Festive reads are some of my favorite reads, and Halloween books are no exception! Sarah and I rounded up our some of our favorites in Episode 177 of the podcast. You can listen here, and check out our book picks below (including a few that didn’t make it into the audio segment!).
Enjoy browsing the list, and let us know if we have any favorites in common!
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Katie’s Picks:
There’s a Monster In Your Book (Tom Fletcher)
Great for babies and preschoolers, this book reminds me of the popular children’s book, Press Here by Herve Tullet (also a great pick!). Follow simple directions on each page like tickle the monster’s feet, and see how it responds. Fun to read for children and parents!
The Cheerios Halloween Pay Book (Lee Wade)
A great pick for young toddlers to preschoolers, this book introduces colorful Halloween scenes and works on fine motor development with holes inset for children to place cheerios (or raisins, m&m’s, etc.) to complete the scene!
Vamperina Ballerina (Ann Marie Pace)
A story about a little vampire trying to fit in as a ballerina. Her nocturnal tendencies and monster and bat posse make it hard to do that, but she tries anyway and ends up as a happy little dancer. The beautiful whimsy in the pictures along with the cute plotline make this such a fun read! Great for preschoolers!
The Widow’s Broom (Chris Van Allsburg)
After a witch’s broom loses its ability to fly, it takes on a life of its own in an old woman’s farmhouse. This book introduces the magical side of Halloween with a tiny bit of spook and a fair amount of text on each page. Great for older preschooler – elementary school-aged.
Popcorn (Frank Asch)
This was a childhood favorite of mine about a bear who has to eat a house full of popcorn to cover up the Halloween party he throws while his parents attend a costume party. Lots of fun onomatopoeia and cute pictures. Serve with a side of popcorn, and this will for sure be a hit!
Other books Katie loves that we didn’t have time to mention:
Little Blue Truck’s Halloween, by Alice Schertle – If you’re a fan of the Little Blue Truck series, this pick will not disappoint. A bonus of durable lift-the-flap adds to the familiar features of rhyme, repetition, and a sing-songy rhythm that make this series so popular! Great for babies – preschool age.
B is for Boo: A Halloween Alphabet, by Greg Paprocki – From one of my all-time favorite baby board book lines: BabyLit, this alphabet primer is a Halloween-themed edition within an entire collection of other alphabet primers! Halloween-themed objects fill the alphabet in this vibrant and educational board book. Great for babies and preschoolers.
Sarah’s Picks:
Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night (Anne Rockwell)
This sweet picture book is about the Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins–a fun way to get kids excited to go to the pumpkin patch, pick out their pumpkin, and do the carving at home.
Little Boo (Stephen Wunderli)
Little Boo is a pumpkin seed who wants to be scary but isn’t quite big enough. The story follows the changing seasons and the growth of a seed into a plant and, eventually, Little Boo gets to be a scary jack-o-lantern.
Littlebat’s Halloween Story (Diane Mayr)
If you have kids who can’t WAIT for Halloween, read them this book. Littlebat has to wait for the seasons to change in order to explore his favorite place–the library!
Pumpkin Soup (Helen Cooper)
This books stays out year round at Sarah’s house–it tells the story of three friends who squabble a LOT…until one runs away and the others realize how much they miss their buddy! So good.
Want more ideas?
Katie mentioned that she got some of her ideas from this list from Everyday Reading, a listener in our Patreon Facebook group suggested this blog post from The Larson House, and we also love the digital options on Epic! (don’t forget to use code MOMHOUR for two months free).
We LOVE Big Pumpkin, The Candy Witch, Boo to You Too (all classics that I’ve had since I was a kid) and the Peek-a-flap Boo book is a great board book with interesting facts!
Leanne, thanks for the book recommendations! I will add these to our library hold list to check them out! 🙂
I also grew up reading popcorn and completely forgot about it! Thanks for the reminder, can’t wait to read this with my kiddos!
Amanda, Thanks for reading the post, and happy to meet another Popcorn fan! 🙂
So excited to have some new suggestions from your podcast! My old favorites: The Witch Next Door (an old one from my childhood by Norman Bridwell), Clifford’s Halloween (also Norman Bridwell), Room on the Broom (Julia Donaldson of Gruffalo fame), and as mentioned above, Big Pumpkin (Erica Silverman)!
Just discovering this list now, but excited for new ideas for my twin 4 year olds, thanks! Is there a similar list for Christmas books?