordsmithery. That’s not a word, but you know what I mean: she is the epitome of a wordsmith. And generally, not just as the author of this specific book, but as a writer of dozens of books for children, I think she is the very best at what she does. There’s no one quite like her.
But, to focus in on Room on the Broom specifically, I think with this book Julia Donaldson showcases one of her unique skills as a writer for children and that is her ability to take something old and traditional and give it a new, interesting, charming twist. For example, in this case, she takes the established archetypal figure of the “crone” in literature (or the “witch” in popular culture) and presents her to us in a fresh, new way. We get the crone, but she’s not a traditional wicked witch, and she’s not a bubbly Glinda-type good witch, nor is she even a Harry Potterish witch. Rather, she’s a mixture of all these witch types and, in that way, a completely new variety. But Donaldson doesn’t stop with the archetypal crone character; she also takes the tradition of the Hero’s journey (the whole Hero goes on a quest to look for things, or the whole Hero vs. dragon thing that we’ve seen in literature and film a million times) and gives it a new twist, as well, with the hero being a collective, rather than one person, and that collective is comprised of animals, not humans. AND, not only that, but Donaldson also incorporates the tradition of the trickster narrative within this hero story when the animals disguise themselves as one giant bog monster to scare off the dragon. As a person who taught in Harvard’s Folklore and Mythology department, I just find it so interesting the way Donaldson took so many of the trappings of traditional folklore and fairytales and changed and combined them to create something new and something appropriate and attractive to young children. And, better yet, the way she manages to do this isn’t just interesting on a scholarly level, but actually really an excellent way to introduce children, even very young children, to literary history without it going over their heads or boring them. So, for example, Room on the Broom introduces children to the idea of “The Cauldron of Story” (or, the more prosaic name that Tolkien gave it, “The Pot of Soup”), an idea which will come up again and again in their reading lives, and in their education, and even just in other parts of their recreational lives, like the movies and T.V. shows they watch and the games they play.
So, the Cauldron of Story (and by the way, “The Cauldron of Story” sounds better than “pot of soup” and, moreover, fits really well with this book and with our Halloween theme, so I’m going to go with that term) is this idea that humanity has a collective imagination that is bubbling away in a hypothetical cauldron full of every major story that’s ever been told. If something stimulates or intrigues or captures people’s imaginations enough—whether it’s an event or a journey, or a character or an archetype, or a relationship, or a setting, and so on—it’s added to the cauldron to be stirred around and to take on the flavors already in the cauldron while also adding its own new flavor. So, the idea is, when you ladle out a new bowl of witch’s brew or soup from this cauldron to tell a new story, whether you are intentional about it or not, you are automatically scooping up flavors or ingredients or elements of things that have long-since been bubbling away in the cauldron.
Now, when your kids read Room on the Broom, you don’t have to give them a formal lesson on the collective imagination of humanity and then have them start identifying and classifying archetypes, but what you can do is have a conversation with them about things that they might find familiar based on their knowledge and experiences. So, you can say, for example: “How is this witch the same but different from the witches in The Wizard of Oz?” Or: “What’s the same about this dragon and the dragons in Dragons Love Tacos?” And then ask them to explain their reasoning, like, for example, they could say “The witch is the same as the Wicked Witch of the West because… they both have brooms and black hats, but she’s different because this witch likes little dogs and isn’t green.” You can reinforce that there are many properties that can be used for comparison—personality, color, size, shape, circumstance, and so on. When we encourage children to talk about things this way, using “same but different” to describe things or people or even themselves, we teach them to think in a non-binary way, which helps build their brains and increase their executive function. So, in other words, we teach them that the world isn’t black and white, one thing or another, but rather that it is more nuanced than that, and that there is some middle ground, and that things are connected. And this is so crucial for so many reasons. First, learning to identify, appreciate, and respect similarities among people is an important foundation for our kids to establish before they go on to learn about the more abstract concepts of fairness and justice. This is so important, as we know, now more than ever. Second, binary thinking or thinking in black and white can have a very negative impact on our kids’ ability to compromise and cooperate with others in the pursuit of common interests. This also adds to their stress, because people who think in this really rigid way often get upset when life doesn’t fall into one category or another. For example, how many times have you had to explain to your child that he should like shellbow shaped pasta because it is tastes, smells, and is cooked the same way as pinwheel shaped pasta, only for your child to get upset and categorically refuse to eat it because of its shape? I mean, I think it’s happened to pretty much all of us in one way or another. Practicing this “same but different,” flexible way of thinking can help you with your child the next time a situation like this comes up.
