Become the “King of Late Night,” the NBC mascot, just like the colorful peacock itself? Jimmy Fallon is on the road to such fame. He probably didn’t think about this when he started working saturday night live 1998, but it’s a path that makes sense. write children’s books and become new york times Bestselling author? This is indeed impossible.
Like, exactly.
“That’s the weirdest thing to me because it’s obviously not my thing,” Fallon told me over the phone. “I’m not a writer.” It’s interesting to say that you’ve written five children’s books since 2012, each one in this new york times bestseller list, but Fallon does. Writing children’s books was never his plan, but now that he’s done it a few times, he’s found inspiration in many places. His new book, Five more days of sleep before Halloweenreleased on September 3, 2024, is sure to become another fan favorite. inspired by success 5 more sleeps before ChristmasFallon wanted to find another exciting moment that kids could easily count down.
“I’ve never heard this word [how many sleeps] My daughter said this to me once,” Fallon said. “She said, ‘How much more sleep do we have before we go to Norma’s house?’ And I thought, ‘How much more sleep do we have to go to Norma’s house?’ sleep? so cute. so i did 5 more sleeps before Christmas It came out, it worked, and people loved it. Five more naps, I thought, just to get excited about something. I don’t know what it will be, maybe the first day of school, or a birthday? But then I thought, ‘Halloween could be fun.
He’s right—Halloween is fun in many ways. It comes across so beautifully in the book. (Fallon also said that when looking for Halloween books for his own children, he struggled to find age-appropriate favorites and thought why not fill that gap?) Even with so much of the holiday having become, Overwhelming – A holiday that continues for more, more, more drum beats – Halloween is pretty much business as usual. exist Five more days of sleep before HalloweenIn the story, a little guy is focused on all the fun the holidays are about to have, counting down the five days while doing things like getting ready for costumes and getting shushed by his neighbors. What I especially love is that this isn’t some epic countdown to an event that his mom had to be on Pinterest to make happen – it’s just that sweet excitement and fun you always had as a kid during spooky season.
Fallon said he drew on a piece of paper how he wanted the cover to look.
macmillan
I told Fallon I think Halloween is the great equalizer. While people are nostalgic for the old-fashioned Halloween, I feel like the celebration is still, for the most part, the same. Except for the clothes.
“My sister and I always had the worst outfits,” Fallon told me. “We get older every year.” Fallon, who grew up in a middle-class family, said Halloween was all about DIY, except when they had to pick out “those cheap plastic costumes” that were a staple in the 1970s and 1980s.
“Do you remember those? In the box?” he asked me. “They always had a plastic face, and I think I had a Batman face with a plastic Batman face on top of it, and after a while it just tore apart.” and cut my lip. The suit itself was basically made out of a plastic trash bag, so remember, I was Batman, so I jumped off my neighbor’s first porch to play. Trick-or-treating, the door was completely torn apart. It was so cheap; from then on, the whole thing was like a cape. It was a disaster. I was like, okay, I guess I’m going to dress like an old man.
exist Five more days of sleep before Halloweenthe costume chatter feels so real. Two days before Halloween, one of the characters decides to completely change her costume, while another is still trying to make a decision. Fallon told me that when his daughter, Winnie, was two years old, she ate a bowl of ramen on Halloween, and I shared with him how my own daughter wanted to be an inflatable chicken last year and then played “No Sweets.” During the trick-or-treating game, the motor broke. (“So you’re just walking down the road with a deflated chicken?” he asked me.)
When I told him about his daughter’s first Halloween, where I made her a cat costume and everyone called her Penguin the entire night, he laughed and told me about his own wife’s DIY costume. “One year, gosh, my daughter wanted to be a butterfly, and my wife spent three months making this butterfly costume. She said, ‘Here it is. Do you like it?’ She said, ‘Mom , I don’t want to be a butterfly,'” Fallon said. “My wife said, ‘You have to be like this. I’m committed to this, so you have to be like this too.’ I don’t know what to tell you. My daughter said, ‘I want to be a dragonfly.’ “My wife said, “Okay, I’m going to add a tail to the butterfly. “Boom. That’s it. Now the Dragonfly costume.”
This sweet realism runs throughout Fallon’s books, and while he might not call himself a writer, it’s astounding as a writer who takes childhood memories or pulls certain moments from present-day life and puts them into the context of a story. It is extremely author-coded. exist Five more days of sleep before Halloweenthe characters celebrated with parades—“It was a thing in school,[where people would dress up],” he told me—and experienced a tendency to be “booed” by their neighbors—which happened to Fallon I recently fell in love with him. This is one of the ways the festival, while still simple, continues to grow.[peoplewouldgetdressedup”hetellsme—andgettoexperiencethetrendofbeing”BOOd”byaneighbor—somethingthathappenedtoFallonrecentlyandhelovedAndit’soneofthewaystheholidaywhilestillprettysimplehasgrownandgottenbigger[人們會盛裝打扮，」他告訴我——並體驗到被鄰居「噓」的趨勢——這發生在法倫身上最近和他戀愛了。這也是這個節日雖然仍然很簡單，但卻不斷發展壯大的方式之一。[peoplewouldgetdressedup”hetellsme—andgettoexperiencethetrendofbeing“BOOd”byaneighbor—somethingthathappenedtoFallonrecentlyandhelovedAndit’soneofthewaystheholidaywhilestillprettysimplehasgrownandgottenbigger
“This is something new that I never experienced growing up,” he told me. “It’s like a Secret Santa.” We all laughed about the awkwardness of knocking on someone’s door, and Fallon said it first happened at his house about two years ago. “I don’t know what it was, and there was a knock on the door. I was like, right? I opened the door and there were kids laughing outside, which was so nice. There was just a bag of candy. I pulled my daughter and looked at it, and I was like Feeling like a nerdy dad. I was like, ‘Oh, cool, look, we have boos, guys!’ Like I know what that is, and I’m like, Oh my God, I’m obviously so lame. If there are kids knocking on the door, I ask my daughter to answer the door.
But this experience and all the other sweet moments and realizations about Halloween are woven into this book. Fallon shared how much he loves the holiday and how special it is to spend it with his own children. “Everyone is involved, all the costumes and trick-or-treating. We teach our kids not to talk to strangers, and then there’s one day a year when you say, ‘Walk up to that stranger’s door.'” Home, take food from them. “It’s a tradition. It’s like their first, I don’t know, not dance, but social event. They hang out with kids their age and have a nice social experience together. I’m like, Oh, yeah Yes, Halloween is here to stay.
Fallon will help you get excited about it.
