On Monday, October 5th at 7:00 pm CST, live on Zoom, we hosted our first annual Spooky Stories Book Talk with Evanston Public Library’s Collections Manager and Librarian, Betsy Bird.
This fantastic collaborative ABH/EPL Spooky Stories Book Talk kicked off Artists Book House’s month long A House, Haunted series of events.
During this live virtual event, ABH’s Jamie Thome talked all about spooky stories with EPL’s Betsy Bird; we chatted about how scary stories make us feel, and about the nature and thrill of ghostly tales. Ms. Bird gave us a lot spooky book recommendations for all ages (see list below) to fill your October with all things creepy and fun.
Ms. Bird was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is a town that's not too big, not too small, not too fast, and not too slow.
As a kid, she was incredibly shy. She doesn’t think she ever said more than five words in school on a given day. She wasn't good at sports and she wasn't exactly the best artist in the world, but there was one thing she could do really well---she read books like crazy. She read comic strips and novels and comic books and picture books and magazines and pretty much anything she could get her hands on.
She wrote stories too, but had a hard time finishing them. Then she got older and stopped writing stories. She became a librarian, because she got to work with books all day every day.
She got over being shy as she grew up and she got to work in the best children's room in New York City, the Children's Center at 42nd Street. There, she worked alongside the real Winnie-the-Pooh and met all kinds of famous children's authors and illustrators. One day, the illustrator Brandon Dorman (he does all the Goosebumps covers) asked if Ms. Bird would write a book with him. So they wrote Giant Dance Party together. And now, Ms. Bird lives in Evanston, and works at the Evanston Public Library.
For more information about Betsy Bird and her work, please visit https://www.betsybirdbooks.com/
THANK YOU to all who attended the live event! Here’s the booklist that Betsy talked about. These titles can all be found at Evanston Public Library, or at our partner bookshops, Page 1 Books and Booked Evanston!
New Books
Picture Books
After Squidnight by Jonathan Fenske
The Bold, Brave Bunny by Beth Ferry, ill. Chow Hon Lam
Emergency Monster Squad by Dave Horowitz
The Ghoul by Taghreed Najjar, ill. Hassan Manasra
Gustavo the Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago
Early Chapter Books (7-9)
A Hatful of Dragons: And More Than 13.8 Billioon Other Funny Poems by Vikram Madan
Shadow in the Woods and Other Scary Stories by Max Brallier (the Mister Shivers series)
For Middle Grade Readers (10-12)
Creepy and True: Ghost Unveiled! by Kerrie Logan Hollihan
Ghostology: A True Revelation of Spirits, Ghouls, and Hauntings by Candlewick Press
The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon
Older Books
For Middle Grade Readers (10-12)
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden (and its sequel Dead Voices)
For Middle Schoolers (12 and up)
Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
Lockwood and Company series by Jonathan Stroud (start with The Screaming Staircase)
Monster Blood Tattoo by D.M. Cornish