Halloween is almost here and in between all the pumpkin carving and costume planning I love finding time to read Halloween stories with my kids.
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We have some favorite Halloween children’s books that we pull out every year – ROOM ON THE BROOM and THE LITTLE OLD LADY WHO WAS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING both make an appearance annually – but I also love finding new books to add to our collection.
Below are the newest children’s books about Halloween from picture books through middle grade. I have divided them up by category to make it hopefully easier for you to find something perfect for your kiddos. Happy Halloween reading!
Board Books
BOO! Baa, La La La
by Sandra Boynton
A cute addition to Sandra Boynton’s darling board book collection. It’s Halloween and cow has discovered a new word; Boo. Rhyming text, cute Halloween illustrations and theme. Great Halloween book for babies and toddlers.
Brooms Are for Flying
by Michael Rex
Get up on your feet and dance with these Halloween characters. Each page has one line of active text for you to imitate. Perfect Halloween book for the littlest Halloween fan.
Spooky Pants
by Mara van der Meer, Natalie Munday, and Kylie Hamley
illustrated by David Creighton-Pester
Great interactive fun. Pages of hilarious monsters are missing their pants. You use the clues and the wheels to match the correct pair to each monster. It is pure Halloween fun.
How to Hide a Ghost: a Lift-the-Flap Book
by MacKenzie Haley
I love the illustrations in this Halloween board book for little ones. This is perfect for older babies and toddlers. The thick, chunky pages each have a flap that little fingers will manage well. Hidden on each page is a ghost but all of the characters in this book are not the least bit scary. It’s a cheerful Halloween board book for littles.
Picture Books
The Little Kitten
by Nicola Killen
The warm orange tones that pull you into these otherwise muted illustrations is what first drew me to this book. The signs of fall; the leaves, the pumpkins, feel magical as they pop on each page. I love that some of them are even accented with orange foil. The story is sweet. It is about a lost kitten. Together beloved Ollie and her cat, Pumpkin, play with the new kitten. Fall outdoor play is celebrated and die cuts gently lead you through the forest. It is warm and captivating. A nice fall tale with little Halloween surprises.
SKULLS!
by Blair Thornburgh and illustrated by Scott Campbell
I had a smile on my face the whole time I was reading SKULLS! This book is so much fun. It is a celebration of skulls – the “car seats for our brains” and all of the interesting reasons why they’re awesome and not scary. I love how the author challenges the way society thinks about skulls and the light hearted, quick pace of the text. The illustrations have a playful, goofy feel to them that emphasize the spirit of the book perfectly. I would love to pair this one with a more traditional Halloween skeleton book (like DEM BONES or SKELETON HICCUPS), but I also think it would be a great addition to any about my body unit for preschoolers or early elementary schoolers. A fun, delightful book. Read it aloud and then all exclaim “I love my skull!”
The Ghosts Went Floating
by Kim Norman
illustrated by Jay Fleck
A gentler Halloween book. The illustrations capture all of your typical Halloween characters but with a more muted, whimsical feel. This is a counting book with great rhyme and repetition.
If You Ever Meet a Skeleton
by Rebecca Evans
illustrated by Katrin Dreiling
Cute, rhyming. This is a fun read aloud Halloween book that plays with the expectation that skeletons are creepy.
PIPPA’S NIGHT PARADE
by Lisa Robinson and illustrated by Lucy Fleming
This is the Halloween book for the kids full of imagination that are quite certain the villains in their storybooks are real. Adorable Pippa has trouble sleeping because her big imagination hears dragons clawing their way out of storybooks and pirates feeding her to sharks. I love Pippa’s big imagination and I love her problem solving even more. A great read aloud full of action and fun details in the illustrations. This is a story that kids will relate to and they will see her amazing example of how imagination combined with problem solving leads to the best solutions. Definitely fun for Halloween with the ghosts and various spooky creatures, but it could really be read all year round.
CLEVER LITTLE WITCH
by Muon Thi Van and illustrated by Hyewon Yum
This is not your typical witch story. Truthfully it’s more of a new-sibling-book disguised as a witch book and set on a tropical island. It’s definitely unlike any witch story I have ever read but that doesn’t make it any less charming. The 4-6 year audience it targets will relate to the younger sibling woes and wish they had such witchy solutions to try. With bright cheerful colors and the most darling little characters, the witch craft and other attempts to rid herself of her brother come off as playful and fun. I’d love to see this paired with other witch stories for a well rounded, silly storytime.
