About the OP Book House

A long time ago, in a neighborhood right here, a couple of folks heard about a little known tradition some folks were starting. All Hallow’s Read started with the idea to give folks scary books on Halloween, or comic books, or not so scary books, or whatever kind of books. (Learn more about it at http://www.allhallowsread.com)

That first couple of years we trick-or-treated our kids around and took with us a backpack of books that we’d hand out to kids who looked to be about the right height for them. We’d give “older people” books to the neighbors handing out candy. A couple of years into it I handed a book (I think it was Treasure Island) to a teenager who immediately yelled at their friend “Hey, she gave me a book”. Suddenly I had a mob of teenagers (ok maybe only 6 but that felt like a lot) all wanting their own book. So we gave them what we had.

The next year we started leaving a box of books out along with the candy bowl while we trick-or-treated our youngsters around. We’d come back to find fewer books and everything definitely looked through. We added a “Grab one if you dare” box filled with a blind selection. Stocked it with staples like the Hobbit, Neverwhere, and the Coraline.

When covid came along things changed a bit. Our neighborhood sent around a message suggesting everyone set up tables at the end of the driveways to help make things safer. And actually everyone had so much fun that that’s still how we do it it’s like a giant farmers market for candy… and at our house BOOKs. We lay out a big table covered in books and kids can browse what they like. We LOVE our tradition and so do the kids. They are so excited to come pick a book, and to tell us about it. Adults stop to discuss this or that that they remember reading. We even had a group of high schoolers last year that deliberately came to the house just to get a book…. and tell us about the books they got the previous year.

Of course also give out Candy (so much candy) but the kids seem more interested in the books. They love to pick what they want and it’s just a good time. In 2023 we gave out around 75 books throughout the evening.