Nov 03, 2011
Children's books and Halloween go hand in hand, and every year publishers across the country let loose and break out their most creative costumes. As always, we're giving you a photo-tour of all the scariest, silliest, most literary, and most original costumes, including Occupy Wall Street-style Smurfs, hipster versions of Wizard of Oz characters, and ghosts—of the Pac-Man variety. Have a look!
At Simon & Schuster's Halloween party, members of the sales department dressed up as Furies, drawing inspiration from the cover of 'Fury' by Elizabeth Miles.
L. to r., S&S's Elke Villa, Chrissy Noh, Laura Antonacci, and Lauren Rille dressed as moms and kids from 'M.O.M. (Mom Operating Manual)' by Doreen Cronin and Laura Cornell.
In the spirit of Occupy Wall Street, S&S's Halloween party was occupied by Smurfs, who had their own set of grievances.
L. to r., S&S's Chloe Foglia, Lucy Cummins, Krista Vossen, Lizzy Bromley, and Laurent Linn, who dressed up as the CMYK Ladies and Mr. Cover Special Effects.
Out in Somerville, Mass., Candlewick staffers got in the Halloween spirit. L. to r.: Nancy Bruckman, Belinda Arredondo, Melanie Blais, Lana Barnes, Rachel Smith, Lisa Rudden, Amanda Bellamy, Miriam Newman, Ginny Wallace, and Tom Frank.
Candlewick's Rachel Smith (l.) and Lana Barnes (r.) dressed as Bink and Gollie.
Trick-or-treaters also visited the Candlewick office. Seen here, Hilary Berkman and her son, Nate.
HarperCollins staffers found lots of literary of inspiration for their costumes, including The Three Blind Mice, characters from Al Yankovic’s 'When I Grow Up,' Amelia Bedelia, Other Mother and Other Father from Neil Gaiman’s 'Coraline', Pete the Cat, and more.
Harper's Stefanie Hoffman, Emilie Polster, and Lindsay Blechman dressed up as The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and won the costume contest.
With top marks for the use of ironic accessories, Marisa Russell and Caroline Sun offered a hipster take on a witch and Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz.'
HarperCollins had an Occupying presence of its own—and a Big Nate fan, at that.
YA novels inspired (l. to r.) Alana Whitman, as Karou from Laini Taylor’s 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone'; Megan Sugrue, as Juliette from Tahereh Mafi’s 'Shatter Me'; and Laura Whitaker, as Lola from Stephanie Perkins’s 'Lola and the Boy Next Door'.
It wasn't just publishers getting in on the Halloween action. In Washington D.C., First Book staffers gathered for their seventh annual Halloween Extravaganza, with plenty of children's book-based costumes. Photo: Susanne Sparks.
At Albert Whitman, (l. to r.) Kristin Ostby dressed up as the (dreaded) Slush Pile; Sue Funari was a sumo wrestler; and Wendy McClure appeared as Laura Ingalls Gertrude Chandler Wilder Warner.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Christine Krones dressed in her roller derby outfit, complete with roller skates.
Over at Penguin, the Puffin design team transformed its offices into the "World of Tim Burton," complete with a Willy Wonka, of course.
Keeping with the Tim Burton theme, Puffin designer Tony Saraha dressed as Penguin CEO David Shanks dressed as Alice in Wonderland.
Taking inspiration from their pregnant head of publicity, Shanta Newlin, the publicity team at Penguin Young Readers Group had a 'Juno'-themed group costume...
...while other Penguin staffers provided an Abundance of Katherines, including Catherine the Great and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Out on the west coast, the cookbook 'Whole Beast Butchery' inspired a grisly display at Chronicle.
Other Chronicle staffers turned the publisher's third floor into a real-life Pac-Man game, with contestants earning points from Jell-O shots.
L. to r., Disney staffers Donna Fuchs, Danna Bremer, Tiffany Lindley, Shane Lindley, Rosie Depietri, Colin Hosten, Warren Meislin, Evan Sherwin, Michael Sugantino, Mary Bronzini, and Rob Celauro.
