5⭐️ | A Halloween classic in the making 🎃
Whimsical, nostalgic, and full of spooky charm—Spoops is everything I want in a family Halloween read. Think Dr. Seuss meets Tim Burton, with rhyming verse, cozy orange-and-black illustrations, and just the right amount of magic.

The Spoops are tiny spirits who make Halloween happen—from rustling the leaves to waking the ghosts. And when one little girl needs help rediscovering the joy of the season (with dentist parents, no less!), the Spoops step in to save the day.

It’s a clever trick and a lovable treat that reads like a new fall tradition. Perfect for snuggly read-alouds and little readers who live for October. 🍂👻🕯️

This was adorable and I loved that the colour scheme was only black, white and orange. A cute little story about a girl who’s obsessed with Halloween with dentist parents who are anti-Halloween. The magic of Halloween might transform their lives forever.

The spirits of Halloween are absolutely adorable! I love their design. I'd love a keyring of the little ghost wizard, the leaf or the plague doctor. Laurie A. Conley does excellent work.
Also, I really like the fact that the designs are all in black, white and orange.
It's perfect for kids for Halloween or Summerween. I would have loved this book if I'd read it as a child!
It's great to see a little girl so passionate about Halloween.

This is an adorable book about a spooky little girl whose only wish is to celebrate Halloween. Her dentist parents need some convincing, which is where the magical Spoops come in. It is a picture book rather than a graphic novel and is definitely for children, but spooky parents and relatives will enjoy reading it too. The art is excellent and the rhyming text is very well written.

I love the illustration in this book. The use of color is done so well with the orange pops of color, it’s super eye catching.

The rhyming scheme is endearing and the plot is so wholesome and charming. I would love to watch this play out as an animated movie.

Thank you so much for the arc!

A adorable story about a girl who loves Halloween and celebrating it with the whole family. This was such a charming and sweet story and the artwork was just so cute! It's a great read for kids and perfect for spooky season but with a cute twist! I adored it!

Release Date: August 12, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and IDW Publishing | Top Shelf Productions for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

My Halloween loving heart adores this rhyming story of Spoops and their magical delight with making wishes come true! With fantastic illustrations that brought me a nostalgic longing for childhood, and rhyming verses that capture the essence of Halloween joy, this book is going to be a great holiday addition to both homes and libraries alike!

i thought i'd give this a try and honestly i liked it!

the fmc and the spoops were actually adorable. i didn't really care for the parents thingy going on but the way they talked about halloween was cute.

the illustrations of people and the story itself weren't my favourite but the way the spoops were done was pretty good and were my favourite part of the book!

honestly if you want a seasonal read about halloween, this could be for you. a quick read about something you love is always nice!

Spoops is by far one of the cutest Halloween books I have read. I adored the Spoops characters and illustrations! While Spoops is written in a rhyming scheme, it is slightly long for a children's story. I recommend for older children.

I received an ARC from IDW Publishing | Top Shelf Productions via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A cute book about Holly, a girl obsessed with Halloween, but never allowed to celebrate because her parents are dentists. When they go out one Halloween, she carves a pumpkin and wishes upon that pumpkin. This wish allows for the Spoops, the little spirits who make Halloween happen, to come to her aid. She is able to celebrate and eventually convince her parents that they can celebrate Halloween without eating candy.

I thought this was cute! I liked that the color was pretty much only for Halloween colors and the rest was more illustrative. I did think some of the words were really big words for kids - even when I looked back at the page and saw Children's and Middle Grade, I am not sure they would be able to get them. The rhyming scheme and overall story felt more marketed to younger children but then some of the words were more upper middle school. Besides that though I thought this was a really cute story!

I received my copy from Netaglley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and IDW Publishing for this arc.

This was so fun! I loved the rhyming quite song like writing and the adorable little spoops. The art style feels very vintage inspired and the minimal colour really helped all the orange and halloween vibes pop.

I would definitely recommend this for a cute Halloween read.

Spoops: The Little Spirits of Halloween is everything I want spooky season to be—adorable, clever, and bursting with nostalgic charm. The rhymes are pitch-perfect, the message is heartwarming, and the black-white-orange illustrations (with subtle nods to vintage Halloween decor!) completely stole my heart.

As a lifelong Halloween lover, this one hit all the right notes. I would die for the Spoops. Like, bury me in a Halloween costume and let their tiny ghost hands tuck me in. 👻🕯️

This book celebrates what Halloween is really about: imagination, self-expression, and a little mischief. It’s a new classic—and I’m obsessed. 🎃🖤

Thank you to IDW Publishing and A.J. LoCascio for the eARC!

