Best halloween books for children according to redditors

It's not new... has the WWF logo on the front. Published in 2001: http://www.amazon.com/Mick-Foleys-Halloween-Hijinx-Foley/dp/0060002514

I usually just wing it, but since people seem to like them, I've started jotting down the patterns. I'm looking into opening an Etsy shop someday, but until then, have your wife check out this book for the basic body and head patterns.

“H for Halloween” is the title of the book.

I am the 1%.

Also this book is so cool!
http://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Cute-Crochet-Zombies-Ninjas/dp/1594742324
I've made a few zombies and the robot before.

She did a lot of it custom but her base is typically based on a book she loves - Creepy Cute Crochet

The Three Robbers?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0714848778/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=DZ1THAIDVQWT&coliid=I1ZQTE1GT5GSEY

Not sure how the link adding works


https://www.amazon.com/dp/1495811840/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_U5f8yb1RS756Q

tl;dr ... Most holidays are a single-day event with narrow and well-defined cultural expectations that don't include going to see a movie, whereas Halloween and Christmas are more like season-long celebrations based around broad, fictional ideas that loan themselves to new interpretations and reruns of favorite stories alike.

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I think that one key difference between Christmas and Halloween and other holidays is that Christmas and Halloween aren't really individual holidays ... they are entire holiday seasons.

Think about it. Halloween is pretty much the entire month of October. People put up house decorations. They buy candy. The entire month is spent building up to the actual holiday.

And the holiday itself? Because it represents "everything spooky" to our culture, it loans itself to a variety of different stories. Any vampire, ghost, demon, possessed child, or serial killer can be easily marketed during the entire month of October.

I recently self-published my first children's book. Its a Halloween story, and the artist and I were busy taking pre-orders for it and approaching book sellers and doing marketing from September onward.

And because this story is seasonally relevant, there's a chance that we'll be able to drum up sales every single year. These aren't strategies the artist and I thought about when we set out to create a children's book, but they've certainly been good lessons to learn.

Thanksgiving, in contrast, is a single day. It's part of the nebulously defined "holiday season," falling between the big Halloween event and the Christmas build-up. I mean, let's be honest ... Christmas sales and programs are already playing well before Thanksgiving takes place.

So culturally, Thanksgiving is less of a season and more of a simple holiday.

Additionally, there's not much mystical or magical about the holiday that can open itself up to stories. We understand the very real history about Thanksgiving and we tend to whitewash/ignore it in favor of giving thanks that we could spend $500 on a plane ticket to go home to ignore our relatives in favor of stuffing our faces and watching football games.

Which leads to another interesting point ... we already have pre-established traditions for Thanksgiving. Those pre-established traditions don't leave a lot of time

Check out this list of best movies opening on Thanksgiving. Some of these movies are explicitly Christmas movies. And some, like Frozen, are definitely geared towards the winter/Christmas spirit.

Now [check out this list of best movie openings, period]. Frozen, the #1 Thanksgiving release, is #141 on the all-time releases. People are busy during Thanksgiving. Busy with family. With shopping for Christmas. With the aforementioned feasting and football.

So even if a Thanksgiving movie were to be released and do well critically and commercially -- like, say, Planes, Trains and Automobiles -- there simply isn't a big chance that it will become strongly associated with that holiday. There isn't a big "Thanksgiving window" where people will be interested in tuning in to watch a 30 year-old movie instead of the latest episode of Scandal or the MNF game of the week.

Same with a holiday like Easter. Or Independence Day. Or Memorial Day. These are all individual days that don't have an entire season dedicated to them. They are all based on historical and/or religious events that have a limited number of imaginative stories to be told. Tell a story about an Easter Bear and people will look at you like you're crazy because we have a very set canon for what Easter is about and the limits of how we celebrate it.

Tell a story about a Memorial Day Bunny and you're going to get a lot of pissed off military veterans.

On Christmas, however, anything can happen. Opening presents is associated with wishes coming true, with magic happening. So why not a snowman that comes to life? Why not have George Bailey saved by an angel? Why not invent a Grinch to tell cautionary tale about materialism? Why not create a reindeer with a red nose for marketing? Why not penguins and polar bears drinking Coca Cola?

There's simply a much broader idea base from which you can tell your story.

And that answers the question about Jewish holidays as well ... they simply have a very limited appeal to a very limited audience that is already engaged in cultural activities on those days. Why make a movie for five people who aren't going to be going to movies on that day?

I think that Valentine's Day, however, is its own unique holiday for the film industry. People explicitly go on dates to the movies on this day. So there is a strong market for romantic movies on this day. They don't all explicitly deal with Valentine's Day, ostensibly for the lack of "magic" stories that Halloween and Christmas have. After all, there's just no basis in our culture for wishes coming true or shared cultural experiences on Valentine's day. No trick-or-treating or gift-giving or sledding. If you're lucky, you get flowers and a date.

