SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Fusenews
  • Reviews
  • Librarian Previews
  • Best Books
    • Top 100
    • Best Books of 2022
    • Best Books of 2021
    • Best Books of 2020
    • Best Books of 2019
    • Best Books of 2018
    • Best Books of 2017
    • Best Books of 2016
    • Best Books of 2015
    • Best Books of 2014
    • Best Books of 2013
  • Fuse 8 n’ Kate
  • Videos
  • Press Release Fun

October 31, 2017 by Betsy Bird

Halloween Costumes with First Book: Go Big or Go Home

October 31, 2017 by Betsy Bird   Leave a Comment

The idea for today’s post completely annihilated my original plan. In an early draft I was just going to gather together a variety of Halloween-appropriate links from over the past few years.  For example, there’s this kooky post from a blog called The Haunted Closet (which is still running and fantastic) back in 2010 that examined a James Flora book for young readers (though after reading the post that point could conceivably be deemed arguable) called Grandpa’s Ghost Stories. That’s good stuff, but it’s not really enough to build a blog post upon. Then, to my rescue, in rides Twitter. How on earth could I have forgotten that each and every year the good people of First Book (a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need) wipes the floor with the kidlit costuming competition? You thought the Scholastic costume contest each year was fancy? You think your local children’s librarians or booksellers or teachers are keen? Baby, you have no idea.

To celebrate the many years of First Book costumes, I’m putting together today a compilation of some of the ones that have given me the most joy over the years. By book they are:

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ExtraYarnExtraYarn

ExtraYarn1


 

NathanHale1NathanHale2DonnerDinnerParty

NathanHale3

NathanHale2

NathanHaleHazardous

NathanHale4

NathanHale5

As Alison Morris explained to me, “we depicted all of the books in the series at that time + the three stars + our interns were the Correction Babies”


 

VegetablesUnderwear4

VegetablesUnderwear

VegetablesUnderwear3

VegetablesUnderwear1

VegetablesUnderwear2


 

penguinproblems

100Penguins


 

LegendRockPaper

RockPaperScissors

RockPaper3

RockPaper2

So how did this all get started?  Alison Morris puts it this way:

“We have almost 100 staff members now at First Book, and every team gets into the Halloween spirit, assembling costumes and performing skits at our annual party held each year at a local restaurant. Our eCommerce team oversees curation for the First Book Marketplace and manages all of the data collection, tagging, uploading, shipping, receiving, etc. that get those books up on the Marketplace and then into the hands of our members. As proud book nerds, we love creating costumes inspired by one of our favorite books from the current calendar year. We have so many favorite titles that it’s often hard to choose, but some work better for costume adaptation than others. Our secondary hope is always that by dressing up as a new book we may help new folks discover it – including our members! Our nonprofit social enterprise now serves a network of more than 325K educators, librarians, and program leaders serving kids in need, and we’re focused every day on increasing their access to brand new books.”

Thanks to Alison and First Book for allowing me to share some of their images. Keep it up, guys! And Happy Halloween to one and all!

Filed under: Uncategorized

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
Alison Morrischildren's literary costumesFirst BookHalloween

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

March 2023

Announcing the Stinetinglers Winner! The Kettle's Dark Secret by Clara J.

by Betsy Bird

March 2023

Bologna Presentations: IBBY Doing the Good Work That Needs to Be Done, Worldwide

by Betsy Bird

February 2023

Sydney Taylor Book Blog Award Tour Interview: Featuring Mari Lowe of Aviva Vs. the Dybbuk!

by Betsy Bird

January 2023

The Top Ten Most Disappointing Edibles and Potables of Children's Literature

by Betsy Bird

January 2023

Announcing the 2023 Newbery/Caldecott/YMA Pre-Game Show!

by Betsy Bird

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#184)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Review of the Day – Trees: Haiku from Roots to Leaves by Sally M. Walker, ill. Angela McKay

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Review: Nat the Cat Takes a Nap

by Esther Keller

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Here Be Monsters: On Horror, Catharsis, and Uneasy Truces with Yourself, a guest post by author Rebecca Mahoney

by Karen Jensen, MLS

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey Try Something New

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Four Breezy YA Summer Reads for Fans of 'Along for the Ride' on Netflix | Read-Alikes

Honoring John Lewis | A Brief Resource Roundup

Top 10 Audiobooks of 2021

Four Fantasies for Fans of 'The Wheel of Time' on Amazon Prime | Read-Alikes

Four Magical Middle Grade Novels for 'Encanto' Fans| Read-Alikes

About Betsy Bird

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • External Links

    • A Fuse #8 Production Reviews
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023