While I am definitely not the target audience for this age wise I still absolutely adored it. I loved the mix between educational story telling and the whimsy drawing style. We need the Spoops in real life! I'd definitely recommend this to bring an important topic (advocating for yourself and what you like) to the table

Really cute.

The book - narrated in verse - tells the story of a girl who loves Halloween, but doesn’t get to celebrate it due to her dentist parents disliking it (too many candy-caused cavities). Luckily her parents are at a dentist convention one Halloween and she finally does get to celebrate with the help of the Spoops, little Halloween spirits.

The art style was adorable and the story was sweet.

Overall I really enjoyed this.

Holly Hollowell loves Halloween. Ever since she was a baby, it's been her favourite time of year. Unfortunately, her mom and dad are both dentists, and to them, the holiday means candy and candy, which means cavities and dentists don't like cavities! All these things mean that for Holly, Halloween is banned! This year however, her parents are going out for the evening and Holly is determined to have a good time but even she couldn't have imagined, when she made a wish which the Sp.oops heard, just how her all hallows eve was going to go!

I was able to read an advanced copy of this thanks to NetGalley and the publishers IDW Publishing/Top Shelf Productions, but the opinions expressed are my own. This is a beautiful book that could easily become both a classic Halloween title and a beloved family must read for autumn. The narrative bounces along. It's easy to read, scans well, and mentions all the things that children love about this slightly spooky holiday. The illustrations could not be better. They fit the words perfectly, and I, for one, would love there to be an accompanying colouring book. This comes highly recommended, and my copy is on pre-order.

I loved this book! The illustrations were absolutely magical! I’ll be tempted to get a copy (as a full grown adult) just so I can have it on display!
There were a couple of lines in it which I feel could perhaps have been restructured slightly-ordered slightly to make it flow better and to make the paragraphs make better sense but other than that it’s really adorable.
As someone who loves Halloween it really does give you that feeling of awe that you get in October of true nostalgic Halloween, not the commercialised Halloween - it’s brilliant

Thank you Netgalley, IDW Publishing and Top Shelf production for this arc.

This was a wonderful story about a little girl and her biggest dream. It had magic, cuteness and a lot of Halloween spirit in it. The drawings were amazing and I really enjoyed the color palette. The orange and black colors really brought the story to life. My toddler also loved this. He enjoyed the rhyming and the drawings and of course the cute little Spoops. I think this will be a story that I will read to him over and over again. Only complaint that it was short and we finished it really fast, but other than that it was a fun story and also instructive.

I’m already in my Halloween mood because of this one. Anyone knows where I can find a pumpkin patch in summer? Because I need some Spoops cuteness right about now.

Spoops the little spirits of Halloween
By Aj LoCasio
Release date 12 August 2025
Rating 5 stars 9.00 cawpile

Spoops is a debut book for Aj LoCasio and it was the cutest story. A little girl longs to have a Halloween while her parents do not like it enter the spirits of Halloween to help her have the best one. The illustrations were adorable and if you already know about the spirits of Halloween they are as adorable as they are in real life. This is a book for anyone who loves the spooky but anyone who wants to be swept away into the world where spirits of Halloween will always make sure your dreams come true. Aj this book was everything I was looking for and I cannot wait to see more wonderful stories you weave with these little guys at the forefront because you are on to a winner with these.

I will be telling everyone to read this during spooky season although we all know that spooky season is all year round. Thank you for allowing me to read this early and I cannot wait to have this physically in my hands in August.

Going up right now

As someone who loves Halloween but lives in a country where it’s not celebrated, Spoops felt like a sweet, spooky hug. Following Holly, a Halloween-loving protagonist, made me feel seen and understood—and honestly, I needed that.

The story is charming and heartwarming, with a message that really sticks with you in the best way., The illustrations are absolutely beautiful too. Spoops feel like the rhyming picture books I cherished as a kid. There’s a magic in the pages that reminds me of childhood, when stories felt like little worlds you could live in.

This book deserves a spot in every library. It’s cute, meaningful, and perfect for readers of all ages who want a bit of spooky joy in their lives.

I'm trying very hard to somehow contain my childlike excitement about this picture book and not just end up submitting a review of "OMG THIS IS SO CUTE!". But to be honest it was cute, so, so cute. And cosy. And everything my inner child wants Halloween to be.

The illustrations are beautiful, I love that the focus is on Orange as a main color and the rest is just black and white. How the spirits were depicted was absolutely perfect. They are all precious and so adorable, and I wish they were my friends.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book as an ARC. I had a blast.