The Best Halloween Ever

The central question preoccupying the novel's young protagonists is whether this year’s Halloween will be a disaster. The prognosis on Halloween seems bleak: Not only has trick-or-treating been banned this year but Halloween is also set to be hosted at school, chaperoned by parents and teachers. Beth, the narrator, reflects that the excessive involvement of grown-ups means this year’s Halloween will be “safe and controlled […] and peaceful and boring” (40). “Peaceful” and “boring” are adjectives that go against the essence of Halloween for the children in the novel: The appeal of Halloween is precisely that it allows children to play with identities, assert their creativity, and go out on the streets trick-or-treating with parents remaining discreetly on the sidelines. Although a tightly chaperoned, candy-less Halloween appears a disaster, the appeal of Halloween is so powerful that as it approaches, the children’s interest in the festival begins to pick up. When the changes to the holiday are first announced, Beth notes that the children of Woodrow Wilson School are apathetic about their costumes, with many choosing to dress as the mascot of a hardware store. However, as time goes on, Beth decides to dress up as a belly dancer, Boomer wants to go as King Kong, and Charlie and Cecil plan to be two halves of a lion.