Our Favorite Monsters

With the season of ghosts and gobblins and monsters and mischief upon us, we thought we would share a few of our favorite monsters with you. Traditional Halloween stories take a twist in many of the international tales that follow; while tried and true classics are as humorous and entertaining as always. And just in case our monster products leave you a little spooked, we've recommended our favorite flashlights for extra comfort at bedtime.

Monsters, Inc.

Top scarer Sulley (John Goodman) and his enthusiastic Scare Assistant Mike (Billy Crystal) work at Monsters, Inc., the largest scream-processing factory in Monstropolis. The main power source of the monster world is the collected screams of human children. Monsters believe children are dangerous and toxic, however, and they are scared silly when a little girl wanders into their world. Sulley and Mike do their best to return the girl home, but they face monstrous intrigue and some hilarious misadventures along the way. Product Description

Scream Beam Flashlights

Trick-or-treating will be ghoulishly fun with these wickedly cute Halloween flashlights. Squeeze the handle to light up the night and hear each one make fun scary sounds! The assortment includes a witch, vampire, mummy, scarecrow, monster and skeleton.

Glowin' Animal Flashlights

What better way to spin spooky tales than huddled in the dark with your favorite flashlight? You don't have to be a kid to love these illuminated animals - or to need a little light to take the fright away! Available in Bear, Cow, Dino, Elephant, Hippo, Lion to compliment any mood or costume.

Where the Wild Things Are...and Other Maurice Sendak Stories

Any fan of the book won't want to miss this classic animated version of "Where the Wild Things Are." But the fun doesn't end there - there are 3 other Sendak stories that complete this tried and true compilation.

Look Out, Jack! The Giant Is Back!

Jack may be as surprised as the rest of us to learn that the giant has a big brother - with a mission to recover his younger brother's stolen items. Suspense-filled and humorous.

A Little Shiver

Many youngsters beg to hear "a scary story" (even when they don’t REALLY want to be scared), and Donna Washington has provided a grand menu for that request in A Little Shiver. Her adaptations of these popular stories and her powerful character voices can raise goose bumps--even on older listeners.

I SPY Spooky Mansion Deluxe

This haunted mansion, where dark and dank rooms whose walls are lined with creepy portraits or old books, invites exploration. Players either solve the puzzles--which earns pieces to a larger jigsaw puzzle enabling their eventual escape--or never get out. The games are plentiful with 39 riddles---"two yellow feathers, a rain drop, a spider," etc., all which are disguised as parts of a butterfly collection or some other complicated scenery.

Hunk-Ta Bunk-Ta Spooky!

Let imaginative children's music artist and storyteller Katherine Dine treat you to chilling and comic Halloween songs and stories draped in a creaky Southern atmosphere.

Golden & Grey (An Unremarkable Boy and a Rather Remarkable Ghost)

Grey Arthur is a ghost who can't figure out where he belongs. When a trick of fate creates an instant connection between them, Grey Arthur discovers what he is meant to be: Tom's invisible friend! It seems like such a good idea -- Grey Arthur can make sure Tom always has his homework in class and protect him from bullies, and Tom never has to know. But when an accident gives Tom the ability to see and communicate with the ghost world, chaos breaks loose. Now everyone wants a piece of Tom, and Grey Arthur is the only one who can help him! Book Description

Blah Blah Blah: Stories About Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates and Dogs

In these stories, Harley conjures up worlds of Pirates, Giant Clams, Dogs and Dirty Sneakers. The stories are funny; sometimes they’re hands-on-face with fingers spread, spooky-scary-story frightening. His characters come straight from the memories of your fourth grade class and his spot-on delivery is confirmation that Bill Harley really and truly honest to goodness cross your heart knows what makes kids laugh.

Making Masks

Masks are a great way for kids to explore, play and have fun. Step-by-step instructions make the thirteen unique masks featured a snap to create and decorate. Whether it’s for a Halloween party, a school play or just for dress-up, a little imagination is all it takes for children to conceal their faces — and reveal someone new in their places! Mask designs include a jolly jester, a dangerous dinosaur, a lordly lion, and a grumpy gargoyle. Book Description

The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story

Orphan Buddy Stebbins loses his sister Liz one night and begins searching for clues in her disappear. The trail lead him to the 13th floor ... Pirates, preachers, treasures, and time-warps abound in this ghostly mystery.

The BFG

Sophie discovers that giants not only exist, but that there are a great many of them who like to guzzle and swallomp nice little chiddlers. But not the Big Friendly Giant. He and Sophie cook up an ingenious plot to free the world of troggle-humping -- forever.

Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor

Setting is everything in the Nancy Drew detective series and the lush and remarkably rendered graphics of the creaking, spooky Blackmoor Manor, a Fourteenth Century English mansion haunted by its supernatural past, doesn't disappoint in the latest title. In the role of Nancy Drew, players journey to England this time to visit Linda Penvellyn, a neighbor's daughter, newlywed wife of a British diplomat, and a woman in the grasp of a mysterious condition that keeps her fearful and hiding behind bed curtains. Sounds weird? The scares start early in this one. This mystery is stocked with neat touches and details of its English context: You'll come across the 13 ghosts, muddy footprints, cockney talkin' blokes, the ancestry of the mansion, middle-of-the-night chanting and wicked laughter, samplings of British foods, a green dragon, gargoyles, a carnivorous plant in the Conservatory and an alchemy laboratory. Nancy Drew fans will love this one.

Also try: Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion, Nancy Drew: Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon

Shrek the Third

It's another Shrek game, kind of like the last Shrek game. But there's a novelty this time, and you've got to give the designers credit for adding a twist and not just following the usual roam-and-fight formula. In this game, you battle the bad guys, overcome stuff in your way and conquer each of the 20 or so puzzle-like levels by jockeying between the main characters, each with a different set of skills-the brute-force Shrek, for instance, or the jumping and crawling Puss, or the clever shield-bearing Artie. All of their skills are needed to succeed.

Tales from Old Ireland

These traditional Irish tales are told with wit and warmth. Fairies, giants, and wicked stepmothers all make appearances in this colorful cast of characters. These too, would best be enjoyed aloud.