New non-fiction: Things that go bump in the night

Paranormal Files

We’ve got a cool new series of books called the Paranormal Files, for all you ghost hunters and alien watchers out there. While there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about such things, these books are a fun read. They contain many interesting stories from all over the world, like the terrifying story of the Kuchisake-onna, a Japanese ghost who you wouldn’t like to meet on a dark night! You might think you have read all you need to know about such things as stories are often repeated across different books. Any ghost enthusiast will be able to tell you about Borley Rectory or Glamis castle, but this book has a whole load of new stories that will send a shiver up your spine…or convince you to go looking for ghosts yourself.

The other books in the series are interesting, too. For cryptozoologists (people interested in animals whose existence has not been confirmed by science)  there’s a cool book on Bigfoot and other Ape-men. Sadly it doesn’t mention New Zealand’s own Moehau man, but there are stories from almost every other continent.

        

Fossilized Series

If you’ve got an interest in the remains of the past, check this series out. They’re a good introduction to Paleontology (the study of fossils ) with some great pictures and information about where fossils are found, how the paleontologists find out how old they are,  and what they show about the creatures and people of the past.

   

Draw 50…

After reading those books you may need  some light relief. Or you may want to make your own stories about all the things you’ve found out.  In that case, the “Draw 50” books are great. As the title suggests, there are 50 things in here that the book will teach you to draw.  The instructions are a lot more detailed than a lot of ‘how to draw’ art books; you start out with simple lines and then add detail on top of that. That’s pretty cool, as it helps you create a drawing with the correct proportions. There are many books in the series, so have a look through the catalogue.

       

The History of Halloween

Halloween is celebrated on October 31st by people in countries all over the world, such as Canada, England and the USA.

Halloween comes from an ancient holiday that was celebrated by the Celts – the ancient people of Ireland, Scotland and England. It was called Samhain – said as SAH-ween. The Celts believed that on October 31st people who had died crossed over to the next world, and they lit bonfires to help the dead pass on their way.

Centuries later The Pope, who is leader of the Catholic Church, named November 1st All Saints, or All Hallows Day, because Hallows is an old word for saint. The night before All Hallows Day was called All Hallows Eve. Eventually it became known as Halloween.

The Pope and other church leaders wanted Halloween to be a holy night, but because it had started out as a Celtic festival, many Celtic traditions remained. People put out food and drink for wandering ghosts, and for other spooky creatures. Then children and adults started dressing up as spooky creatures so they could get given yummy food and drink!

Because Halloween is in the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn, it is during their traditional harvest time. Harvest celebrations have become a part of Halloween, like apple-picking, hayrides and pumpkin carving.

Turnips were originally carved instead of pumpkins. The tradition comes from an English legend about a man named Jack. He was too bad to go to heaven, so he was doomed to wander the earth at night. He carved a turnip and put a light inside so he could see where he was going in the dark. It was a lantern, so it became known as a “Jack-o-lantern.”  Now pumpkins are usually carved as Jack-o-lanterns.

All the facts in this post came from the book Celebrate Halloween by Deborah Heiligman.

Here are some other new books you might want to read about Halloween:

The Five Masks of Dr. Screem by R. L. Stine

Horrid Henry: Tricks and Treats by Francesca Simon

How to Create Spectacular Halloween Costumes by Louann Brown

How to Make Frightening Halloween Decorations by Catherine Ipcizade

Night of the Living Dust Bunnies by Erik Craddock

The Peculiar Pumpkin Thief by Geronimo Stilton

Scary Godmother by Jill Thompson