Reading Can Quiet the Spooks on Halloween

Here’s a bit of Halloween lore that surfaced recently in Tarzana.

The bearer of this tale is a living, breathing woman, Darlene Daniel. By day she’s a bookseller, but by night--especially Halloween night--she confesses to practicing an almost lost art. She calls it “peeling kids off the ceiling when they’re hyper from sugar and excitement.”

Her principal method, tested on her very own children, is diabolically simple: “While they were sitting around the table sorting their [trick-or-treating] ‘take,’ I would read aloud from a collection of scary stories I’d brought home from my store.”

This, Daniel says, had the reverse effect one would expect from a recitation about headless riders and shrieking ravens. It calmed the kids down and got them ready for bed.

Daniel, proprietress of Pages Books for Children in Tarzana, isn’t the only Valley denizen who practices this form of reverse psychology. There are others. And one might even sneak into your house today--via KCET’s television programming.

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Patricia Kunkel, the Glendale resident who produces “Storytime” for PBS at KCET, begins each new season on Halloween, replete with a Hollywood star reading aloud from a book about thumps and howls in the night.

It’s an appropriate way to spread her notion that reading scary stories aloud is a proper part of the Halloween observance--or should be. (Oddly, in Los Angeles the PBS show has a 7:30 a.m. time slot.)

Anyway, today’s show is titled “Scared Silly,” and two of Kunkel’s accomplices will be fellow Valley dwellers. Actor John Astin (“The Frighteners,” “The Addams Family”) will read “The House That Drac Built” by Judy Sierra. Also, teen star Elijah Wood (“Flipper,” “The Good Son”) will read “The Big Pumpkin,” about a threateningly oversized squash, by Erica Silverman.

The philosophy at work here--the serious business of the show--is something Kunkel calls “family literacy.” She explains: “One of the most important things you can do to help your kids succeed is to read to them.”

Some people might say that watching a TV show where stars do the reading is not exactly the best way to proceed--but Kunkel ripostes, “I’ve become a much better reader-a-louder now from watching the show.”

She also says that research has shown that the 3- to 7-year-olds who view the show “are more likely to reach for that second or third book when you read to them--and want to visit the library.” Or a nearby bookstore.

Parents interested in laying in a fresh supply of “scary stories” can obtain an excellent list of age-appropriate recommendations from any Valley branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.

Tonight many library branches are open until 8 p.m. Also, some branches of the Burbank, Glendale and county library systems will be open. Phone your nearest branch for operating times. It might be a neat thing to do--make the library a final stop on the trick-or-treat rounds and cap the night with a spooky story at home.

You can also use the “scary stories” list as a buying guide at bookstores such as Dangerous Visions in Sherman Oaks, Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale or the children’s sections of Bookstar, Barnes & Noble or Crown.

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Ironically, Daniel’s store Pages won’t be open tonight, despite having recently decided to extend hours, but not until November--which means Friday. But, of course, Daniel’s advice about reeling kids in from a sugar high with words works any evening. The American Academy of Pediatrics energetically endorses the practice of reading aloud to your kids at least 20 minutes every day.

For the deadly serious (pardon the pun) fan of scary stories, next week there’s an opportunity to peruse offerings from the best book dealers in Southern California. The California Book Fair is Nov. 9-10 at the Burbank Airport Hotel & Convention Center.

Although some might balk at the idea, the event will allow parents to introduce their children to one of the scariest writers since Edgar Allan Poe: William Peter Blatty, author of “The Exorcist.” Perhaps an alternative would be to chat with Robert James Wlodarski who wrote “A Guide to the Haunted Queen Mary.”

But sometimes strong measures are necessary to counteract a kid’s sugar high. Just be sure to match the antidote to the poison.

DETAILS

* HAUNTING TIME: Tonight most Valley branches of the Los Angeles Public Library will be open until 8 p.m., along with selected branches of the Burbank, Glendale and county library systems. Some Valley bookstores that specialize in “scary stories” also will be open after dark: Dangerous Visions in Sherman Oaks and Mystery & Imagination Bookshop in Glendale. The children’s sections of Bookstar, Barnes & Noble or Crown also carry such books.