Ripley Publishing; 256 pages; $28.95

If you're looking to give your kids something a bit unusual this year for Halloween instead of sugary candy, then the recently released Ripley's Believe It or Not!: Unlock The Weird! would make a perfect gift.

Ripley Publishing has been releasing an annual book showcasing the weirdest and strangest facts from around the world along with hundreds of colorful photos

Unlock The Weird! marks the 13 volume in the series. As you can see by the cover art, it has three eyes popping practically popping out at you. The book has been named a Mom's Choice Awards winner.

Similar to the other releases, this edition kicks off with a two-page biography of Robert Ripley along with a few pictures. The rest of the book is divided into 10 chapters - Believe It!, World, Animals, Body, Pop Culture, Transport, Feats, Art, Food, and Beyond Believe.

Artist Eric Millikin used over 1,000 miniature bags of M&Ms to create this pop culture portrait of Count Chocula.

Has your house been BOO'D this month?

I'm not exactly sure when it started, but for the last several years there has been a new tradition of "Booing your Neighbor." It's also known as "Ghosting" and or "Boo-gramming."

The way the tradition goes, you make a little BOO bundle (a plastic candy bucket will work), fill it with treats (candies, stickers, Halloween DVD/Blu-rays, etc.), and leave the bundle on your neighbor's porch or doorsteps. You can also leave it on your co-worker's desk. Kids can also get involved with the tradition by leaving a BOO Bundle on a classmate's desk. Lastly, you need to encourage the recipients to BOO It Forward to others by leaving a BOO card explaining what to do. Then the recipient would have 48 hours to BOO It Forward to their neighbor or friends, creating a chain throughout your neighborhood.

This year Walmart and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have teamed up for the Ghostbusters themed "BOO It Forward" kits. All you have to do is visit Walmart.com/BooitForward to pick out a BOO bucket and treats for the kits. You can place your order right on the website and have it delivered to your home or you can pick it up at your local Walmart store. Also, you can view & print three different Boo cards for free!

Zonderkidz; 32 pages; $14.99; Barnes & Noble

I don't pay too much attention to new children book titles with a princess theme, but I have a little cousin who I thought would enjoy the picture book "A Royal Christmas to Remember," which is the only reason why I had signed up to review the title.

Published by Zonderkidz, A Royal Christmas to Remember is the 7th book in the "Princess Parables" series written by Jenna Young & Jacqueline Johnson. This entry is illustrated by Omar Aranda.

On Christmas Eve, Princesses Joy, Grace, Faith, Charity, and Hope are more excited about Christmas than anyone else in the kingdom

The princesses have decorated the grand castle with Christmas decorations, which they have so many that they will have to build a large storehouse to store all them next year. Inside the caste is a magnificent tree surrounded by dozens of gifts, all for the princesses.

Awaken from their sleep that night, the princesses learn there is an evil band of marauders who are raiding their village. As their father, the king, heads out to defend the village, the princesses are put in danger. In the end, the princesses will learn that Christmas is more about giving than receiving.

PG-13; 117 mins (Theatrical) /134 mins (Extended); Walmart

Being released this week on 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray & Digital, and DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the supernatural-comedy Ghostbusters: Answer The Call, the reboot of the 1984 classic Ghostbusters. Directed by Paul Feig, the film stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth. There are cameos by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver.

The film centers on Physicists Abby Yates and Erin Gilbert, and engineer Jillian Holtzmann witnessing a ghost sighting in a New York library. Afterward the trio decide to start their own ghost hunting business called "Conductors of the Metaphysical Examination" above a Chinese restaurant.

Hotzmann builds ghost trapping equipment, while the Yates and Gilbert hire a dumb receptionist, Kevin Beckman. Eventually, they recruit Patty Tolan, a MTA worker, to join their team.

After learning that electronic devices have been placed throughout the city to summon ghosts, the Ghostbusters sets out to find out who is responsible. This all leads leads them to a mad scientist, Rowan North, who plans on releasing hundreds of ghosts upon the city.