Also at Disney, (l. to r.) Carrie Dillon as a masked ghoul, Colin Hosten as an Ultimate Fighter wrestler, Evan Sherwin as himself in 1992, and Rob Celauro as the Karate Kid.
Disney's Shane Lindley as Peter Pan and Tiffany Lindley as Captain Hook.
The winners of Disney's costume contest: Tiffany and Shane Lindley (Most Disney), Evan Sherwin (Scariest), Donna Fuchs (Most Realistic), Rosie Depietri (Most Creative), and Colin Hosten (People’s Choice).
Book-based costumes were the order of the day over at Scholastic's NYC offices, where the Scholastic Paperbacks team made it easy to find Waldo.
Alan Smagler and Lori Benton dressed as Fly Guy and Fly Girl, based on the Tedd Arnold books.
In other book-based costumes, Becky Amsel became the title character from 'Frangeline and the Midnight Dream'...
...David Saylor channeled Jon J Muth's Stillwater the Panda...
...Julia Rydholm took inspiration from David Catrow's 'Funny Lunch'...
...Marijka Kostiw showed off her best Audrey Hepburn...
...and Sheila Marie Everett delivered '13 Gifts,' á la Wendy Mass.
Scholastic's costume contest was hosted by none other than R.L. Stine (center). The winner: a group costume based on the story of Winter the dolphin.
Over at Little, Brown, books were also the main source of costume inspiration. Here, Kate Sullivan, aka Mr. Popper, is joined by Connie Hsu, dressed as the brave hero of Todd Parr's 'I'm Not Scared.'
Ames O'Neill (r.) and Andrew Smith dressed up as a young Jane Goodall and her stuffed monkey, Jubilee, from Patrick McDonnell's 'Me... Jane.'
Little, Brown's Allison Moore as Birdie, star of 'Birdie's Big Girl Shoes.'
Mara Lander dressed as the snail from Nancy Tafuri's 'All Kinds of Kisses.'
The pink-haired Laini Taylor (aka Little, Brown's Leslie Shumate) was in control when it came to (l. to r.) Alvina Ling (a devil), Faye Bi (as marionette Zuzana), and Zoe Luderitz (as Karou), characters from Taylor's 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone.'
Also on PW
The Roundup for Industry News
Publishing news from across the Web
Many parents who are e-book enthusiasts themselves prefer print books for their children.
"We consider digital editions to be simply another format": Candlewick president and publisher Karen Lotz.
The ABA has released the list of the more than 200 titles included in this year's ABC Best Books for Children Catalog.
Universal has pulled the plug on a Wicked Lovely adaptation.
| 1 | Fault in Our Stars John Green / Author |
| 2 | Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs / Author |
| 3 | The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus #2) Rick Riordan / Author |
| 4 | The Invention of Hugo Cabret Brian Selznick / Author, Brian Selznick / Illustrator |
| 5 | The Lost Hero Rick Riordan / Author |
| 6 | War Horse: (Movie Cover) Michael Morpurgo / Author |
| 1 | Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet Jane O'Connor / Author, Robin Preiss Glasser / Illustrator, Carolyn Bracken / Illustrator |
| 2 | Pinkalicious: Pink of Hearts Victoria Kann / Author, Victoria Kann / Illustrator |
| 3 | Listen to My Trumpet! (an Elephant and Piggie Book) Mo Willems / Author, Mo Willems / Illustrator |
| 4 | Heaven Is for Real for Kids Todd Burpo / Author, Sonja Burpo / Author, Colton Burpo / Author, Wilson Ong / Illustrator |
| 5 | I Want My Hat Back Jon Klassen / Illustrator |
| 6 | The LEGO Ideas Book Daniel Lipkowitz / Author, Sebastiaan Arts / Contribution by, Tim Goddard / Contribution by, Deborah Higdon / Contribution by, Barney Main / Contribution by, Duncan Titmarsh / Contribution by |
| 1 | Hunger Games Suzanne Collins / Author |
| 2 | Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney / Author |
| 3 | Inheritance Cycle Christopher Paolini / Author |
| 4 | Magic Tree House Osborne, Mary Pope / |
| 5 | Witch & Wizard James Patterson & Ned Rust / |
| 6 | Pretty Little Liars Sara Shepard / Author |
