How cool is this? I learned about it from a tweet from Jon Scieszka, the mind behind Guys Read. All kinds of well known children’s book illustrators are participating in an art auction that you’ll want to be sure to check out, called Tell Tale Art. It’s all original spooky art from these illustrators, and if you’ve ever picked up a children’s picture book some of these names ought to sound familiar. Maybe you’ve heard of Lane Smith, David Shannon, Brett Helquist, Mo Willems, Paul O. Zelinsky, Dav Pilkey, Adam Rex, or Tony DiTerlizzi? All of them have donated their own scary illustrations to this auction, which is a fundraiser for an organization called 826NYC.

826nyc.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write, structured around the belief that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. With this in mind we provide free drop-in tutoring, field trips, after-school workshops, in-schools tutoring, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications, intended to ultimately strengthen each student’s power to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in his or her individual voice (Most of that is straight from their mission statement)

Even if you can’t afford to participate, go look! It’s a great opportunity to see what children’s authors and illustrators can do with a spooky theme.