I Love My Fangs!
by Kelly Leigh Miller
If you have a kid in that losing teeth phase then this is the perfect Halloween book for you. Dracula is rather attached to his fangs. They are part of what make him, well him. When one of them falls out he is quite upset. After several hilarious attempts to deal with this, he figures out that another one will grow in.
Vampenguin
by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Where do vampires go first at the zoo? The penguin house of course, and on this particular trip the baby vampire and a penguin switch places. This is a trip to the zoo unlike any other you’ve seen. The story is cute and fun to read aloud. The illustrations are where the humor truly lies as the family misses the swap and the text often doesn’t quite match the picture with perfect comedic effect. A fun, non-scary read aloud for Halloween or any time of year.
Hardly Haunted
by Jessie Sima
A house stands empty and due to it’s creaking and cobwebs it is afraid that it might be haunted. The house does it’s best to not be creepy, but it can’t seem to control it. When it ultimately embraces it’s haunted qualities, it finds a family that loves it for who it is. I love this positive message for kids and how it’s portrayed in such a playful way. A great book for Halloween that has an extra layer of loving who you are that’s perfect anytime.
Stumpkin
by Lucy Ruth Cummins
This sweet book reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas stories, The Last Christmas Tree. It is about a pumpkin waiting and hoping for someone to pick it to be carved into a jack-o-lantern. It’s a great read aloud and such a warm, touching story.
Where’s Waldo? Spooky Spotlight Search
by Martin Handford
WHERE’S WALDO? fans – get excited! This is a seriously cool Where’s Waldo for Halloween. All the classic searching, checklists, and detailed scenes are there, but these have a Halloween theme and a Glow-in-the-Dark slider you use to reveal the full picture.
How to Help a Pumpkin Grow
by Ashley Wolff
This is a cute, rhyming Halloween story for little ones. It uses brief text and a gaggle of animals to share how pumpkins are planted and cared for until they bloom and get picked. It’s a satisfying story that leads to pumpkin pie and jack-o-lanterns.
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Early Chapter Books
Junior Monster Scouts
by Joe McGee
This is a cute new series of books about the children of famous monsters. Despite the fact that they are monsters they are in Junior Monster Scouts to learn how to be good, kind, helpful monsters. In this book (the first in the series) Peter Piper has lost his cat so the Junior Monster Scouts decide to help. Meanwhile, the grumpy Baron Von Grump is trying to clear out the town of all the noisy, happy people. What I love most is the way the narrator interacts with the reader. It is written in a way I haven’t experienced in a chapter book before and it’s a super fun way to engage new readers. A not-scary chapter book that is still fun to read at Halloween time because so many popular Halloween elements appear like Dracula, bats, and spooky woods.
Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol: Campfire Stories
by Andres Miedoso
illustrated by Victor Rivas
The plot here is pretty simple – two best friends go camping and tell spooky stories around the campfire. The humorous voice, increasingly absurd stories and fun illustrations are what make this a winner. The stories get increasingly scary and although they all resolve happily I can see more sensitive younger readers being frightened so maybe avoid this one around bedtime. On the other hand, it is a well paced easy to read chapter book that will keep their newer readers turning pages. If your child loves this one make sure to check out the rest of the series.
Middle Grade Chapter Books
The Okay Witch
by Emma Steinkellner
This graphic novel blew me away. It is the story of a young girl who doesn’t fit in and then discovers that she is the descendant of witches. Readers will relate to her struggles to fit in and balance the different aspects of middle school and life even if they don’t have a talking cat or generations of secrets to unpack. Thirteen year old Moth Hush (quite the name!) is complex and interesting and such an endearing character to root for throughout this tale. I love the expressive way the characters are drawn and the way past and present are woven together. The element of magic is playful and just the right touch of fantasy, but it is truly the characters and relationships that propel this story forward and grab your heart. A compelling story, THE OKAY WITCH is well paced and hard to put down.
The Griffins of Castle Cary
by Heather Shumaker
The endearing Griffin siblings are the magic of this story. The three kids travel to England to visit their aunt for the summer. Their connection, their imperfect relatable characters, and the side characters that love them make what happens so compelling. I’m not a ghost story expert by any stretch of the imagination but I found this one spooky. The youngest of the Griffins becomes friends with a ghost with a less than friendly plan while the older two are coincidentally off hunting for ghosts. There are a lot of twists and little questions that compel you to keep turning the pages, but my concern for little April brought out my big sister instincts and was definitely my biggest reason to keep obsessively reading. The writing is engaging and well paced. The characters are lovable and well developed. Overall, this is a fun read anytime of the year for kids who like ghost stories. I also think that although it doesn’t mention Halloween, it is also an especially great spooky Halloween read for October.
