Except, of course, this year it rained on Halloween night, during the peak of trick-or-treating.
Boo!
Still, it was a mostly successful evening. This year's theme, as promised, was Dollyween: giving new books to trick-or-treaters of all ages in memory of children's literacy advocate and millions-of-books-benefactor Dolly Parton. (Read more about this general initative at Books for Treats.)
Giving out books in the rain is not ideal, but Joan and I made it work by setting up in the garage and having plastic bags available to wrap the books.
The turnout was a bit depressed by the weather. I counted about 70 trick-or-treaters, down from a little more than 100 last year. The most popular costume, once again, was princess. That was followed, in order of popularity, by fairy, devil/grim reaper and cheerleader. We also had multiple Marios. Other recognizable (to me) costumes of note included Minion, firefighter, Grogu, Ewok, plague doctor, cat, naval officer, Superman, skeleton, Negan, zombie, security guard, Pennywise (Skarsgård version), sheep, chicken, cow, werewolf and policewoman with (actual live) Chihuahua.
There was a wide range of reactions to the book giveaway. (We also had little bags of Utz pretzels so they could go away with something to munch on.) Some quotes and anecdotes from letting the trick-or-treaters pick new books:
- "My mom said I should start reading."
- "I have to read books to finish my homework for first grade"
- [holds up book and shakes it at me] "What do I do with it?"
- "No thank you."
- "Can I have two?"
- The Magic Tree House series remains popular, and some older kids looked upon them nostalgically
- "How many books? Just one?" [She left with Charlotte's Web and Beezus and Ramona]
- Two high-school-age boys snagged The Haunting of Hill House
- Toward the end, two high-school-age girls each took multiple books and seemed very happy
Here are some more photos from the Dollyween festivities...