Okay, so the way Julia Donaldson so brilliantly creates a new and unique, but also familiar story is one thing that I love, but to get down to the nitty gritty for a moment, I also love that, vocabulary-wise, Room on the Broom is just crammed with wonderful words for young children to absorb into their speech. Again, she really has a gift because even though she uses words like “bounded” and “clutched” and “clambered” and “ear-splitting” and “spluttered” and “strode,” she works them into the story so well that even if you don’t stop to explain every word, your child can glean their meanings through context. And, because of all the repetition and rhyme, this book is very easily memorize-able, which is also so great for building your child’s confidence in her speech.
And finally, before I talk briefly about the illustrations, I also think the message of inclusivity and generosity of spirit that this book promotes is just so, so important and it’s done in such a fun, subtle, charming way. There is always room on the broom for everyone and that’s such a wonderful thing to tell our children right from the very beginning.
Okay, as far as the illustrations go, I just think Axel Scheffler is the perfect illustrator for this book. He and Julia Donaldson are so aligned in the way that they tell this story; Scheffler’s illustrations also give you this impression of “traditional with a twist.” As with most picture books, the colors are vibrant, the settings and creatures look very friendly and familiar, but they are also cartoonish in a way that makes the book feel more modern, almost like an animation, so you get this mixture of traditional and contemporary. The wide-eyed expressions on the witch’s and animals faces, including just the animals who are bystanders to the action, like the owl in the tree or the insects among the weeds, add to the images’ wit and humor. Their faces all seem to be commenting on what’s going on. Because the illustrations are so humorous, this also helps the child reader make it through the bit with the dragon, which, despite the references to chips (or French fries if you read the American version), it could verge on being too scary for some little kids. The way Axel Scheffler draws the dragon with his dangling tongue and slumped posture and his curved unicorn horn tips the scale just slightly over to more comical than menacing and reassures the reader that it’s going to be okay.
And, finally, Axel Scheffler’s depiction of the witch also diverts from the typical crone figure, emphasizing to the reader that this witch is different from your run-of-the-mill female sorceress, just as Julia Donaldson does with the text. So instead of looking like the witch in Snow White, Axel Scheffler gives the witch a too-large nose, which I think is reminiscent of the muppet Gonzo, and it’s punctuated by a wart at the end of it, but he makes the rest of her face, with her, again, too-large eyes and her wide, crooked smile, imply an innocently cheery disposition. She also has the black cape and tall, black witch’s hat to identify her as a traditional witch, but underneath she’s dressed a little like a neat, trim, slightly quirky maiden aunt, with a green brooch securely fastening her cape over her high-collard red shirt, and her purple and green polka-dotted skirt, thick white stockings, and black high-heeled boots. In this way, Scheffler endears her to us from the very first page, before we even learn about her generous spirit or her very relatable tendency to accidentally drop things because she looks friendly.
Oh! And just one more thing about the illustrations: your kids will love the final illustration of everybody on the new-and-improved broom. My kids particularly love the shower for the frog and the street lamp that props up the bird’s nest. It’s so magical and fun.
