31st October Doorbell Day

On October 31st, National Doorbell Day will have doorbells ringing more than any other day of the year. The day recognises the little buzzer, unique tones, and rings that alert us to visitors to our doors every day of the year. And, of course on Halloween the doorbell will be rung more than usual, in fact more than on any other day of the year. 

Joseph Henry invented the first electric doorbell in 1831 and during the Great Depression, J. Ralph Corbett invented doorbells that feature different chimes. 

Of course, we can celebrate this day with Halloween picture books, but I want to draw your attention to books that are specifically about or feature doors, knocking and or doorbells.

Probably the most well known is The Doorbell Rang  by Pat Hutchins which looks at all the visitors sharing a plate of freshly cooked cookies.

And there is a lovely new book titled Knock Knock  by Catherine Meatheringham and Deb Hudson which takes the onomatopoeic word knock and gives it in other languages as well. 

There are others. This is what I can think of, but I'm sure there are others...

• Knock Knock Who's There?  by Sally Grindley and Anthony Browne

• A Visitor for Bear  by  Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton

• Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev and Taeeun Yoo 

• Who's That Knocking?  by Alison Lester

• Who's at the Door?  by Jonathan Allen

There's a series of Knock Knock books by Carol Hart and Nick East...pirate, dinosaur, superhero, alien...

There are a number of books with Knock Knock  in the title that are riddle books.

Think about how many fairytales have door knockers ie. characters who knock on a door ...the wolf in The Three Little Pigs;  Jack in  Jack and the Beanstalk  when he visits the giant; Hansel and Gretel;  the bear in Snow White and Rose Red.

PS.