The Crayons Trick or Treat

Drew Daywalt

Oliver Jeffers

HarperCollins, 2022

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9780593621028 

The hilarious crayons from  The Day The Crayons Quit are ready to celebrate Halloween! They want to go trick-or-treating, but they’re not sure what to say!

So Purple Crayon tries to teach the rest of the box the magic words to say when they ring their neighbours’ doorbells. (Hint: It’s NOT “Boo!”)

This is a story for young children who are noticing the preparations happening in stores for this not-so-traditional celebration in Australia but who are fascinated by it, its trappings and the concept of trick-or-treat.  While it is growing in popularity here, there are still many who mutter about it being an American thing but in fact, it is much older than that, dating back to  pagan times and the festival of Samhain which marked the end of the harvest season  then gradually morphing into All Hallows Eve as the night before the Christian festival of All Saints Day as Christianity spread throughout Britain, and its familiar celebrations were taken by the Irish to the USA.

Written as a conversation between the crayons themselves, the font used means that this is one for adults to share with littlies, which opens up opportunities to talk about the origins of trick-or-treat as well as the importance of using manners.