As Halloween approaches it's time for trick-or-treating, witches’ spells and cauldron brews, jack-o-lanterns and best of all, spooky stories. For Laura Ellen Anderson, author of our Children’s Book of the Month for October, Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball, there’s no better time of the year. Here, with a little help from Amelia and her friends, she tells you how to create the perfect pumpkin-filled Halloween.

Our Children's Book of the Month for November is the spellbinding children’s classic, The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo. Set in twentieth century Wales, the tale is as much a love letter to the Welsh countryside as it is to Welsh mythology. It tells the story of a young boy, Gwyn, who receives five mysterious birthday gifts that reveal to him his latent magical powers; on realising he can enter another, mystical realm he goes in search of his missing sister, Bethan. A touching and heart-warming tale, it is the perfect wintry children’s read. 

In the thirty years since the book’s publication, The Snow Spider has been a perennial children’s favourite. Jenny Nimmo reflects on the continuing popularity of the book, written some thirty years ago whilest living with her family in remotest Wales.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave is the twenty-six year old debut novelist whose immensely popular children's book, The Girl Of Ink & Stars, captured all of our imagination this summer with its deft mix of the very sweet and the very dark. Such success was hard-won however; here the author tells a very intimate tale of where she writes and how it reflects her state of mind.

Adapting children's classic and perennial favourite Swallows and Amazons for the big screen could have been a daunting task. However, actress and screenwriter Andrea Gibb approached the job with enthusiasm and just a touch of creative license

David Solomons discusses his prize-winning book, My Brother Is A Superhero, and why winning the award was like watching Superman The Movie for the first time.

David Solomons' hilarious comics caper is both the winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and this months Children's Book of the Month.

Our literary round-up of the last seven days

Lucy Hounsom is a Waterstones bookseller and fantasy author who has reviewed two new Young Adult titles for us: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard and Judged by Liz de Jager.

Fast-paced, compelling and just a bit magical, Beetle Boy is sure to appeal to fans of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl

Let master children's fiction illustrator, and the Waterstones Children's Laureate, Chris Riddell show you a thing or two about drawing.

The Tale of Kitty-In-Boots is a never-before published Beatrix Potter story, discovered 100 years after it was written, that will be released later this year with illustrations by Quentin Blake. Read a short extract of the story.

Our literary round-up of the last seven days