It's a time for children to dress up as princesses and pirates and go from house to house, calling, "Trick or Treat!" Their eyes will get big as they are rewarded with treasures and sweets. And perhaps you will celebrate Halloween by going to a costume party or a haunted house.

But did you ever wonder where all this holiday gaiety came from and what it means? Silver RavenWolf (I'm sure you know her!) reveals the answers in Halloween.

The book begins by sharing the history of where this harvest holiday came from. Did you know it was originally called Samhain? Samhain means "the end of summer". You'll find out what the ancient people did to celebrate this holiday and how the ideas about it have changed over the years. Did you know it has really become wildly popular in the U.S. only over the last 100 years? It's true! You'll also find out why ghosts and skeletons, jack-o'-lanterns and vampires are associated with October 31 of each year.

Halloween shows you lots of neat stuff you can do, either by yourself or at a party. First you can learn to do divination (or foreseeing the future) in a variety of ways. You can use pumpkin seeds or magick mirrors, nuts or tap water to find out what is going to happen.

There are all sorts of recipes for Halloween treats and fun you can have in the kitchen, making things like "tuna ghouls" or "magickal mice." They're tasty, too!

Next you can do real magick. There are spells here for protection, love, prosperity and much more. Finally, you'll learn rituals to honor the dead.

Honor the spirit of this hallowed harvest holiday with the rituals, recipes, and spells you'll find in Halloween.

This book continues its fifty-year tradition as an indispensable, dictionary-style supplement for anyone’s personal or professional library.

The author of The Satanic Verses returns with his most humorous and accessible novel yet. This is the story of Haroun, a 12-year-old boy whose father Rashid is the greatest storyteller in a city so sad that it has forgotten its name. When the gift of gab suddenly deserts Rashid, Haroun sets out on an adventure to rescue his print.

In one of the most hotly anticipated sequels in memory, J.K. Rowling takes up where she left with Harry's second year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Old friends and new torments abound, including a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girl's bathroom, an outrageously conceited professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, and a mysterious force that turns Hogwarts students to stone.

The Deluxe Edition includes an exclusive insert featuring near-scale reproductions of Mary GrandPré's interior art, as well as never-before-seen full-color frontispiece art on special paper. The custom-designed slipcase is foil-stamped and contains a full-cloth case book that has been blind-stamped on front and back cover with foil stamping on the spine.  The book includes full-color endpapers featuring the jacket art from the trade edition and a wraparound jacket featuring art created especially for this edition by Mary GrandPré.

Fourteen-year-old Harry Potter joins the Weasleys at the Quidditch World Cup, then enters his fourth year at Hogwarts Academy where he is mysteriously entered in an unusual contest that challenges his wizarding skills, friendships and character, amid signs that an old enemy is growing stronger.

We could tell you, but then we'd have to Obliviate your memory.

I say to you all, once again—in the light of
Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong
as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and
enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing
an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.

So spoke Albus Dumbledore at the end of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts. But as Harry enters his fifth year at wizard school, it seems those bonds have never been more sorely tested. Lord Voldemort’s rise has opened a rift in the wizarding world between those who believe the truth about his return, and those who prefer to believe it’s all madness and lies—just more trouble from Harry Potter.

Add to this a host of other worries for Harry…
• A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey
• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf
• Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team
• And of course, what every student dreads: end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

…and you’d know what Harry faces during the day. But at night it’s even worse, because then he dreams of a single door in a silent corridor. And this door is somehow more terrifying than every other nightmare combined.

In the richest installment yet of J. K. Rowling’s seven-part story, Harry Potter confronts the unreliability of the very government of the magical world, and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it) Harry finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty and unbearable sacrifice.

Though thick runs the plot (as well as the spine), readers will race through these pages, and leave Hogwarts, like Harry, wishing only for the next train back.

During his third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter must confront the devious and dangerous wizard responsible for his parents' deaths.

What did Harry Potter know about magic? He was stuck with the decidedly un-magical Dursleys, who hated him. He slept in a closet and ate their leftovers. But an owl messenger changes all that, with an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches, where it turns out Harry is already famous.. . . Full color.

Cooking expert and lifestyle guru Harumi Kurihara has won over the hearts of Japanese home cooks with her simple, delicious recipes. After selling millions of copies of her cookbooks, magazines, and housewares in her home country, this charismatic former housewife now shares her award-winning kitchen secrets with Americans for the first time.

These elegant, effortless recipes reflect Harumi's down-to-earth approach to Japanese cooking. Simply written and featuring everyday ingredients, recipes include Pan-Fried Noodles with Pork and Bok Choy, Warm Eggplant Salad, Japanese Pepper Steak, Seafood Miso Soup, and Harumi's popular Carrot and Tuna Salad, along with a chapter on simple ways to make delectable sushi at home.

Demystifying Japanese cooking and celebrating freshness, seasonality, and simplicity, this delightful book introduces Americans to one of the food world's brightest stars, and invites us to cook with her, one gracious dish at a time.