The Longest Halloween Book 1

The Longest Halloween is the name of a book series written by Frank Wood. Inspired in part by actual events in the author's childhood, the series is at heart, about family and friends and the valuable place that they have in our lives. Set in the fictional small town of Portersville, USA, Joel Franklin and his younger brother Jasper are the heart and soul of the stories. The thrilling adventures that they encounter in their home town, especially around the Halloween season are, in editor Melody Culver's words, "the stuff of movies."
The critically acclaimed series has been awarded the Story Monsters Approved certification for children's literature and the Mom's Choice Silver Award honoring excellence in young adult fiction. More recently, the third installment of the series, Gabbie Del Toro and the Mystery of the Warlock's Urn was awarded an honorable mention in the Middle Grade Fiction category at the 2018 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards.

My love for all things Halloween goes way, way back to when I was a young boy growing up in Philadelphia. At that time Halloween wasn't a bad word or a wicked thing but a time where we could put the mundane and humdrum aside for one night and imagination and creativity would rule. My mother would have the house decorated in hues of black, orange, brown, green and purple. She had the best cut outs of witches, ghosts, goblins, bubbling cauldrons, twisted trees and werewolves and she would adorn the floor length mirror of our small rowhouse home with these spectacular characters. I remember not wanting Halloween to ever end and this ultimately would prove to be the genesis for the first book of the Longest Halloween series. Add to these memories the homespun costumes we would wear, the Dorrie and Old Black Witch children's books we would re-read and the little orange UNICEF boxes that we would carry out with us to warmly lit homes and where we would plead for treats and not tricks, it was a simpler and less complex time. It is my hope that you get a flavor of this bygone era after reading the books I've created.



Please let me know what you think of the books. I'd love to know. Thanks for stopping by and keep in touch, I'll be regularly updating things from time to time