We love Stephen Savage in this house. His illustrations are bright, simple and striking. In this counting book, we count ten pumpkins that either get scooped up by a ghost to bake in a pie or wrapped up by a mummy or put into a witch’s brew. Leaving the last pumpkin as a Jack-O-Lantern.
Simple, full of creepy Halloween images and fun to read.
This is a book about a pumpkin who isn’t like the others: he’s missing his stump! As he watches his friends being chosen from the storefront and becoming Jack-O-Lanterns across the street, he wonders if someone will ever choose him. As Halloween approaches, poor Stumpkin is the last pumpkin. Before he loses hope, he gets to become the best Jack-O-Lantern of all.
I love the illustrations – the author/illustrator is in Brooklyn and it’s pretty clear this story takes place there. It makes me think of those wide sidewalks as dusk falls with all the pumpkins sitting outside as lights begin to glow from all the buildings around them. George loved this story and even searched for his own Stumpkin at the pumpkin patch! Sometimes I don’t know if they are paying attention to all the books we read so was delighted that he kept this one close in his mind.
Bob got a ghost for his birthday. He would have preferred a dog or a gerbil but he got a ghost and named it Fluffy. Fluffy eats everything. He just keeps eating everything and getting bigger and bigger. One day, he even eats Bob! Quickly he realizes how lonely it is and perhaps he shouldn’t have eaten his best friend. He opens his mouth as wide as a door and Bob hops out. After that, they have all sorts of adventures, both exciting and boring, together and are the best of friends. Bob thinks everyone should get a ghost for their birthday.
George loves this Halloween book. Currently he’s obsessed with monsters. He has monster rubber boots, monster jeans, a monster hat, a monster sweater . . . . you get the drift.
So a book that is about a school bus full of ghouls and monsters? Perfection. On Halloween, a little boy dressed up is mistaken for a passenger of the Ghoul Bus and it takes a while for him to realize his fellow passengers are the real deal.
Bright fun illustrations that kids love.
So I don’t normally pick these books that are written by anonymous authors at the publishing house for cartoons that kids love – BUT – Alice love love loves Peppa Pig.
And if you have a Peppa Pig lover who happens to be a toddler having their first halloween – this book is a fun explanation of all the fun costumes kids can pick and how to trick-or-treat. This definitely primed Alice for her evening of knocking on random houses dressed up as Jesse from Toy Story.
In this one, we meet Skelly Bones Skeleton, a skeleton who loves Halloween. He decides to be a ghost this year but has a major malfunction: the wind picked him up and dropped him so that he broke apart. He needs help getting put back together but unfortunately the snake, the ants and the chicken put his bones together just like their bones. It isn’t until a pack of trick-or-treaters happen upon him that Skelly can be put together properly.
This is a really neat one because it is a retelling of an old folktale Stone Soup which has been told for hundreds of years across the world.
Capucilli re-imagines it with three witches needed to find ingredients for their bone soup. They go from home to home in their creepy neighbourhood collecting quite disgusting ingredients (like eyeballs and green sludge!) from their goulish community. In the end, everyone, from Dracula to the mummy, enjoy the delicious soup together.
The illustrations are fantastic (making these creepy characters adorable) and a recipe for bone soup is included at the end for you and your ghouls! Although it seems more minestrone than earthworm – thankfully!
This was a fun discovery for me because not only is this a book my monster-loving son loves, but I had no idea who Laurie Berkner was. Maybe you are more clued in that me to children’s music – but she is a fantastic parent-friendly children’s artist and this is one of her songs.
Clanton has created bright, simple and fun illustrations to pair with the lyrics. And after you read it, you can listen to it and get your kids doing the Monster Boogie!
This is a fantastic bedtime book for Halloween. In it, we meet little ghouls and monsters who need to go to bed. A little vampire needs to give daddy one more bite, baby Frankenstein can have one more cookie with his monster parents, and little zombies need to cuddle up in the barn. They love their kids to the grave and must go to sleep so they can enjoy another night.
It’s a fun twist on bedtime and perfect for your little creeps.
Poor skeleton wakes up with the hiccups. He goes through his day of taking a shower, raking the leaves and playing ball with ghost but can’t get rid of his hiccups. He tries all the tricks (but unfortunately drinking water upside down if you are skeleton doesn’t work too well) but still can’t get rid of the pesky hiccups. Ghost has a brilliant idea to truly scare the hiccups out of skeleton: hold a mirror up so he can see his own reflection!
Monster Trucks
by Joy Keller with pictures by Misa Saburi
What do monsters do when it’s not Halloween? They work paving roads, plowing snow and hauling muck. And what do they use to work? Monster trucks of course!
This is a really fun book with great illustrations. And it combines two big loves my kids have: monsters and contraction vehicles.
It’s been a spooky season for reading and I hope you enjoy these Halloween picks!
Happy Reading,
Curious in Wonderland
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