Treats rule the day—or night—in The Haunted Playground, a picture book written by R.J. Palacio, author of the 16-million-copy middle grade bestseller Wonder, with art by A Series of Unfortunate Events illustrator Brett Helquist, but there are ample tricks at play.
Scheduled to roll off press July 21 from Random House Books for Young Readers with an announced first print run of 100,000 copies, the tale illuminates what transpires when, long after Halloween trick-or-treaters are presumably asleep, a gaggle of ghosts arrives at a playground, not to frighten but to frolic, and two (very much awake) human kids join in their revelry. In charge is narrator Rex Magnificus, the ghost who rules the playground—and who appears front-and-center on the book’s cover, which is revealed here for the first time.
The book’s words and pictures are, in a true sense, homegrown—and sprang from the hearts and experiences of both author and illustrator. The initial inspiration for the story came to Palacio while she was walking through a small park across the street from her Brooklyn home a few days before Halloween, when, she recalled “I had a vision of the playground filled with ghosts—not haunting, but playing, like kids. Brett lives in my neighborhood, so he knows that park himself, and he added a whole other dimension to the story: it’s playful but also spooky, scary but whimsical. I love the movement in Brett’s art. There’s a flow, a sense of things being carried on a magical wind, which sweeps you up. And he perfectly captured the landscape, the visual iconography of the haunted playground.”
Helquist felt an immediate connection to the setting and premise of Palacio’s story. “This project was especially rewarding for me,” he told PW. “Halloween really is my favorite night of the year. Our neighbors in Brooklyn come out on their stoops with big bowls of candy for the trick-or-treaters and the sidewalks fill up with kids in costume. For a few hours everyone is happy and just having fun. I love it, and imagining a bunch of ghosts having a night of their own playing in a nearby park makes me smile.”
A Home for the Book
Perhaps fittingly given its spectral focus, The Haunted Playground made an unexpected appearance in the office of Random House senior editor Kelly Delaney, who acquired and edited the picture book. Though she and Palacio had spoken about ideas for potential projects, Delaney recalled, “This manuscript was a total surprise when Raquel sent it my way. I didn’t expect to see something so delightfully macabre from the author of the Wonder-inspired journal Choose Kind Journal: Do One Wonderful Thing Every Day, and it was thrilling. Raquel has a knack for rhythmic, inviting, read-aloud text and, not surprisingly, her characters were charming from the start.”
Kelly also recognized the simultaneously timeless and timely appeal of The Haunted Playground, noting that Palacio “isn’t an author who is guided by trends, but rather works with classic themes and has stellar instincts. But of course, Halloween is a growing market and the demand for scarier stories has expanded from YA, down to middle grade, and now down to picture books. So, we jumped at the chance to work with her on this.”
Though Palacio has a background in graphic design and has illustrated some of her earlier books, including We’re All Wonders and White Bird, she opted not to create the art for her Halloween picture book. “I knew I wasn’t the right illustrator for it,” she said. “My illustration style wasn’t a good fit for the text.” When Mallory Loehr, president of Random House Children’s Books, proposed Helquist, Palacio recalled, “I knew that he would bring the text to life in ways that I couldn’t even dream of. Brett’s art was the greatest thing that could have happened to this book.”
Delaney agreed, saying, “Like Raquel, Brett’s work is timeless, and it felt so fitting to have these two renowned creators from the middle grade space bring their skills to a picture book.” She added, “Raquel is never afraid to stretch her talent into new formats and play with the unexpected, and her text is read-aloud perfection. And Brett’s eye for detail, charming characters, and sweeping scenery are on full display here. Plus, the park that inspired the story for Raquel is one that Brett took his own kids to when they were growing up! It really felt like fate.”
The cover design of The Haunted Playground was spearheaded by executive art director Nicole de las Heras, who emphasized that “picture book creation is a collaborative process, and landing on the right cover image is part of that. With every cover, the top priority is to telegraph the story in one eye-catching, concise image that makes people want to pick up the book.” After discussing what should be on the cover, she added, “We decided it felt right to convey the playfulness between the ghosts and the kids, and that it was important to show Rex Magnificus, the human kids that join the playground party, and a mix of the amorphous ghosts and ghosts wearing costumes.”
Giving Rex top billing in the cover art was the natural choice, according to Palacio. “Of all the things I adore about Brett’s spooky, fun, gorgeous illustrations, my favorite is the way he brings Rex fully to life—and you see that on the cover,” she said. “Brett’s imagining of him makes Rex feel completely real, existing in the fright-geist like Cruella DeVille, Chernabog from Fantasia, or the Grinch, which is probably the best comparison. There’s a rakish quality to Rex that makes his scariness just a tad ridiculous, and this is something the kids in the book instinctively get. My hope is that kids reading the book, or having it read to them, will get it, too!”
The Haunted Playground by R.J. Palacio, illus. by Brett Helquist. Random House, $19.99 July 21 ISBN 979-8-217-02928-0
