• Interest Level: Ages 3-9
• Themes: Seasons, Halloween, Witches, Spooky, Humor

It’s spooky season!

I was never really a big Halloween person but I’ve started to come around to it since having kids. Especially when they’re young and they’ll let you dress them in the most hilarious looking costumes! But for me, the best part of Halloween is getting to read some truly magical picture books with my children. My 5 year old has traditionally had an aversion to anything even remotely scary, but over the past year he has started to realize that there’s a certain level of pride and confidence that comes from facing your fears. A few months ago, he started asking me every night before bed if monsters were real. No matter how many different ways I reassured him, nothing seemed to be comforting enough, so we (I) decided to lean into the subject and ended up checking out a bunch of silly and only slightly spooky monster books from the library. Once he had started to see monsters in a more positive way, it seemed to unlock this whole different side of him that wanted to explore more topics that scared him in the past. A few months ago, I don’t think he would so much as open most of the books on this list, and now they are cherished favorites that we have so much fun reading together.

The Best Silly and/or Spooky Picture Books

The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt– Riel Nason

A sweet story about how being different can have its advantages. A little ghost feels ostracized for being a quilt when all of the other ghosts are sheets. But one night when he is used to keep a little Trick-or-Treater cozy and warm, he and his friends find that being a quilt isn’t so bad after all. 

The Little Kitten– Nicola Killen

One evening, Ollie and her cat Pumpkin discover a lost kitten. Pay close attention to the illustrations to discover who the kitten belongs to at the end!

A Tiger Called Tomas– Charlotte Zolotow

Tomas has just moved to a new neighborhood, and he feels shy and nervous to make new friends. He then finds a new sense of confidence once he dresses up as a tiger on Halloween and thinks that nobody will recognize him.

Room on the Broom– Julia Donaldson

This one is a Halloween classic, and it’s just as much fun to read aloud as it is to listen to. It’s also been turned into a cartoon film that’s available to watch on Amazon Prime! A story with a delightful rhyme scheme about a witch and her dog who keep dropping things from her broom, then flying down and picking up new friends along the way. 

Pick a Pumpkin– Patricia Tort

A fun book about getting ready for Halloween with gorgeous illustrations by Jarvis. I definitely recommend reading before heading to the pumpkin patch to carve your own Jack-o-lanterns.

The Crayons Trick or Treat– Drew Daywalt

If your kids are familiar with The Day the Crayons Quit and its sequels, they’re going to love watching the crayons’ silly attempts at trick-or-treating. But background knowledge about the characters is definitely not necessary, because as a stand-alone book it is still hilarious. 

Stumpkin- Lucy Ruth Cummins

Stumpkin is a practically perfect pumpkin, except he does not have a stem. As it gets closer to Halloween, Stumpkin watches as his friends get taken home and turned into Jack-o-lanterns, and he wonders if he will ever be chosen.

The Widow’s Broom– Chris Van Allsburg

I absolutely love this story, but it can be a little too spooky for some little ones so I recommend taking a look at it first to decide if your kids will be able to handle it. The story is about a witch who falls into a widow’s backyard when her broom loses its power mid-flight. The widow nurses the witch back to health and the witch gives her the broom when she leaves. It still contains some magical powers, which come in handy with the widow’s housework. Word spreads about the magic broom, and some neighbors call it the work of the devil, forming an angry mob and demanding to burn the broom. It’s so much fun to read this book aloud, because it is so satisfying when the widow outsmarts the angry neighbors to save the broom, and watching your audience realize the twist at the end is fantastic.

Clever Little Witch- Muon Thi Van

A little witch is fed up with her baby brother breaking her things and chewing her spell book, so she tries to give him away. When that doesn’t work, she decides to turn him into a goldfish, but since her spell book has been chewed, she has to try to remember the spell, and it goes hilariously awry. It also has a sweet message at the end, that while little siblings can be difficult at times, they’re still pretty great to have around.

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever- Steven Kroll

Two mice unknowingly care for the same pumpkin. One wants to grow it to win the Biggest Pumpkin competition, while the other wants to carve the biggest Jack-O-Lantern ever. When they both discover that they have been growing the same pumpkin, they have to figure out what they will eventually do with it.

Leila the Perfect Witch- Flavia Z. Drago

Leila is a witch who is naturally good at everything. But her dream is to win the Magnificent Witchy Cake-Off, and as a descendent of a long line of patisserie experts, she expects that baking will come naturally as well. However, every baking instinct in her body is disastrous. But with a little help from her family, she learns to enjoy being in the kitchen, and discovers that the fun of baking outweighs winning the competition.

Happy Halloween and Happy Reading!