A Halloween Thing A Day: All Hallows Read

hthing_bannerWe all have our Halloween traditions, whether it’s reading certain books, watching certain scary movies, having friends over for a bonfire, setting up a haunted house in your garage…we all have those things we anticipate each year as the scary season rolls around. A few years back, on his blog, Neil Gaiman proposed people adopt a new Halloween tradition: giving someone a scary book to read.

All Hallows ReadVery few people can simply speak holiday traditions into existence, but Neil Gaiman—Patron Saint of Storytelling and all-around good fellow—is one of them. And thus, All Hallows Read was born.

All Hallows Read is as simple as it gets: give someone a scary book at Halloween. You can pass them out to trick-or-treaters, hand them out to friends at your bonfire, or put them under your Halloween Tree on Halloween Eve. (Tell your kids the Great Pumpkin brought them…)

Don’t just take it from me—here’s Neil Gaiman himself, explaining All Hallows Read while standing in a graveyard full of zombies. Just…everything that guy does is cooler than when anybody else does it…

(Oh, and if you like the poster in this post, head over to Introverted Wife, who creates and posts new All Hallows Reads posters every year. For free. Because, apparently, in addition to creating new holiday traditions, Neil Gaiman sprinkles awesomeness around like fairy dust everywhere he goes.)

So, how about it? Anyone going to give away some scary books this year? If so, let us know what books you’ll be handing out…and I’ll let you know where you can send mine!

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