Horror books for children have been anything but scary for a long time, so Halloween on a literary level has been a little lame. But from time to time something interesting appears on our radar and we don't want to waste the opportunity to put it on our news table, from which books about All Saints' Day, chestnut tree or similar have completely disappeared. And it is not a criticism, simply a observation.
We start with The Secret Book of Vampires by Sol Ruiz (Free Will), a kind of family book where a little Nosferatu reviews his entire genealogy, while explaining some curiosities about his species, halfway between life and death, such as how Chinese vampires hate red peas. It is also a trip around the world, where vampires take on different names and forms, from the Indian baitales to the dhampirs of the Valkanes area, including the Brazilian jaracas or the Kathakanos of the island of Crete. With portrait-like illustrations in gray, black and brown tones, the book is also an exhibition of humanity's fears in vampire format, sometimes embodied in characters with aspects of men and women, sometimes as humanized animals or directly monsters. . A book where fear, curiosity and disclosure intermingle creating an ideal cocktail to enjoy these days (from 7-8 years old).
The author of Gustavo's Ghost, Flavia Z. Drago, plays cucutrás with the little ones (from 3 years old) in a typical and always attractive flap book. To our surprise, in Play cucutrás with the monsters (Edelvives/ Baula) the author has hidden very interesting characters under the sheets and that we can already guess from some silhouettes that the sheets cannot hide (also in Catalan).
From the same publishers we get a new encyclopedia of magical beings (we already have dragons and fairies), this time focused on the world of Monsters (for ages 10 and up). Signed by the Frenchman Sébatien Perez and illustrated by Stan Manukian, this manual begins with a thoughtful prologue that will accompany us throughout the entire book, as a reminder that a monster can be reached in many ways, and although they share a definition and some characteristic, there are monsters that do not appear so at first glance.
The book is divided into eight sections that deal with mythological monsters, marine monsters, circus monsters, fictional monsters, fantastic monsters or even monsters created by humans, a section in which the author puts Frankenstein's monster, the viruses, artificial intelligence, mechanical monsters and the Russian serial killer Andrei Txikatilo, who was dubbed the 'Butcher of Rostov' after killing 52 people. Some characters, such as The Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster or the Kraken, occupy an entire page with their story, while other doubles are dedicated to other cases and things, such as the places where the monsters live, which are very disparate ( also in Catalan.).
Let's get a little more tender, although not too much, because Ah! (Narval) by Emma S. Varela, has given birth to a beautiful and friendly ghost but from whom all the characters she meets run away in terror. Too much beauty and goodness for a story of alleged terror illustrated by the always interesting Misspink. So the little ghost decides to have a party to make friends and things don't go as she would like: she doesn't have a skeleton, nor werewolf hair; She wears a perfect smile and has no tail or four eyes.... Nobody wants her friendship for being different. But not even on Halloween can things end badly (from 3 years old). The book includes a QR code to follow the book in sign language.
The tandem Meritxell Martí and Xavier Salomó, whose monstrous dinners have entertained us on more than one Halloween, return at this time with a proposal that is more adventurous than disturbing, although the cover gives hints that things may be somewhat terrifying. The mysterious and surprising grandfather's house (Combel), whose precedent we find in The wonderful and horrifying grandmother's house, begins with our protagonist in front of her grandfather's house, which apparently is also the Buen Bol tavern, a place in the top of a skull with privileged views over the sea, but also exposed to the most fearsome storms, like the one that has just unleashed. Nam-Nam, that's the grandfather's name, seems to have evaporated and her granddaughter dedicates herself to searching for him in every corner of the book, lifting an endless number of flaps that even lead her to a great treasure: her grandmother's treasure. And so on until we find the hidden protagonist of this book that combines ingredients from many genres (5-6 years).
The Salamandra publishing house recovers for children the first title of the series created by the German writer Marc Hotz, who signs his books as Magnus Myst. The Little Wicked Book was published in 2017, following the successes of The Wicked Book (2009), The Forbidden Kind Book (2010) and The Wickedest Book (2011). With The Little Evil Book he started a series that has so far had six titles in Germany, which follows the adventures of a book whose mission is to become a truly evil being, but to do so he needs the help of a reader to follow him through the twists and turns of pages full of enigmas, morbid readings and disturbing games. The title, as well as all subsequent installments, were among the ten best-selling children's and youth books of the Spiegel publishing house and in Thalia for several months in Germany. They also reached number 1 in Austria. The key to its success lies in the combination of enigmas-games-terror (the stories are no joke).
For a more mature reader who wants to delve into the world of ghosts, journalist Maria Leach gives us The Secret Life of Ghosts (Lunwerg), a compilation that is based not only on the innate curiosity of human beings for everything paranormal. , but also because of people's incessant search to know what exists after death. "The world has been changing and the ghosts have faithfully accompanied it," the author tells us in the prologue. "Ghosts are brimming with information. They embody the evolution of our value system, uncovering hidden fears and deepest doubts. Will our soul continue to exist after we die? And, if so, can earthly experience determine how the afterlife will receive us? "he asks.
And as a journalist he seeks answers. Thus, he not only tells us about ghosts, specters, ectoplasms or poltergeists, but also about curiosities such as that cats can see them or that they love the smell of lemon. Under an epigraph as a question, reality or fiction?, it tells how famous people such as Abraham Lincoln or Benjamin Franklin could be wandering around the White House, the first, or the Philosophical Hall of Philadelphia, the second, and reviews the ghosts that history has left us. Research, perception, narrative and legend intermingle in a book that will leave skeptics indifferent, but that is very interesting for young people who want to delve into this disturbing and fascinating field.
