The Thirteen Days of Halloween published by Scholastic is a counting book closely patterned on “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” and is the perfect grandchild-gift for a little one. The illustrations parody Tim Burton, and, as in “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” repetition is built in. By the time parent or grandparent and child have read the book a few times, the child will be able to count to 13! The little witchy-demon (good demon) girl has large, innocent eyes as she leads her various ghouls like werewolves and vampires and witches through their madcap, fun march through the gloriously colored pages and reaches the final countdown to Halloween night when all the goblins and beasties come out to play. It can be ordered through Scholastic or through the title at Barnes and Noble or from Amazon.
A second offering for any season is classic children’s author Eva Ibbetson’s Which Witch, a chapter book, guaranteed to make children and adults alike laugh out loud (or at least chuckle). It is a worthy book, although not as well known as Ibbotson’s The Secret of Platform 13.
In this story, Arriman Podcaster, an unusual baby who grew up to become a famous Wizard, is waiting for his replacement so that he can retire. Harrington Hall, his magnificent, totally creepy manor house is guarded by the Wizard Watcher ( a four legged creature who talks, has a tail, and vaguely resembles a sea lion–a big one). The Watcher is watching for the New Wizard predicted by the gypsy fortuneteller to “come down the road.”
When this fails to happen, Arriman decides to marry and produce an heir to take his place. He instigates a Miss America style pageant of witches, offering himself and his great Hall to the winner. An abundance of witches is found in the area, complete with warts and weird animal familiars as well as Belladonna who is (horrors!) a white witch. She speaks with animals, heals wounds by magic (or white witchcraft) and produces bunny rabbits and begonias instead of frogs, lizards, and other slimy things with her spells.
The book is wickedly humorous (pun intended)!
It is predictable enough to feel comfortable, but has enough twists and turns to keep the reader reading right up until the very end.
powerfulwomenreaders 
Wow, this review makes me want to read the book. That doesn’t happen just every day!
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