I really enjoy October, and getting in the mood for Halloween. And, like many people, I have my favorites for this time of year. If you asked me to pick one book that sums up the feeling of what Halloween SHOULD be, I’d go back to my own childhood. For me, there’s no real question:

Scary Stories to tell in the Dark collected from Folklore by Alvin Schwartz and with incredibly evocative (and eerie) black and white drawings by Stephen Gammell that look like something out of a nightmare. Arranged into sections with stories meant to scare, provide laughs, ghosts or other dangers. The very first story, about a young boy digging in his garden who finds a large (human) toe poking out of the dirt and decides to pull it up and take it home, only to be stalked by the toe’s vengeful owner, sets the tone for the rest of the book. First published in 1981, the book has apparently become a bit of a classic–it spawned two sequels, and it’s possible to get your hands on the Scary Stories Treasury which collects them in a hardcover omnibus edition. (And yes, the terrible old story about the Vindow Viper is in the collection, too).