Hi, moms!! By now you all know that I love reading with my daughter and that we are well known at our library. We also have a fair number (OK, way too many) of books we own at home. One thing I started doing when my daughter was very young was collecting picture books for the major holidays for her. Some of them she has outgrown already and some of them we read each year when the holiday rolls around. There are tons of great Halloween picture books for kids and I want to share some of them with you today. Some of these we own and some we checked out from our library. I’m going to attempt to rate them on a Scare Scale, with one pumpkin being not scary at all and 5 pumpkins being possibly nightmare-inducing. Bear in mind my daughter doesn’t scare all THAT easily (for a five year old).. your mileage may vary.
Let’s get this spooky party started, shall we?
First, some board books. We loved all of these when my daughter was a baby and I would recommend them up to about age 3. My little niece has inherited all our board books so I don’t have pictures of these. They all rate 1 pumpkin on my Scare Scale.
- Whooo’s That by Kay Winters: Love the illustrations in this book. Fun for the kids to guess whoooo the author is talking about.
- Five Little Pumpkins by Dan-Yaccarino: I’m many of you are familiar with this little rhyme. Cute.
- Whoo’s There on Halloween by Susan Nipp: Another fun guess-who’s-coming-up-next book.
- Here Comes Halloween by Becky Ward: So many costumes to choose from, how should the little boy dress up this Halloween?
- Biscuit’s Pet and Play Halloween by Alyssa Satin Capucilli: Biscuit discovers Halloween. My daughter loves Biscuit!
- There are plenty more Halloween board books to choose from too. If you have a young child, don’t be scared to check some of them out!
For slightly older kids, here are some books we will be reading this October:
- Froggy’s Halloween by Jonathan London: My daughter loves all the Froggy books. They are all pretty similar and have fun noises that we like sound out when we are reading. What should Froggy be for Halloween and what adventures await him that night? 2 pumpkins on my scale (some possible scary costumes are considered).
- Fancy Nancy: Halloween or Bust by Jane O’Connor: Another beloved character. I love the vocabulary words that get introduced in a fun way in a Fancy Nancy book. 1 pumpkin on the Scare Scale.
- Sweet and Spooky Halloween by Melissa Lagonegro: Rhymes featuring our favorite princesses. And 1 pumpkin of scary.
- Splat the Cat and the Pumpkin Picking Plan by Rob Scotton: Splat visits the pumpkin patch and hijinks ensue. 1 Pumpkin.
- Berenstain Bears Halloween Books (various) by Stan and Jan Berenstain: There are many of these and I haven’t read them all, but I would rate them at between a 1 and 3 on our pumpkin scale depending on the book . We enjoy most of the Berenstain Bears books and they tend to teach a lesson in a very gentle way.
- The Night Before Halloween by Natasha Wing: Think the classic Night Before Christmas poem, only Halloween! 2 Pumpkins (very mild thrill at the end involving a witch).
- Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O’Connell: A counting backward from ten book. 2 pumpkins (some slightly scary characters).
- Scary, Scary Halloween by Even Bunting: Something with spooky is watching the Halloween passersby from the shadows. What is it? 2 pumpkins (a few images might spook some kids).
- You Read to me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman: I love these YRTM, IRTY books for young, emerging readers. My daughter and I have read several of them together. The other ones are based on familiar stories (Mother Goose, Fairy Tales, Tall Tales) but these are original. 3 pumpkins because there are many stories in here, some might be a touch scary, but all have a humorous bent to them.
- Spookley the Square Pumpkin but Joe Troiano: Spookly is a square pumpkin and, while that’s unusual, I am sure it has some utility. You all know I like rhyming books too. 1 pumpkin of scariness.
- T Rex Trick or Treats by Lois G. Grambling: What should T Rex dress up as for Halloween? Or is he maybe scary enough without a costume? Our dinosaur-loving friends will enjoy this one. 1 pumpkin.
- Miss Fiona’s Stupendous Pumpkin Pies by Mark Kimball Moulton: Cute (rhyming!) story, lovely illustrations. 1 pumpkin.
- A Very Witchy Spelling Bee by George Shannon: A spelling and spell bee combined (get it?) for witches. Cute story and some fun with words. The youngest readers might not completely “get it” but it’s fun for those who are learning to spell. 2 pumpkins.
- The Hallowiener by Dav Pilkey: Who doesn’t love dogs in Halloween costumes? Also lessons about teasing/bullying and friendship. 1 pumpkin.
- Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson: Our witch picks up several passengers though out the course of an evening and it pays off in the end. 2 pumpkins.
- 5-Minute Spooky Stories by Disney: My daughter loves this book. She is at an age when she loves hearing slightly longer stories out loud. 2 pumpkins.. but c’mon it’s Disney. Nothing too outrageously scary here.
I hope you all will get a chance to check out some of these picture books with your kids this Halloween. There are so many to choose from, we tend to keep the Halloween theme at our bedtime reading all month long!
What are your favorite Halloween books to share with your kids? We’d love to hear your recommendations in the comments!
