"The Secret Halloween Costume" by Sophie Vaillancourt is a delightful and whimsical story that celebrates the magic of being true to oneself, even on Halloween night!

As we join Charlotte, a young witch with a big heart and a creative spirit, we are whisked away on a charming adventure filled with Halloween excitement. I adored following Charlotte's journey as she bravely decides to forge her own path, challenging the traditional expectations of what it means to be a witch on this spooky holiday.

Vaillancourt's storytelling is both heartwarming and empowering, delivering an important message about embracing individuality and following our passions. Through Charlotte's determination to express herself authentically, young readers are encouraged to listen to their own hearts and pursue their dreams, no matter what others may expect.

The illustrations are simply enchanting, capturing the essence of Halloween with vibrant colors and playful details. The adorable black cats and grinning pumpkins add an extra layer of charm to Charlotte's world, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the magic of the season.

What I appreciate most about "The Secret Halloween Costume" is its gentle reminder that it's okay to be different and to celebrate our uniqueness. This heartwarming tale is sure to inspire children to embrace their individuality and to have the courage to be themselves, not just on Halloween, but every day of the year.

Overall, "The Secret Halloween Costume" is a delightful treat for young readers and families alike. It's a wonderful addition to any Halloween book collection and a perfect choice for sparking conversations about self-expression and acceptance.

When my children were young we would read books together at bedtime every night. Part of the fun was selecting books around the different seasons and celebrations. This is a book I would have totally read to my children.

This is a cute picture book. The illustrations are clear and crisp and very eye-catching. The story is told very simply. Charlotte is a witch who doesn't want to dress scary for Halloween this year. With the help of friends and her Grandmother she gets a new cool costume. It's a message about being yourself and embracing it while creating new traditions.

I think this one is geared towards younger children and especially ones that might be feeling anxious or scared about Halloween. This one is all about making it fun and doing what makes you happy. It's a good and easy little story 🎃

The author is a popular French Canadian singer and model and I believe this is her first English published children's book 🇨🇦

I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and CrackBoom books and Chouette Publishing for granting me access to this Advance Reader Copy.

cute little story about a girl who don't want to wear scary costume for Halloween, so she attempted to find the material and style for her new costume. it's about breaking the tradition and be yourself more.

The Secret Halloween Costume

My son enjoyed the Halloween theme. He enjoyed reading the book especially with it being October.

Easy reading with a great seasonal theme for key stage 1.

Each stage of this book has beautiful illustrations related to Halloween.

Charlotte doesn't want to be a scary witch and do her mom's typical tradition. With her friends, they search through the house to look for alternative outfits.

This story shows children about friendship, compassion, Halloween of course and most of all the fun of reading.

#NetGalley #bookstagram #bookreview#goodreads #youngreaders #ks1

The Secret Halloween Costume is a win for this Halloween season, and I adore everything about this book. Charlotte is a young witch wanting to step outside the norm for this year's Halloween outfit and she doesn't hold back when picking the perfect costume for herself.
I love the cute spookiness of this book and the illustrations are adorable. The colors are vibrant and add some un-scariness to the story. The message is clear throughout the story, teaching us that we are our own person. We should all be comfortable in our own skin, doing and wearing what we want for ourselves. This is a great addition to any bookshelf this time of year, I will be recommending this.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this ARC.

Kids will love this book. It's bright and fun and the illustrations are incredible - absolutely love them. Though I have to disagree with our little protagonist and say, Halloween costumes SHOULD be scary! 🎃👻

Our cutie-patootie 6 year old really enjoyed this Halloween treat. The illustrations were spookily beautiful. The Secret Hallloween Costume was a cute inspirational story that teaches kids that it is okay to be yourself. A great message to any child that you dont always have to follow what everyone else does and think outside the box. We need more Super Heroines in this world.

Our rating: 5 pumpkins!

Thank you so much to Chouette Publishing and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Charlotte is a witch but doesn’t want to dress up mean and scary on Halloween like she has to every year. She searches for a costume that seems right, but then finds something better and goes right to her Grandma for help.

What a sweet Halloween book, she wanted to be different from everyone else and found that the tradition wasn’t very nice anymore, she tried to think of solutions and then asked her grandma for help with a big project to make Halloween more fun for everyone.

I really like how fun this book it, with it all being young witches and then each having to dress up for the season was so funny. Her friends were really sweet and tried to help her as much as they could, and I liked that in the end she helps them.

The illustrations were really cute and showed the story off really well. I think this a really great easy Halloween read, children would really enjoy this and it shows them a variety of what kinds of costumes they could wear for Halloween themselves.

This was such a cute, fast read for Halloween. My kids and I really enjoyed it! I recommend this book to all parents of young babies.

I loved the storyline of this book and it had amazing illustrations! I really love the interactive sequins on the front cover.

