Tag: favorite characters

The book I waited too long to read…

I was introduced years ago to Holly Goldberg Sloan books through a text message from a friend. She sent me a photograph of a page from “Counting by 7s” and said “you need to read this book.” That same friend texted me another page photo when reading “Short” because the writing is just that incredible that one page will draw you in. “Short” is on my list of the 10 best children books I’ve ever read.

So you can imagine any time I see a book written by Holly Goldberg Sloan, I need to read it immediately. Yet for some reason, I’ve walked past “Appleblossom the Possum” multiple times without picking it up. I didn’t expect a book about a possum to be as powerful a read as “Short” and “Counting by 7s.” I realized how wrong I was the moment I finally picked up a copy and started reading on a train ride into the city.

I could not stop reading except to dogear corners of pages and sending texts to friends about this book. I finished the book during my train ride, and I have three regrets. First, I regret waiting so long to read this book. Second, I wish I read it slower just to savor this story. Finally, I regret judging a book by its cover/title and thinking a book about a possum wouldn’t live up to books like “Short.” This book is just as amazing as Goldberg Sloan’s other books and what I love most about her writing is that each book is different and amazing in its own way.

Appleblossom is the smallest of her siblings, cautious, but also a little bit curious. A disagreement with her brothers over her curiosity about monsters (humans) leads to her falling down a chimney which starts this little possum on an awfully big adventure. I want to tell you more, but really, I want you to read this book and have the joy of watching this story unfold.

In addition to the story being captivating, I loved how the book covered the young possums learning appropriate possum behavior. It was like an introduction to sociology for children. The sociological concept that we are all actors learning our role in society was explained in a way that children would follow and understand…the young possums all learning possum behavior while bringing their own personalities into how they interpret those behaviors. This understanding of how we as humans (and possums in this case) learn and evolve in our roles was so well done throughout the book.

Holly Goldberg Sloan is one of the best children’s authors of our time. I will read any book she’s written, and I highly recommend you check out “Appleblossom.” Readers of all ages will enjoy this amazing story.

Bookish Halloween Costumes

Edited with Afterlight

(*note – this originally was published in October 2022 but always a good reminder to look to books for fun costume ideas).

This week, several friends sent me a photo of a little girl dressed up as a book fairy. Her wings were made from an open hard-cover book. Her skirt was made from loose book pages. The costume was brilliant, and I wish I was going to a Halloween party just to be a book fairy. The fact that multiple friends sent me the same image made me happy…they know me well!

This got me thinking about other bookish Halloween costumes. I know I originally said I would write about ways to bring books alive, and I will cover that more soon, although I think Halloween costumes are a perfect way to make a book come alive for a child (or teen, adult, pet, anyone). Dress up as your favorite character whether they are from a movie, cartoon, book, or comic book.

If a child likes a book series, what better way to get them even more excited about reading more in the series than for them to dress up as that character? We often see Harry Potter and Hermione, and I love that children love the characters so much that they choose to dress up like them. In our house, costumes have been some very popular book characters and some more obscure. Some of my favorite book character costumes from our Halloweens past include Gerald from the Mo Willems “Elephant & Piggie” books, a borrowed Sophie Foster costume from Shannon Messenger’s “Keeper of the Lost Cities” series (and yes, we had a friend who happened to have that costume), Katniss Everdeen from Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” and a group costume consisting of Hermione, Harry’s Owl (carrying a copy of the Daily Prophet), and Doby.

Some characters are challenging because their costumes look like regular clothes, so how do you identify it as a costume? Fear not, it is still possible. For many of our book costumes, I made a trick-or-treat bag. I picked up a package of plain white cloth bags and printer transfer paper. Print a full-sheet book cover onto your transfer paper and iron it onto the bag. It’s simple (although read the instructions to see if you need to flip the image before printing so you don’t have a backward book cover). The easiest way to immediately identify that the child is dressed up as their favorite book character, and that bag will likely become a favorite little book tote bag.

I can’t wait to see all the costumes, especially the book-inspired ones this Halloween. If you dressed up as a book character, be sure to share a picture. I’d love to see it!