Lesley Bannatyne
Halloween Author


QUICK LINKS

Articles
News
Links
Bio
Contact

Halloween Books

Buy at amazon.com

Buy direct from publisher

Lesley Bannatyne
Halloween Author

• Halloween: An American Holiday, An American History (1990)
• A Halloween How-To. Costumes, Parties, Decorations and Destinations. (2001)
• A Halloween Reader. Poems, Stories, and Plays from Halloweens Past (2004)
• Witches' Night Before Halloween (2007)
• Halloween Nation. Behind the Scenes of America's Fright Night
  

---

 

Halloween. An American Holiday, An American History
Lesley Bannatyne; Facts on File, 1990 (hardcover, out of print and hard to find!); Pelican Publishing Co., 1999 (paperback)

Order from Amazon.com
Order direct from Pelican
Order from Booksamillion
Order from Barnes and Noble

Halloween, the fastest growing holiday in the country, offers a unique window on American culture. This volume traces the history of Halloween celebrations from their earliest roots in the British Isles as well as explores the vital influences of the ethnic, religious, and occult heriages of the diverse peoples who settled in America.

Halloween, related to a seasonal celebration that likely began more than 1000 years ago in the British Isles, has drawn from the traditions of various American ethnic groups to evolve into its 20th century incarnation. Young readers and adults alike will enjoy learning the odd facts about pumpkins, witches, and ghosts. Among the latter, Humphrey Bogart's spirit is said to haunt New York city every October 31, warning, "Don't stick around California too long."

While some may question Bogie's advice, none will argue that Halloween has a truly fascinating history.

Interested in Halloween History?

There are so many good Halloween history resources now that it's hard to capture all of them here. Instead, I'll recommend a few: I especially like the Halloween chapter in Ronald Hutton's Stations of the Sun; Isaac Bonewits' web article, "The Real History of Halloween," and Jack Santino's Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life.
--LB

 

A Halloween How To: Costumes, Parties, Decorations, & Destinations. Lesley Bannatyne; Pelican Publishing Co., 2001

Order from amazon.com
Order direct from Pelican
Order from Booksamillion
Order from Barnes and Noble

From Booklist

From a sociological history of Halloween and its contemporary traditions to a guide to the ideal sound effects to make your party creepy (think Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries), this how-to offers everything anyone would ever want to know about All Hallows Eve. Bannatyne takes us through decorating houses, yards, and ourselves; planning a killer Halloween party; embarking on must-see Halloween pilgrimages (don't miss the Punkin Chuckin' Contest in Morton, Illinois); and preparing Halloween cuisine ("beyond blood punch"). Bannatyne's anecdotes and lifelong obsession with Halloween give the book a readable quality in spite of the lengthy lists and detailed how-to information. This will be a useful reference for both the growing population of adults who revel in Halloween and folks who seek to make the trick-or-treat experience a little more harrowing for unsuspecting children in costume. If nothing else, those who follow this book carefully are sure to win every Halloween contest they enter, whether dressed as an out-of-work superhero or a giant post-it note.
--John Green Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

[From the Introduction to A Halloween How To]

Halloween, 1961

I feel exquisitely beautiful. I'm wearing black tights and a leotard, two black-felt ears, and a four-foot-long tail made from a stocking stuffed with newspaper. I have on mittens and my mom's high heels. At eight years old, I'm radiant as I walk with my friends in the smoky dusk of late October.

From out of nowhere Dennis Polaski appears, dressed as Zorro. He grabs my head by my cat ears and kisses me. Right on the mouth. Then he's gone, giggling, into the shrubbery that edges the split-level homes in suburban Connecticut.

It is breathtaking.

I teeter on the edge of Mrs. Kinney's porch steps, reeling with sudden adoration for a nine-year-old wearing a painted mustache and black plastic cape tied up with a shoelace. Mrs. Kinney answers the door.

"Yes?

