September and October Children’s Book Wrap-Up

We discovered a new library full of board books for borrowing. Spawn and I had quite a bit of fun. We also acquired a few new board books so lots of reading was had these last couple of months.

Hello World! Ocean Life by Jill McDonald

Bright, colorful, and factual. I would have enjoyed more facts per creature. My 20 month old didn’t have the attention span for it. 4/5

I’m the Scariest Thing in the Castle by Kevin Sherry

Silly, spooky fun with some plot. I did voices so the spawn was begging me to read it on repeat. It’s out of print as a board book so we’ll be borrowing that again soon. 5/5

You Are My Magical Unicorn by Joyce Wan

Very pretty with a nice message but zero plot 3/5

Get Dressed Sasquatch by Kyle Sullivan

I loved this. It had a story, it rhymes, and it had a fun monster. Spawn didn’t like this one as much as I did. 5/5

Hush Now Banshee! by Kyle Sullivan

A large variety of mythical creatures, counting, and a lesson about inside voices. It was a little too dense for spawn’s attention span but I loved it. We’ll try again in a few months 5/5

Good Night Krampus by Kyle Sullivan

Shorter but just as funny and sweet as the other two but I did voices so Spawn loved it. He’d ask for it. He loves it when I do voices. The message here is about going to bed. 5/5

La Llorona by Patty Rodriguez

Part of a bilingual series, they managed to make a very creepy lore into an acceptable children’s book. It hinted without outright saying the inspiration. Spawn liked looking at the pictures of the mom and kids. 4/5

Lucha Libre by Patty Rodriguez

Spawn can identify most of his main body parts so this was fun. He requested it a couple of times. 5/5

Spooky Pookie by Sandra Boynton

Pookie needs a Halloween costume. It’s cute. 5/5

Eek! Halloween! by Sandra Boynton

The chickens have no idea what chaos this is. Silly, spooky fun. 5/5

Here George by Sandra Boynton

George ignores his family, preferring to dance by himself 2.5/5

RuPaul Charles by Little Bee Books

Short, simple, factual, and too dense for my toddler’s attention span 4/5

November TBR

I’m a fan of A Book Olive so I’m excited to participate Nonfiction November. There are four categories so I’m trying to plan my TBR around those.

Collection

Empty the Pews edited by Chrissy Stroop

A collection of essays about people who left the church. Evangelical conservatives are some of the least Christ like people I’ve ever encountered so I’m very interested in what all of these folks have to say.

Style

I genuinely don’t know. Maybe a parenting book? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Industry

How Stella Learned to Talk by Christina Hunger

A speech pathologist taught her dog to talk using a board with buttons for various words. I follow the Instagram and it’s fascinating. I work with dogs so industry applies doubly.

Treatment

A Libertarian Walks into a Bear by Matthew Hongolitz-Hetling

A bunch of libertarians decided they’d had enough of the government and decided to do without. They didn’t set up regular garbage pick-up. The bears appreciated that.

October Wrap-Up

Since October was pretty prolific, I split up my wrap-up and TBR posts

October Wrap-Up

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

Masterful. Clark creates so much world and packs so much story into such a small space. 5/5

The Con Season by Adam Cesare

Actors are hired for an immersive slasher experience but things get a little too real. It was OK but I loathe unsatisfying endings 2.75/5

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

A perfect little romantic fall adventure 5/5

Hide and Don’t Seek by Anica Mrose Rissi

A fun collection of spooky middle grade stories. Most were excellent, a few were just OK. Overall, spooky fun. 4/5

The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale

This book is objectively good. It’s very detailed and well researched. It captures a point in time when the supernatural was considered much more possible. It felt dry and slow. It’s a good example of a book being good but not good for you. 3.75/5

The Halloween Moon by Joseph Fink

From one of the creators of Welcome to Night Vale, a spooky middle grade novel about a Halloween night that won’t end. Excellent writing, excellent world. 5/5

Halloween Fiend by C. V. Hunt

A novella about a town menaced by a Halloween monster. The story was interesting but there were a few little things took me out of it. It was also another somewhat vague ending. It doesn’t make your indie work deeper. Stop it. 3/5

No One Goes Alone by Erik Larson

A spooky piece of historical fiction, released only in audio format. Good and definitely spooky. The only downside was that it takes place during the same time period as Alma Fielding. It was a lot of one time period for me. 4/5

I also made sizable dents in Toil & Trouble edited by Jessica Spotswood, Doorbells at Dusk edited by Evans Light, and The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky. I’ll try to finish these in November.