SPOOKY STREET / HALLOWEEN STREET • New UK & US Novelty Book
I have a new novelty book coming out in the UK today! Spooky Street is illustrated by Ingela P Arrhenius and published by Nosy Crow. The US edition, called Halloween Street, came out in July and is published by Nosy Crow US.
The book is the third in the Alphabet Street series and like the first two books, Alphabet Street and Christmas Street, is a street of buildings with large flaps that open to reveal animal occupants engaged in activities described by an alphabetical rhyming text. As you have probably guessed, the animals in this book are engaged in spooky, Halloween-related activities.
Spooky Street can be read as a conventional book or folded out to show all 13 pages as a wall chart or free-standing play scene.
And, once unfolded, you can turn the whole book around to find a Halloween panorama on the other side.
One of the features of the original Alphabet Street book that I’m particularly proud of is the alphabetical names of the ground floor shops (Alfie’s Bakery, Coffee & Doughnuts, etc.) that match the letters under the flaps on each page. I’d tried to do the same thing for Christmas Street but was unable to come up with a complete list of Christmas-themed alphabetised shop names. However, I was pleased to discover that I was able to come up with a list of Halloween-themed alphabetical shop names for this book, starting with Amazing Broomsticks, Costumes & Disguises, Enchantments and Fortunes and so on.
Ingela has worked her magic on the illustrations once again, creating a vibrant streetscape in a zingy Halloween palette of oranges, purples and pinks. Both Ingela and I have said that this is our favourite of the four books we have done together so far. I hope it proves to be equally popular with young readers.
Here’s a spooky candlelit video I recorded about the book.
You can download a colouring sheet and a Can You Find? activity sheet, featuring 10 characters for young readers to spot inside the book, by clicking on the images below.
You can order the UK and US editions of the book from your local bookshop or online using the sales links below.