My children absolutely loved this book! It was a great reminder to them to do what makes them happy and not worry about what others think. My children are 5 and 8 and both really enjoyed this book. It was cute, not too long, offered a lot of great pictures, easy for them both to understand and even had something positive for them to take from the story. They really enjoyed it. Thank you Netgalley and Sophie Vaillancourt for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a nice Halloween story promoting fun rather than scary costumes.

Charlotte has been told that it is tradition for a young witch to wear a scary witch costume at Halloween. Charlotte just doesn’t want to be scary. She asks her friends but when they search the costumes in the attic, they find scary costumes. Fortunately, Charlotte has a Granny who is a bit of a free thinker and helps her create a costume she is happy with.

I found the illustrations delightful. The story is okay and nice for the Halloween holiday. However, I think it could be made clearer that Charlotte wasn’t going behind her mother’s back to be disrespectful. A parent might have to explain the choices between tradition and new ideas and consider better ways to handle the situation than possibly setting one family member against another. I recommend this to families where parents help their children understand tradition, while allowing them creativity.

Source: NetGalley 2021.

This was an adorable book! Charlotte is a tenacious young witch set on changing traditions in her small town; and she does just that with the help of her Grandmother. The artwork is gorgeous, and the story is written at a comfortable level for young children. My child thoroughly enjoyed the read and enjoyed pointing out all the fall and Halloween details on the pages. We will definitely be picking a physical copy of this one!

I was given an ARC of this story to read; but thoughts and opinions are all my own. Thank you to @netgalley and Chouette Publishing for the chance to read this title.

This is an adorable children’s book about being yourself. You don't always have to do what is expected, especially if it is something your are not comfortable doing. Part of being a kid, especially at Halloween, is having fun.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.

My five year old boy loves anything Halloween and he enjoyed this book immensely. Will recommend for sure!

I read this with my grandchildren when they were trying to figure out what to wear for Halloween. It was a cute story about a young witch, Charlotte, who doesn't want to be a scary witch for Halloween. It was tradition, but she wants to change that. With the help of her friends and her grandma, she comes up with a great alternative and her enthusiasm is catchy as her classmates find their own costumes from the stuff Charlotte and her friends found in their attics. We liked this story that teaches about individuality and being yourself. Charlotte was someone who wanted to change things and went about it in a quiet, persistent way. We do not see what mom's reaction was to this change, but grandma and her teacher both agreed. The illustrations are large, vibrant and cute. The expressions show the various emotions the characters were feeling. Overall a good story to show that it is okay to be yourself and show that individuality.

We really enjoyed this book! The story & pictures were beautiful, and it was a very fun read! I would definitiely reccomend this for all little kiddies & its a story worthy of a place on any bookshelf!

This one I have mixed feelings about. I really love the illustrations by Karin Dupuis. The idea that the girl doesn’t want to do things like everyone else thinks they should be is ok.

However, I dislike the idea of turning traditions into bad things. Many traditions are there to remember where you come from or to bring the family closer together and I think they should be a good thing. Teaching little ones that traditions are bad are not really a good thing. I do think that families and people can outgrow a tradition though.

I would recommend pairing this with a book that talks about how traditions are good and how to create a tradition of your own or at least having a discussion about traditions as a whole. Children need to see the good as well as the bad. Otherwise, they may begin to think that traditions, as a whole, are bad.

In addition, this book also has a silent message to go against your parents. While I think that would be a stupid thing for a parent to go against, I also do not condone children being encouraged to disobey their parents, subtle as it may be.

If you disregard the traditions and going against your parents issues then this book is pretty cute and teaches that it’s alright to do things differently from everyone else. That is a message I think is great. Children need to learn that they don’t always have to do what everyone else does.

Overall, I would recommend this book for youngsters for Halloween time. This is a book written by a woman with a female lead who goes against the grain.

⭐️⭐️/5

*This book was given in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* really adorable story and i really love how cute the artwork is! too cute lol

This simple Halloween story has appealing illustrations and an okay message... as long as you interpret it a certain way.

Charlotte is a witch, but she's had enough of being scary. On Halloween, all the witches dress up in their scariest clothes and makeup. It's tradition! But Charlotte is tired of the whole scary thing, and when her friends find out how she's feeling, they try to help her find a new costume.

I have no problem with any of this. What kind of bothers me, though, was that when Charlotte gets to school and shows off her new costume, that isn't the end of it. She assumes all the other kids dislike scary stuff as much as she does, and proceeds to bring out a bunch of non-scary costumes, declaring: "No one has to be scary for Halloween." She follows this by saying that the kids should wear whatever they like, but I thought it came off as a little pushy on Charlotte's part, since the kids all seem to be happily decked out in their scary costumes and makeup. Then the teacher declares that the kids are free to wear whatever they like, implying that everyone was literally forced to get scary... which perhaps should've been addressed with more than a weak excuse about tradition. (As far as I know, a tradition isn't a mandate.)

Anyway, I'm sure this book will appeal to kids, as it's bright, appealing, and fairly inoffensive. Some of them might wonder, though, what's so wrong with a scary costume on Halloween.