Hellhounds Handbook: Trick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet, Give Me Something Good to… Read?

Halloween can be really predictable, or it can be one of the most exciting nights of the year. Winged bats flying at you from behind picture frames are exciting, right? We think so.

One way to make the night typically predictable is to give away candy.

Kids expect it. They dress up like princesses and cowboys and open up their bags. And what do most people drop in those bags?

Candy. Tiny candy bar after tiny candy bar. A mound of it. Probably more candy than the child should consume in months. And they will likely have half the bag eaten before they go to bed that night.

But what if you really did surprise the kids? What if you gave them books?

You could help make kids’ brains fat, not their bodies. And that’s a good thing.

Just imagine once a child has eaten several dozens pieces of chocolate, and they reach into their candy bag one more time. But this time, they find an age-appropriate book, or a comic. Your prize will truly stand out in that child’s mind.

Why should you give away books for Halloween?

The average Jack-O-Lantern bucket holds about 9,000 calories, or three pounds of sugar. Books are low in fat and sugar, and high in brain power.

“But children’s books are so expensive,” you say.

True, but not gently-used books. You can buy them for cheap at yard sales, or thrift stores, or even have a neighborhood book drive.

Sure, it’s fun to convert your garage into a haunted laboratory. Like, really. Truly, that’s a lot of fun.

The memory of a paper mache mummy jumping out at kids from behind your tool bench might fade, but the impacts of a good book will last forever.

For more ideas and more reasons to give away books this Halloween, visit this link: http://www.booksfortreats.org/

Hellhounds Handbook is a series created by Head Monster Jim for Multiverse Asheville. Click here for other Hellhounds Handbook articles, and stay tuned for more advice, straight from the Handbook’s fiery pages.

 

 

Jimmy

Jim MacKenzie is an amateur futurist on his way to guru-hood. He studied journalism and works in television. Jim writes for several blogs, including The Incredible Vanishing Paperweight and the satirical horror site StuffMonsterslike.com. Jim and his SML co-blogger, Sarah Giavedoni, have started a holiday, ticked off celebrities and tried to purchase the lunar surface. In his spare time, Jim likes listening to rock music, reading, giving away free books at his nonprofit "The POP Project" and trying to catch the real Thomas Wolfe Home arsonist.

Comments are closed.