So Valentine's day gets movies programmed for it, just not movies written about it.

Ultimately, I think that it's a good idea to try to write a script for a Christmas or Halloween movie. It's kind of like getting to work with an IP that has an established fan base, and something that could potentially make your idea more marketable.

Writing for an under-served holiday may be tricky, but as ID4 and Groundhog Day show us, it can also be a great way to market a clever idea. I mean, ID4 would have been a great sci-fi movie no matter what. But attaching it to the holiday just leveled up the camp and awesomeness and gave it instant name recognition and "event" status. And Groundhog Day would have been a fine comedy even if Phil had been a newsman covering a county fair in the boondocks. Having the movie take place on Groundhog Day, however, gave it an extra bit of charm and an identifiable marketing strategy.

Anyway, that's a really long rant, but I hope it helps!

It's called Creepy Cute Crochet. I have the same book but haven't used it yet. I keep saying it will be next! http://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Cute-Crochet-Zombies-Ninjas/dp/1594742324

Also, I think I recognize that figure (amigurumi): it looks like it's from this book. I recently got it as a gift and it's pretty neat! I've only done the cthulhu that you can see on the top right of the cover but it has a lot of other fun patterns.

Edit: I see there's also an Idiot's Guide to amigurumi that might help you. Haven't read it myself, but Idiot's Guides are usually pretty well laid out.

One more sit that might interest you is Ravelry. It's an online knit & crochet community and it has a lot of free patterns, and lots of helpful people on the boards.

Creepy Cute Crochet is the reason that I learned how to crochet. You said 'cute', right? It's right in the name! (Yeah, okay...it's mostly monsters. They're cute, tho.)

My only complaint is that the pictures that go with teaching you how to make a magic circle are so small as to be meaningless. If you already know how to make one, you're golden. If not, YouTube.

I think you would love this! and this! and this! and this!


CROCHET THIS FOR ME


I want a hat in blue and white, like a TARDIS hat!

Pattern is from the "cyber zombie" pattern found in Creepy Cute by Christen Haden!

I basically just use single crochets for all my amigurumi. I usually freehand them, and so I never really think of using anything fancier, even though I've done plenty of Irish crocheting, etc.

If you're hesitant about how to get started, a book like Creepy Cute might help, just to get you used to working with things that small in a structured way. All the stitches used in it are very simple.

You might also want to take a look at /r/Amigurumi!

Looks good! Did you make this from the Creepy Cute Crochet book? This is the cthulhu I made from that book. Yours looks slightly different (the tentacles), but it is still really good too!

Also, once I started using patterns, it really helped me develop my "free style" amiguri skills. So in short, good job to you!

I went googling and geeked out (and may have also squee'd) when I saw these.

Star Wars Crochet

creepy and cute

Also check out the Edwards Menagerie and Crochet ever after in Amazon.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

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Hi, I didn't forget to find the link, I promise! I just had the hardest time figuring out what it was. Turns out it wasn't a YouTube video at all, but this [Craftsy] (http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/09/demystifying-the-magic-ring/) link and the instructions from the book [Creepy Cute Crochet] (http://smile.amazon.com/Creepy-Cute-Crochet-Zombies-Ninjas/dp/1594742324/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_1968491462?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&pf_rd_p=1968491462&pf_rd_s=smile-campaign&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1594742324&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0XP7ER03Z10ZZ16NZ7SN). The patterns in that book are stupid adorable.

Supergenius u/wanttoplayball was able to identify the book I was thinking of. The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer. I have such fond associations with the book that Comatus brought back. Here's the link if you are interested https://www.amazon.ca/Three-Robbers-Tomi-Ungerer/dp/0714848778

This sounds vaguely like the book "Spooky House" / "A Very Scary Haunted House" by Joanne Barkan - it glows in the dark if that sounds familiar. Some of the covers (including the one I remember) have a Victorian style mansion / spooky setting. Cover 1 Cover 2

I used a slightly modified version of the Grim Reaper pattern from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Cute-Crochet-Zombies-Ninjas/dp/1594742324/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

My grandmother taught me the basics when i was a kid.. but all i could remember was the straight basic crochet and double crochet.. so i made a about 50 scarves last winter.. a bunch went to folks on here.. but i got this book. I had to watch some tutorials on youtube, but ive been slowly attempting some things.. mostly just making shapes till i get them right!

Your stuff looks great and more ambitious than mine!

One of these?

Look N Find Scary Monsters

Look N Find Witches Ghosts and Goblins

A Very Scary Haunted House

Jack O'Lantern's Scary Halloween.
https://www.amazon.com/OLanterns-Scary-Halloween-Golden-Books/dp/0307100162