The Homecoming

One of my favorite books to read every Halloween is The Homecoming by Ray Bradbury. For me, it's like reading the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. I know, everyone always talks about The Halloween Tree by Bradbury as being "the" Halloween book, but that one never really captured me. It goes on a little too long, I think. (Please do not egg my house if you feel like I've just thrown a dagger. I'll re-read it, ok?)

The Homecoming is a short book about a young boy waiting for all his ghoulish relatives to arrive for Halloween. He loves them all dearly, but hasn't become a vampire yet and is a bit sad. The story was originally written in 1946 and published in Mademoiselle, of all places, but re-released in 2006 with illustrations by Dave McKean.

"He took up the candle. Oh, to have teeth like steel, like nails! Or the power to send one's mind, free like Cecy, asleep on her Egyptian sands! But, no, he even feared the dark! He slept in a bed! Not in the fine polished boxes below! No wonder the Family skirted him as if he were the bishop's son!"

Ok, yes, there are a great many exclamation points, but did that bother Dr. Seuss? I think not.

Do yourself a favor and purchase this book. Read it in the dark while holding a flashlight under your chin. You'll like it, really!