HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA FOR KIDS!

Storytelling, Mask-Making, Yummy Snacks:

(and All for A Good Cause: Blood Banks!)

Lisa Brown is one of our most treasured illustrators and writers. Her new picture book for children is Vampire Boy’s Good Night. When the sun goes down and everything is wonderfully cold and dark, a vampire boy and a little witch go searching for children in the night. But this is no ordinary night. It is Halloween, and what they find may surprise them.

“The lyrical, understated prose and clever outsider’s perspective on the holiday might make this a new seasonal favorite” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

 What we’ll have: a specially-illustrated reading of Vampire Boy’s Good Night,  mask-making, hauntingly yummy Halloween-y snacks and drinks, a costume contest, a raffle for special prizes, and face-painting! A book signing, of course. And the opportunity for adults to sign up to donate blood! 

Who should attend: all children ages 3 to 7, and their adults! You’re enthusiastically invited to wear your costumes!

What’s the Benefit? Although we hear that vampires drink blood, we think it’s much more satisfying to donate blood. We’ll have information on just how to do that from the BLOOD CENTERS OF THE PACIFIC, and we’ll invite you to drop a donation into the pot for that organization’s work.

In addition to Vampire Boy’s Good Night, Lisa Brown is the author and/or illustrator of a growing number of books for children, teens, and new parents, including Picture the Dead, How to Be, The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, and Baby Mix Me a Drink.  She notes, “Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. There is something really magical about a night in costume: a time to try on different identities; to hide safely behind masks and hats and makeup; a chance to be as spooky as I always wanted to be. For the first seven Halloweens of my life, I dressed as a witch (often in the same exact outfit; I have never really grown). After that, I experimented a bit: ballerina-fairy-princess, for instance. But I always come crawling back to the slightly macabre. It is what I love best.   When I was very young I lived in Queens, New York, and was able to Trick or Treat up and down the hallways of our apartment building. After moving to Connecticut, I was made to wear a winter coat over my costume when going door to door, which was a terrible indignity. Now I live in San Francisco, and never need to bundle up on Halloween night. I share an old Victorian house with my husband, who is rumored to be Lemony Snicket, and my son, who is rumored to be in elementary school. He generally likes to dress up for Halloween as some sort of vehicle.”

Publishers Weekly had this to say about Vampire Boy’s Good Night: “Bela, a vampire with a fanged overbite, and his witch friend, Morgan, set out to look for children on Halloween night, though they aren't sure they exist ("I've heard they like to swing and climb," Bela says). But when they attend a party, they discover that the partygoers are actually children dressed in Halloween costumes. The use of speech balloons adds to the intimacy of Brown's detail-rich scenes, and the absence of parental figures contributes to an exultant mood. The lyrical, understated prose and clever outsider's perspective on the holiday might make this a new seasonal favorite.”

 When: Saturday, October 23, 3 to 5 PM 

Where: The Booksmith, of course!

Watch the trailer!

In the meantime, visit!