c Rockwell, 1940s

"Trick or treat!" we holler. She holds out a bowl of Turkish Taffy. My friends and I-a tangle of pink netting, blue eyeshadow and pipe cleaners-wiggle through the door. The bars of taffy are an offering, a sacrifice made to gods of Halloween to shield homeowners from the mischief of spirits for the next twelve months. We accept the bribe. Moments later I'm tearing down the street towards home-hell on heels-clutching my brown paper bag and leaking bits of ripped newspaper through the holes in my tail. Halloween is the best holiday, ever. That's how I remember it anyway. First frost in the air, streetlights ringed with haze, the exquisite freedom of disguise. I didn't know then how many hundreds of generations had done these things, felt these things, before mine. But this was the 1950s, and Halloween was synonymous with trick or treating, and the next two decades were its American salad days: nearly every child in the nation celebrated Halloween both at school and in their neighborhood. Soon, adults were back on the scene, and by the 1990s Halloween had ballooned to the second largest retail holiday for decorations, right after Christmas. After more than two millennia, the holiday still captivates us. A Halloween How-To sets out to get a snapshot of Halloween today, or rather, several, as the holiday has as many faces as a pumpkin patch in October. It's where you'll find answers to a myriad of Halloween questions: what is the difference between a goblin and a ghoul? where can you find a decent set of fangs? what's Monster Mud? how do you stage a seance? what's the recipe for fake blood? pumpkin soup? where can you see Elvira? Freddy Kruger's glove? a life-size replica of Frankenstein in his original movie costume? n these pages you'll find hundreds of Halloween anecdotes, formulas, recipes, how-to's, history, and ideas. Ideas for costumes, parties, indoor and outdoor decorations, movies to rent, cd's to play, good food to cook, unique Halloween destinations and fun things to do. Besides how-to's and ideas for celebrating, A Halloween How-To also details what Halloween customs mean, where they come from, and what purpose they serve today, since how-to often leads to but-why? In these pages you'll find hundreds of Halloween anecdotes, formulas, recipes, how-to's, history, and ideas. Ideas for costumes, parties, indoor and outdoor decorations, movies to rent, cd's to play, good food to cook, unique Halloween destinations and fun things to do. Besides how-to's and ideas for celebrating, A Halloween How-To also details what Halloween customs mean, where they come from, and what purpose they serve today, since how-to often leads to but-why?

Halloween parade in Irvington, NY

Halloween 2001 This Halloween I watched a bulky satyr-like figure walking-no, strolling-up 6th Avenue in the Greenwich Village Halloween parade. Nude. He'd painted his body silver and wore the giant head of a goat. The eyeholes were shining with red light as if there were fire inside his skull. The crowd cheered for him-a pagan icon recast in the glass and concrete of a modern city. The woman in front of me strained against the barriers to watch the naked goat god as he slowly faded into the night. Come next morning, for all we know, he could be back selling coffee at Starbucks. An hour later I stood on a subway platform in Manhattan. A man next to me was wearing a set of wings and a sequined tiara that rose up twice the height of his head. On another day he'd seem like a perverse Tinkerbell, but it was Halloween. On Halloween he was beautiful. That 's a terrific costume, I said. He nodded demurely. "I love Halloween," he admitted. "Halloween is my last big fling before winter. It's like opening up he fireplugs in the summer." Couldn't have said it better myself.

back to top

---

Witches' Night Before Halloween

Written by Lesley Bannatyne, illustrated by Adrian Tans. For little witchlilngs (and their parents)

Twas the night before Halloween and all through the cottages
The witches were stirring their brews and their potages
Their cupboards were bursting with hoptoads and newts,
And they'd shined up their pointy-toed, fancy dress boots.

The witchlings were snoring all snug in their beds
With visions of moist, creeping things in their heads.
"Nice night," whispered Mad Maud to Potbelly Pat,
As she snuffed out the torches and took in the cat....

Witches' Night Before Halloween is a fun, poetic look at the night when witches haunt the skies and zombies road the eath The author has done a fabulous job of taking a well-known poem and turning it into a Halloween romp...the illustrator has done a nice job of keeping the mood light and moonlight smiles on almost all the creatures in this tale...Witches' Night Before Halloween will likely be read ove rand over as that speacial night in October approaches.
--Feathered Quill Book Review

Order from amazon.com
Order direct from Pelican
Order from Booksamillion
Order from Barnes and Noble

---

Halloween Nation. Behind the Scenes of America's Fright Night

For haunters, Halloweenophiles, and all you other creatures of the night


I wanted to capture the voices of those who create our 21st-century Halloween and to get to the bottom of why it's is so popular now, why it matters.

For the past two years I’ve been talking to people for whom Halloween is no ordinary day: mask makers, costumers, giant pumpkin growers, radio talk show hosts, burlesque dancers, tattoo artists, metal musicians, haunted house designers, prop makers, glass pumpkin blowers, pumpkin beer brewers, professional carvers, Halloween artists, musicians and poets, home haunters, cyber haunters, web designers, parade organizers, marchers, zombie walkers, zombie authors...you get the idea.

If you love Halloween, really love Halloween, this book is for you.
Chances are pretty good it's probably about you, too.




Order from amazon.com
Order direct from Pelican