Halloween Booktacular Day 2!


Welcome to day 2 of the Halloween Booktacular. OUaT has teamed up with Good Choice ReadingRead My MindAn Avid Reader's MusingsSkyla11377Books With Bite and Dark Readers. The Halloween Booktacular will run from October 24th until October 31st. Each blog participating will have different post and giveaways going on, so you want to make sure you visit each one of us daily during the celebration.  


Today on day 2 of the booktacular, we bring you a special Halloween post from Author David Bell. David Bell latest book is Cemetery Girl. Today we will be offering one copy of Cemetery Girl to one lucky winner, Thanks to NAL Trade. 



Like a lot of kids, I loved Halloween. I didn’t really care that much about dressing up in a costume. In fact, as I got older, the whole notion of the costume faded in its importance. When I was really young, we used to go to the store and buy a costume, one of those things that came in a box with the hot, heavy mask and rubbery suit we wore over our clothes. But I didn’t really care about that. The costume seemed like more of a necessity.

And to be honest, the candy didn't mean that much to me either. Don't get me wrong, I liked to eat some of it. But I’ve never been a huge fan of candy or sweets, even as a kid, and so the idea that I would get a big bag of candy just for walking around the neighborhood never got me that excited.

In fact, Halloween was always fun when I was little, but it wasn’t as fun as it would become when I got older. Because something changed when I got older—maybe around the time I reached the age of twelve or so. Up until that time, I used to go trick-or-treating with my friends, but I also went trick-or-treating with an adult. Somebody’s parent—sometimes one of the neighbors or sometimes my own dad—would trudge along behind while we went door to door. In fact, I can still picture my dad, his hands stuffed into the pockets of the brown, corduroy coat he used to wear when the weather was cool, walking along the sidewalk behind me, looking very much like he wished he could be back inside his warm house watching TV or reading rather than out in the neighborhood surrounded by pint-sized Darth Vaders and Spidermen.

Along about the age of twelve, something changed. I started to be able to trick-or-treat with my friends from school—and we were able to do it without parental supervision. Talk about the inmates being released from the asylum! We went

everywhere. When I was little, we usually just trick-or-treated on our street, and maybe, if we were lucky, we would hit the street behind us. But once we were released from parental supervision, we really took our act on the road, hitting as many streets and neighborhoods as we could. We didn’t really wear costumes. As I recall, we might put on some ratty old clothes from around the house—maybe even my dad’s corduroy coat—and if anyone asked what we were dressed as, we would give the all-purpose answer: “A bum!” We moved fast under cover of darkness, making it our goal to hit as many houses as possible until our pillowcases were stuffed with candy.

There were a lot of holidays during the year—Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving. And they had their own treats—gifts, food, family. But Halloween was a holiday—the only holiday—that I got to spend with my friends. Away from adults. And since I grew up Catholic and attended Catholic school, there was another bonus. The day after Halloween was the Feast of All Saints, a holy day of obligation. Yes, we had to go to church at some point—but we didn't have to go to school. What could be better? We might even get to stay at another kid’s house for the night and extend the festivities past the hours of trick-or-treating.

I won’t say we were angels on those nights. I admit a pumpkin or two might have been smashed by our hands. Perhaps even an egg or two was thrown. I don’t think anything too valuable was damaged. We had ethics about our pumpkin smashing—we never did it before Halloween. We only did it after the holiday was over, when the pumpkin was destined to die anyway, rotting away on somebody’s front stoop. They really didn’t want it anymore, did they?

As I look back, I see those few Halloweens as a brief moment, a narrow window before I—and my friends—were forced to grow up. Once high school started, trick-or-treating stopped. I attended a private high school with a rigorous academic program—one I couldn't always keep up with—and I remember that Halloween of my freshman year when I stayed in and studied while younger kids trick-or-treated. None of my friends went out—it seemed like someone had decided that high school was the cut off point for kids to go out and beg for candy. And while I felt too old to go out, I remember feeling sad about being inside. Even at that early age—fourteen—I felt a sense of nostalgia: something from my childhood had been lost, that short, wonderful time when I was no longer a child but still a kid.

Halloween let us be free for that one night a year.


I think a few of us have similar Halloween stories. I'm lucky that I have two small boys and get to dress them up and they expect me to dress up with them, so its like going thru my childhood again. I even have candies I hope get passed out at this time of year. I will always be a kid at heart. Thank you David for sharing with us your Halloween story and to NAL. 








32 comments:

  1. OOOHH...I need a good Halloween book=) Thanks for the giveaway!

    ansindt@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the chance to win this!

    thegirlonfire27 at gmail dot com

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  3. thanks for the opportunity!

    katie_tp(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I remember taking my son and his friends trick-or-treating and had a blast!
    When he got a got older he didn't want me along.
    I missed the fun.
    djeanq(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the post! I remember getting to go trick or treating without my parents too IT WAS WICKED AWESOME! We would run around and scare each other to death.

    Thanks so much!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would love to win this book! Thanks for the giveaway :)

    gjmanningATcenturylinkDOTnet

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the chance!

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Halloween is awesome at any age. :) The older my kids get the more we get to do for halloween. I love the excitement we all share.

    Jennifer K Jovus
    kjovus at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  9. FUN! Happy halloween! Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cool thanks for the giveaway!
    Kristy at dreamingbyday dot com

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  11. What a perfect gift for Halloween. Thanks for this awesome giveaway!

    Anya
    anya dot sandoval at yahoo dot com

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  12. Yay for Halloween books. Thanks so much for the giveaway.

    sarahframe@gmail.com

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  13. This book seems so interesting! And its new :) The title already seems cool! Thanks for the chance to win!

    Email: osnapitzAngiex3(AT)aol(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love the cover and the title. Thanks for the giveaway. Halloween rocks!!!
    ferretvamp14[at]live[dot]com

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  15. This book is perfect for Halloween, thank you so much for the chance to win!

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  16. Oh yeah, I could really get into this book on Halloween night. It sounds very good!
    mom1248(at)att(dot)net

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  17. This looks like a good one!
    chaarmedone1512(at)aol(dot)com

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  18. Nice giveaway

    valerie(at)stuckinbooks.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. thanks for the giveaway!

    sweetpea0861@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  20. Looks like a great book! Thank you!

    Poisnivyred AT gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sounds like a really good read. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

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  22. Mary DeBorde [M.A.D.]

    Now this sounds like just THE perfect book for Halloween - thank you oodles for the lovely giveaway :D

    ReplyDelete
  23. awesome giveaway! thank you

    tatiana_lwg (at) yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  24. serenenight827@hotmail.com
    Nago
    Wi

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thank you for the giveaway! What a creepy idea for a book.

    jbronderblogs at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'd never heard of this book, sounds perfect for this time of the year.

    acm05atjuno.com

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  27. Fun post - I love trick or treating with my kids now, and remember loving it as a kid too. Thanks for the giveaway!
    crystalfulcher(at)ec.rr.com

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  28. Sweet! I want to win I wiant to win lol.

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  29. I'm being a flapper this year! I love the 20's with shorter dresses (and hair), and illegal speakeasies. Thanks for the great giveway!

    laughs4life14@yahoo.com

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  30. I haven't dressed up recently, but I have in the past. The last time I dressed up it was as a wicked witch.

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  31. I'm not dressing up this year. The last time I dressed up I was a princess.

    Thanks.

    annafriday11 (@) gmail (dot) com

    ReplyDelete

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