Special Features on the Blu-ray are:

Rated R; 88 minutes; $24.99; Amazon

Available today on Blu-ray + Digital HD, and DVD Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the action-thriller Blood Father. Directed by Jean-Francois Richet, the film stars Mel Gibson, Erin Moriarty, Diego Luna, Michael Parks, and William H. Macy.

Based on the novel of the same name by Peter Craig (who also co-wrote the screenplay), Blood Father centers on an ex-convict John Link (played by Mel Gibson) who is out on parole. He spends most days as a tattoo artist; tattooing people in his trailer/home. The rest of the time he is trying to stay sober and out of trouble.

Out of the blue, John receives a phone call from his estranged, runaway teenage daughter, Lydia (played by Erin Moriarty), who is in hiding after accidentally shooting her drug-dealer boyfriend Jonah (played by Diego Luna). While he is well aware that she is probably just wanting money from him, John picks up his daughter and brings her to his trailer, hoping he can try to figure out where she has been and what kind of trouble she has gotten herself into.

Unfortunately, John has to risk his newfound morals when Jonah's gang comes looking for Lydia, who now has a ransom on her head. And John will do anything to protect his daughter.

The only special feature on the Blu-ray is "Lost Souls: On the Road with Blood Father" Featurette.

Now available from Southern Girl Press is the historical paranormal romance "Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth” (Book II, The Confession of Mr. Darcy, Vampire) by Colette L. Saucier.





When did you become interested in storytelling?

I would say in third grade. We were given a writing assignment to describe our favorite place. I wrote that my favorite place was warm, soft, and comforting because it was being snuggled up against my dog.

What was your first book/story published?

Aside from several poems published when I was in junior high, my first novel—Pulse and Prejudice: The Confession of Mr. Darcy, Vampire (Book 1) was released by my then-publisher in the summer of 2012, followed shortly by my ABNA semifinalist All My Tomorrows, later expanded and republished as The Proud and the Prejudiced.

What inspired you to write Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth?

My daughter. She had originally convinced me to write Book 1: Pulse and Prejudice, because I could not find a vampire adaptation of Jane Austen’s original novel that I liked. She said if it didn’t exist, I should write it myself. Then she didn’t like one specific thing about how I ended it! So she said I had to write a sequel to satisfy her desire for the story. After she approved a detailed outline of Book II of The Confession of Mr. Darcy, Vampire, I wrote the novel for her.

What character in Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

I would never dare compare myself to a character created by Jane Austen! Of my original characters, I would say that I am most like Mina Calmet—about the same age, dark hair and eyes, pale complexion, compassionate, and has knowledge of birth control! This was most important as I raised three daughters to adulthood.

Least like me? Well, the dwarf! I am not that short, and I can’t imagine ever blackmailing anyone. Also, I am not Lutheran, although I do love his quotations.

What is your favorite part in Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth?

Remember floppy discs?

Well, I remember them. Actually, I have several blank floppies in a closet somewhere, even though I don't have a floppy disk drive anymore.

Back when I was into genealogy, I used floppies all the time to save family photos, documents, etc.. Depending on the picture size, I could get only one or two on one floppy, which only held 1.44 mb.

Technology has changed a lot since then. Floppy disks are now a thing of the past as well as writable CDs; mostly thanks to USB flash drives.

A few weeks ago, I was sent a Thumb Drive 2.0 from DigioClean, which holds 32GB. The #flashdrive retails for $29.98, but it's currently on sale on Amazon for $13.45.

ZonderKidz; 24 pages; $3.99; Amazon

Arriving in bookstores tomorrow from ZonderKidz is The Berenstain Bears and the Christmas Angel by Mike Berenstain, the son of the original authors, Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Set a week before Christmas, the 24-page story centers on Brother, Sister, and Honey waking up to find that it had snowed during the night. After breakfast, they excitedly head out side where they plan on building a snowman.

However, there is one problem, they don't exactly know what kind of snowman they want to build. After some thought, they decided to build a snow angel.