Trick or Treat!

I hope you have a spectacularly spooky Halloween!

A Crazy Collection of Witches

I absolutely love this time of year. When I was small, the month of October was always filled with trips to the library for stacks of Halloween books, which is how I think my fascination with witches began (the pointy black hat, broom riding kind).

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I adore the TV show Bewitched (love the title font too!), I always wished that with a wrinkle of my nose that I could magically change things around me.

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The witch from The Wizard of Oz is just so perfect, and incredibly spooky! She has the cackle absolutely perfected.

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So I know this one isn't a Halloween witch, but I had to include the White Witch from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The BBC version is the best, and she is one creepy witch. Don't take any Turkish Delight from this crazy lady!

My favorite storybook witch has to be Dorrie, with her little black cat Gink. The books have long been out of print, but after doing some research it appears that certain titles are being reprinted!

And of course to be a true witch, you need a perfectly spooky house.

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I always loved the house in the movie Beetlejuice.

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But my all time favorite spooky house is The Addam's Family home, similar to The House by the Railroad in this Edward Hopper painting from 1925.

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Bits of Halloween

Here are some bits and pieces from books I love, all related to my most favorite time of year. It's almost here!

The wicked witch from Knuckle Heads, illustrations by Michael Slack and story by Joan Holub. Copyright 2008

Wouldn't you like to drive a broom-o-cycle or a pumpkin car? I certainly would! From Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. Copyright 1974

Another Richard Scarry illustration from the cover of Richard Scarry's Best Stories Ever, copyright 1971.

These little guys are of course from a Lauren Child book. My Extremely Good Charlie and Lola Annual 2009, to be exact.

Illustration Friday: Spooky

So I made this pattern a while ago, but I changed some colors so that counts right? And it's spooky, so it totally fits the theme.

On My Bookshelf: Ed Emberley's Big Orange Drawing Book

Hello! I have another fun little Halloween goodie to share with you, Ed Emberley's Big Orange Drawing Book. Copyright 1980, published by Little, Brown and Company. As I have mentioned before, I am a big Ed Emberley fan, so this instructional Halloween drawing book was an exciting find. I love how his books show every single step of the process, as I am a total nerd for diagrams. His drawings are so simple, yet charming and in this case, perfectly capture the spirit of Halloween.

On My Bookshelf: A Woggle of Witches

I love Halloween, it's most definitely one of my favorite holidays. My collection of Halloween books is growing at steady rate, so I thought it might be fun to share a few of my favorites with you each week leading up to this fantastic holiday of mine.

Let's start with A Woggle of Witches by Adrienne Adams, copyright 1971, published by Aladdin Paperbacks. Oh my, how I love this book! As a child I was obsessed with becoming an honest to goodness, broom flying, black hat wearing, witch. I even would have been delighted to become Samantha from the TV show Bewitched, which I was also fascinated by as a small one. But alas, I never learned to fly so my supply of witch books would have to suffice.

I love, love, love the illustrations in this book, and the primarily black color palette gives the book just the right amount of spook and fun. These witches sure do know how to have a good time!

On My Bookshelf: All Things Spooky

I love Halloween, I love witches (the pointy black hat, broom is primary mode of transportation kind), and I love all things weird like Charles Addams. So today I share with you two little gems from my collection, all thanks to my mom and her stealth ebay skills.

First, Dorrie and the Blue Witch by Patricia Coombs, copyright 1964. Published by Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., Inc.
I loved these books when I was young. There are many stories about the little witch, but they are rather hard to come by these days.






And I love Charles Addams, I always wanted to live with the Addam's Family (totally weird, right?). All of Mr. Addam's cartoons for the New Yorker are genius. So you can imagine my excitement when my mom presented me with this wacky take on nursery rhymes, just my style!

The Charles Addams Mother Goose, copyright 1967. Published by Windmill Books, Inc. Distributed by Harper & Row

TGIW

Here's some Wednesday fun: photos of my pup from a few Halloween's ago. She makes me smile and I desperately need a smile right now. Isn't she the cutest? Friends, it's been a rough week, fortunately the end is now in sight. Wheee!