And if you like Room on the Broom and become as obsessed with it as we are, I have to tell you there are so many great Room on the Broom accompaniments that can help you and your child get into the Halloween spirit. Especially since we’re not going to be doing a traditional Trick-or-Treat this year, I’ve been trying to figure out other things to do and Room on the Broom has been really clutch for that. First of all, if you are not aware, the BBC has made Room on the Broom into a short film and IT. IS. EXCELLENT. It’s about 30 minutes long, which is just the right amount of time for little kids, and it only uses the text of the book, so it’s almost like it’s an audiobook set to film, if that makes sense. The animation is also very similar to Scheffler’s illustrations so, on the whole, it just is one of the truest book-to-film adaptations I’ve ever seen. It’s magical. The only thing that they really changed was that they gave the animals more personalities and backstories, which are actually really delightful to watch. And the dragon is on the hunt for the witch from the beginning, which adds a bit more tension, but in a good way. It’s great—so great in fact that when I put it on for my kids with the intention of keeping them occupied while I get something done, I inevitably end up sitting and watching it with them, too! And I’m not going to lie, my husband and I have watched it together without our children. But, anyway, this would be a fun thing to watch for a family Halloween movie night. It is appealing to young and older kids (and, as I mentioned, parents, too); it isn’t too long so you wouldn’t have to commit to a really long night and your kids won’t be up too late past their bedtimes; and, you know, it’s a great message and very seasonally appropriate, so I highly recommend.
There is also a Room on the Broom cookbook that we have and it’s really great for making fun, crafty food and, I think my son James is taking after me and my cookbook obsession in the fact that he loves to just sit and pore over this book. We went through a phase last winter when he asked to read this book every night along with the actual Room on the Broom book. It was so funny, but I wanted to mention it because we’re going to be making some of the dishes and desserts from this book together as a fun, seasonal activity in the lead up to Halloween and you might like to do that, too.
There are a TON of other Room on the Broom things and, full disclosure, we have most of them, but just to name a couple of others that you and your kids might enjoy this October and really, whenever, because, as I said, this book is great all year round: there is a really excellent Room on the Broom sticker and activity book that has some really fun, brain-building activities in it; there are also two Room on the Broom apps that my preschooler enjoys playing on the iPad and that are actually very fun for him, but also gently educational so it’s a win for both of us; and finally, we also have all of the stuffed animals including the witch for this book and my kids love acting out the story with them. We have this little house under the stairs in our basement that my dad built and it has a little Dutch door and we use it as a puppet theatre and my son James just loves performing Room on the Broom for my son Luke. They both laugh uproariously and it’s super cute. I’ll link all of these things in the shownotes so that if you want to lean into your love for Room on the Broom like I did, you can easily find them.
And that’s it for this first episode of Season 2 of the Exquisitely Ever After Podcast! Thank you all so much for listening! I’m so happy to be back talking about children’s literature with you. I hope you had a safe and healthy summer and that it was as happy and relaxing as it could possibly be in 2020. I know a lot of you have kids who are back in school or who are doing virtual school or some sort of hybrid of both and I just want to say, as a parent, I’m thinking about you and rooting for you in solidarity. We can and will get through this year, as difficult and as bizarre as it might be because I really do think that parents are the strongest and most resilient people in the world. I keep telling myself: Christina, if you can make it through 23 hours of back labor and giving birth to two almost 10 pound babies, you can handle Zoom. Although, I have to say, it would be really nice if Zoom came with an epidural option… Anyway, as always, please visit the show notes at, ExquisitelyEverAfter.com/episode11 for a complete list of the books that were mentioned today. And if you liked this episode or this podcast in general, please do subscribe; it’s totally free and by subscribing you ensure that you don’t miss any new episodes. AND, if you have a minute, please leave me a review and also please tell a friend! You can share episodes via text or email and for a new show like mine, this kind of word-of-mouth recommendation helps so, so much to get my podcast into the ears of more people. I really, really appreciate that you took time to listen to me talk about reading children’s literature today! I know you’re all so busy and that it is such a crazy year so I’m really grateful that you spent this time with me. And I would love to hear about any books that you and your family think are great for Halloween. I love—as I said—I LOVE October, so, if you do, please send me an email at christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com or dm me on Instagram at exquisitelyeverafter or you can leave me a comment on the blog post for this episode, at exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode11.
Thanks so much, everyone! I’m so glad to be back, I hope you’re all well! Take care, keep safe, and, of course, keep reading!
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[…] fresh and new, but also cozily familiar and timeless. I talked a little bit more about this in Episode 11 when we were examining Room on the Broom so if you haven’t heard that one yet and you want to […]