The Best Halloween Books for Children

10 Oct, 2012

Written by Connie Jelkin

Let’s begin with a spoiler alert: I am a Librarian – -not just in job, but in my heart.

I LOVE books.

I also love to share them: by reading with friends, being in a Book Club, reading to children. I look for and at books everywhere.

But, I have found something that really makes my blood boil.

It is easy to find books where I live, there is a used book store, there is more than one thrift store, there are garage sales too many for one person to visit (believe me when I say I have proved this more than once) and of course there are new bookstores and the library.

I should be happy surrounded by so much.

What I am beginning to notice, though, is that there are A LOT of books that you should not waste your time picking up. Books for children that have a silly story, poor vocabulary and NO IMAGINATION!!

No wonder children are not reading.

Enough of the ranting – - -Here are some books for Halloween that you and your young readers will enjoy year after year that deserve to be read.

“Berenstain Bears: Spooky old Tree”. A safe scary story for the little ones that is just as good as when it was first printed in 1978.

“Scary Scary Halloween” by Eve Bunting and Jan Brett. It’s just as good as you would expect from these

authors with a delightful ending.

Older kids will love Mark Teague’s: “One Halloween Night”. The illustrations alone will win you over, but the story has some magic that every child would love to use.

“Humbug Witch” by Lorna Balian tells the tale of a witch that can not cast a spell and “finally decides its just no use”. As she gets ready for bed, the reader slowly discovers what is behind the mask.

Buried in another collection (The Sneeches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss) you will “What was I Scared of?” It tells the tale of one creature who is scared of another - -but finds out that creature is scared of him!

“The Little Old Lady
who was not Afraid of Anything” by Linda Williams is so much fun to read aloud and have the children join in with all the ‘scary’ sounds. This little old lady is pretty clever.

Here is a story that is not scary at all, but always gets a laugh. “Popcorn” by Frank Asch. How much popcorn is too much?

“A very Brave Witch” by Alison McGhee is a story told from the viewpoint of the Witch. Are humans a scary as her friends tell her?

A 2010 story of “Scaredy-Cat, Splat!” by Rob Scotton is a newer story sure to become a classic. Read to see if Scaredy-cat can win the prize for scariest cat at his school.

The last is really a year-round favorite, but works for Halloween: “Leonardo the Terrible Monster” by Mo Willems. Be prepared to read about all these monsters over and over again. I bet you love the ending as much as the kids.