Spookytale, high quality board book narrative, with an Abrams Block twist

What if you had some delicious, baked potato chips that were sold in a can? They taste the same as the ones you’re used to eating, but they’re a little bit larger, the packaging is different and their shape is just a bit round, instead of oval. Spookytale is that board book. It’s by Christopher Franceschelli and has a young elementary spooky vibe that’s complete with the fold-out, die-cut aspects that his other Abrams Appleseed books deliver. It introduces Halloween-ish elements to those young ages via thick, durable pages and a fun, engaging story that’ll get them primed for October 31.

As I showed the book to some first graders they were quick to discover the common denominators on most of the pages. Young readers will see a troll, fox, beaver, a dog, and more on most of the pages. I’m sure that the key demographic can find those images with ease. This age group is slightly older than those that are the sweet spot, but they still enjoyed it.

A large part of that reason is due to the vibrant colors and incredible detail in Spookytale. In looking at Spookytale readers will see similarities to the Block books, also on Abrams Appleseed. Author Franceschelli is behind those books too, so it’s ironic that this book feels like such a spiritual cousin to those books.

The print on the spine of Spookytale says, “An Abrams Trail Tale”. This is a new imprint within Abrams Appleseed, similar to the Block books. We’ve been huge fans of that series since its inception and this series seems to be no different in its quality. The difference between these two series is in the subject that they take on. The Block series is more about a concept or topic, for example, number, letter, Disney or Star Wars. The Abrams Trail Tale series, assuming it continues down this path, is that it’ll be more along the lines of a journey or destination.

In Spookytale our two friends traipse through the nighttime scenario and encounter lots of age-appropriate scary, in a funny way, things. They go through a graveyard, a cave loaded with bats, a cornfield, and ultimately, the gates of a gothic house on the top of a hill. Once they enter the spooky house they see lots of kid monsters having a party. This spread opens up into gatefolds that go out and up. Kids will love this interactive feature because some won’t catch it at first. Their friends will boldly yell out to them to open it, but after reading the book once those kids won’t miss it again. And similar to the rest of the book, the details in addition to the vast number of characters who have joined the party will blow them away.   

Spookytale is a comfort board book fun for crawlers through kindergarten. Adults will see the consistent vibe between these and the Abrams Block Book Series. They should also acknowledge that those books encourage kids to read page-by-page, whereas Spookytale and the rest of the Abrams Trail Tale Series will make kids curious to see how the journey ends. Hint: it probably ends with the reader being happy and the characters in the board book having a great time.

Spookytale, an Abrams Trail Tale is by Christopher Franceschelli with illustrations by Allison Black and available on Abrams Appleseed, an imprint of Abrams Books.

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