I can’t believe Halloween is right around the corner. It seems far away, but today is October 12th (2023). Halloween is a mere 19 days away. Before you know it we’ll be sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner, and “moments” later opening up Christmas gifts. Time flies too quickly.

If you and your family want to get into the Halloween spirit, check out these fun books from Pacific and Court. Two of the books would be great for your Halloween parties.

Horror Movie Night Cookbook

I’m a fan of the horror movie genre. Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Exorcist, The Shinning… I love them all.

Never in a million years would I think recipes could be inspired by your favorite scary movies.

The Horror Movie Night Cookbook offers a variety of great recipes that you can make that would make your horror movie night even better. Move over popcorn, there are some new treats in town!

I took photos of the book and some of the recipes inside, but I cannot find those specific photos (sorry).

Inside you’ll find scrumptious recipes for yummy treats and more. Here are just a few examples;

• Crawling Steak (Poltergeist)
• Campfire Sour (The Blair Witch Project)
• Zombie Baby Kale Salad (Dawn of the Dead)
• Bloody Floaties (Jaws)
• Alligator Bites (Crawl)
• The Mama’s Boy Martini (Psycho)

Each recipe is inspired by a specific horror movie. Of course you are welcome to mix and match the recipes too.

The recipes are relatively easy to make and from what I can see, don’t require any crazy ingredients (sorry, no bugs or body parts, ha ha).

I love that the book tells you the level of difficulty for each recipe and refers to it as a “kill level.” They use the term “body count” to reference how many servings for each recipe.

Each recipe comes with a beautiful color photo. Most of the recipes are not gross. Some are pretty normal. There are no outlandish or over-the-top recipes in this cookbook.

Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook for Kids

Why should grown ups have all the fun?

Inside the Unofficial Hocus Pocus Cookbook for Kids you’ll find 50+ kid friendly recipes that are great for Halloween parties, or for any time of the year.

Some of these recipes are creepy and fun for the kids. Other recipes I think are more towards adults than children. I don’t know how many kids would make lamb rib chops. I’d say about 90% of the recipes are ideal for kids (not that kids won’t eat the other things).

Some recipes will require a grown up to help (or at least be in attendance), but there are plenty of recipes that a child could do on their own.

I work with children and there are a few recipes I am thinking about making for the Halloween party at work (I work with children). I purchased a caldron to put the beverage in, and I was looking for something that would fit the Halloween theme. I was going to purchase green Gatorade, but there is a fun recipe in this book for “Life Potion” that will work better (and it’s green too!).

This book also features full color photos fo the recipes.

Are You Gonna Eat That?

I haven’t read comic books in years. After reading this book, I remember why I always loved them so much.

Inside this book you’ll find short comics (one panel or a few panels). Each one features animals “talking” and making general observations about things in silly situations. For example, there is one of a napping cat and a dog. The dog says to the cat “I’m going to run full speed in circles like a total psychopath. Care to join me?” to which the cat perks up and replies “Now you’re speaking my language.” If you are a cat owner, you know what this comic is about (as a mom to eight cats… I have A LOT of little psychopaths running around – ha ha).

There is another one of two flies admiring a spider’s web and referring to it as a “piece of art” (they really are). One spider goes to touch it, but the other fly says “Look but don’t touch.” The spider can be seen telling the fly “touch the art.” Obviously if he does he’ll be dinner for the spider. Anyone who has been to a museum knows you are never suppose to touch the artwork.

The comic drawings are simple, but cute. I found it to be an enjoyable read and made me want to revisit my Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes comic books.

Quick Wins!

This book is not for everyone. It’s geared towards a school district official, principal, assistant principal, dean, guidance counselor, behavior analyst, or a school consultant, and others who work with children.

To be honest, the book is not what I though it would be about, but it’s still a very interesting read, especially if you work with children in these positions. I’m actually going to give it to the principal of the school I work at when I am finished reading it.

The book features strategies and tactics you can utilize, and ideas for helping to improve behaviors in the cafeteria, classroom and other areas.

I work with children, and there are some ideas in this book that I can (and have been) using at my site. So far, so good.

I like that each chapter has a “quick takeaways” section which sums up the chapter in easy, bite size tid bits. It helped me to better understand each chapter.

I am not finished with this book yet. Unlike children’s book (quick reads), this book requires a bit more of my time and focus, so I can only read a chapter at a time here and there. I am trying to remember to take notes so that I don’t forget important strategies I want to try out.

101 Silly Christmas Jokes

Christmas is around the corner. Why not learn a few holiday jokes to share at your holiday party. This book is geared towards children, but adults can appreciate the silly sense of humor too.

This is a small/thin book, and a quick read. Kids could put this in their backpack so that they always have some funny jokes to share with their friends and classmates.

Here are a few examples;

What did the wise man say after giving the frankincense?

Hold on, there’s myrrh. Get it? The wise man gave baby Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. With this joke, myrrh is suppose to be my the word “more.”

What kind of sheets to gingerbread men have on their beds? 

Cookie sheets.

See what I mean… these are silly jokes. Kids will find them funny, even if adults might find them corny.

I’d say this could make a great stocking stuffer, but I’m sure your child would want to tell these jokes BEFORE Christmas.

Hello Sweet Baby

This book is SO CUTE. I am in love with the illustrations. They truly bring this wonderful story to life.

This is the story about a young couple of tomatoes that don’t feel like they can properly care for their seedling, and they seek the help of an adoption counselor to see if they can find a family for their seedling that can take care of it.

This is not a kids book, per say. This is a book meant to be read by a parent and discussed with a child. Children might not fully understand some of the concepts or words (“advocating” is not a word on little kids vocabulary lists and they might not know what the word means).

If you have an adopted child, this is an ideal book for you to help explain how the adoption process works, and letting an adoptive child that their birth parent(s) did what they thought was best for them to give them a happy life.

I love the illustrations in this book. They are so sweet!

You can find all of these books at many retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Nobles.

What do you think of these books? Do any of them stand out to you? If so, which one(s)? Feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

Kimberly

*I received free product samples in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.