Happy
BOOK Birthday,
MARKED Nikki Grimes!
‘Ghost in the House’
by Ammi-Joan Paquette
Ages: 3-7. Boo! Watch out for this rollicking,
cumulative counting book for a Halloween
treat that’s more playful than scary. When
a little ghost goes slip-sliding down the
hallway, he suddenly hears … a groan!
Turns out it’s only a friendly mummy, who
shuffl es along with the ghost, until they
encounter … a monster! As the cautious
explorers continue, they fi nd a surprise at
every turn.

‘Give Me Back My Bones!’
by Kim Norman
Ages: 3-7. A stormy night at sea has
uncovered some long-buried secrets and
surprises. Is that the mast of a shipwreck? A
faded pirate hat? A mandible and a clavicle,
phalanges and femurs, a tibia and a fi bula
— could there be a set of bones scattered
across the ocean fl oor? A jaunty rhyme
takes readers on an underwater scavenger
hunt as a comical skeleton tries to put itself
back together piece by piece.

‘Bella Broomstick #2:
School Spells’
by Lou Kuenzler
Ages: 8-12. Bella Broomstick is back. But
she’s no longer in the Magic Realm; she’s
now living in the Person World. She has a
new best friend named Esme. With Esme
by her side, Bella is finding Person school
to be really fun and not as scary as she
thought it would be. But chaos erupts
when the biggest bully in school mocks
Esme’s very human (and unsuccessful)
magic tricks. Bella secretly casts a
real spell but it doesn’t go the way she
had planned.

‘Disney Dracula,
starring Mickey Mouse’
by Bruno Enna
Ages: 8-12. Jonathan Ratker (Mickey
Mouse) receives a warm invitation from
the mysterious Dracula, welcoming him to
his castle in Beetsylvania. His objective is
to close a deal for his law fi rm, but he soon
fi nds Dracula’s reputation is not without
merit, and he is a prisoner in the castle!
Ratker seeks refuge in writing letters to his
love, Minnina, hoping to one day return to
her. However, the supernatural is at play,
and Jonathan Ratker must fi nd a way to
escape the castle and stop Dracula from
going after who he loves most. ■
Each month, we celebrate a
birthday of literary signifi cance.

Nikki Grimes started
writing poetry when
she was only 6 years
old. She gave her first
public reading when
she was 13 at a library
in Harlem, New York,
the neighborhood
where she was born and raised. She
now lives in California.

Grimes has written more than 75
books for children. Her first, a novel
entitled, “Growin,’” was published
in 1977.

In 1993, she was an NAACP Image
Award Finalist for “Malcolm X: A Force
for Change,” which tells the life story of
the activist. In 2003, she was awarded
the Coretta Scott King Award for
“Bronx Masquerade,” a slam-poetry
novel about high school students
who use poetry to discover who
they are. Her 2008 children’s book
“Barack Obama: Son of Promise,
Child of Hope,” was a New York
Times Bestseller. In 2016, Grimes
received the Virginia Hamilton
Literary Award from Kent University
for her contribution to multicultural
youth literature, and in 2017, she
received the Wilder Medal from the
Association for Library Service to
Children for her lasting contribution
to children’s literature.

This year, Grimes launched a
speaking tour across America. She
will be in Washington, D.C. at the
Politics and Prose
Bookstore on
Oct. 10 and will be
in Baltimore at the
National Council
of Teachers of
English conference
from Nov. 21-24. ■
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