The 31st Trick-or-Treater by Ben Farthing
This was an interesting book by Ben Farthing, the author of “I Found Puppets Living in My Apartment Walls” and “I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House”. He writes some interesting books to say the least.
I found this book on TikTok from the author himself! The book takes place in October of 2025. Each chapter is a day in October. I don’t think you had to read it one chapter a day, but I did because it was fun. I liked the idea that this could be happening as I read. It was like those Advent calendar books I’ve seen on TikTok lately.
In the book, Bob is searching for his daughter, Mary, who disappeared with twenty-nine other kids last Halloween. Bob has never given up looking for Mary and the others. He has been searching his neighborhood to find any information about what happened to these kids. He has even broken into homes to search for them. This year, they have started to come back! Each day in October, one of them returns, and they keep mentioning the 31st trick-or-treater. There are also some terrible pranks going on around town. Pranks that are truly hurting people, and the police are so focused on the missing kids, there is not a lot being done to stop the pranks.
If you have read any of Ben Farthing’s books, you know this will be a little out of the ordinary—a little wild, a little crazy—but a whole lot of fun. I liked reading it in October as a little read-along, but I think you could read it anytime and enjoy it.
Three out of Five Magical Coffee Cups
Literary Coffee 