G(r)eek Revival.

I’m behind in posting about one of my favorite holidays: Halloween. It’s a family affair in our house; adults and kids dress up, usually in homemade costumes. This year, three of us* went for a Ancient Greece-related theme: I was Medusa, my daughter was Athena and my son was a Cyclops, thanks to a book series that is spreading like wildfire in the elementary grades: Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Other than the ubiquitous fairy costumes, togas appeared to be the top choice at the school “harvest parade.” Many of the kids’ classmates had read at least one Percy Jackson book, so they recognized my snake-accented ’do right away. Two of my son’s friends dressed as “geek gods,” with togas and nerdy accessories. My daughter made her costume from a thrift-store sheet and gold braid from the fabric store, and won the library’s costume contest, along with a classmate who had the best costume I have ever seen: the lead character from A Bad Case of Stripes. But the best part of Halloween (besides the Almond Joys) was — despite headlines proclaiming fewer people read than ever — our little group of g(r)eeks showed that books matter, even amid all Halloween’s gore and glitter.

* My husband, the lone thematic holdout, was a mummy. He looked fantastic, even if his homemade costume was a bit high-maintenance.