Best Halloween Books for Preschoolers, Juniors and Tweens
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Whilst most of our options for Halloween 2020 are somewhat limited, there are still lots of great ways to celebrate Halloween at home with our children. Every Halloween we love to read lots of themed books on the run up to the big day, and despite COVID, this year will be no different.
It can be hard to find books for Halloween that are pitched at the right age group – you want to bring in some of the magic of Halloween without scaring them to the point of nightmares and sleepless nights! Here, we break down some of our faves based on their target market so you can pick Halloween books perfectly suited to your Childrens age.
Which other Halloween books would you recommend?
Halloween Books for Preschoolers / Toddlers
Most little ones don’t have a huge understanding of Halloween and its best to avoid anything too scary where possible. Instead, these Halloween books for younger children involve more concepts that are less spooky and more cute, as well as having some educational benefits such as ryhme, texture, flaps or illustration elements to explore.
Here are some of our faves:
Halloween Books for Preschoolers
We’re Going on a Pumpkin Hunt by Goldie Hawk (Illustrated by Angie Rozelaar) – Nosy Crow
If you are introducing little ones to Halloween for the first time, or are looking for books that are more cute than scary, then this familiar feeling We’re Going on a Pumpkin Hunt is just the ticket!
A spooky reimagining of the classic story ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ -except this time we are hunting for the perfect pumpkin to take trick or treating. From navigating through sticky spiders webs to battling through flapping bats and even a haunted house, will the children find the pumpkin they are seeking or another big surprise?
With super cute characters, a familiar rhythmic storyline, repeated words and phrase, this chunky board book is a great interactive Halloween read for younger children.
Hide & Peak Monster
Buy at Amazon – Hide & Peak Monster
Little ones love lift the flap books, and this one will be no exception. This fun interactive book is all about a brother and sister looking for a monster in their garden – her brother thinks there is a perfectly reasonable explanation – but is there?
With beautiful illustratrations, the children follow growling noises and other clues – children will love spotting little glimpses of the monster, lifting the flaps, pulling the sliding tabs and opening up the pop-ups to help bring the book to life.
Busy Halloween – Campbell Books (Illustrated by Louise Forshaw) – Campbell Books
For younger children who may be experiencing some of the Halloween traditions for the very first time, you really can’t go wrong with this bright and colourful Busy Halloween board book from Campbell Book’s Busy Books range.
By pushing, pulling and turning the tabs, children can quite literally bring the story to life – carving pumpkins, dressing up for Halloween and filling up their treat bags with candy!
A great way interactive read for little ones and a fab option for developing their fine motor skills too
Little Monsters – David Walliams
A fun book with a lovely underlying message that its ok to be different, Little Monsters by David Walliams tells the story of a little werewolf called Howler who loves to howl at the moon. Unfortunately his voice is a tad on the squeaky side – something which all the other werewolves find hilarious. He goes to Monster school in an attempt to become more scary, but instead learns one of the most important life lessons of all. With fun, colourful illustrations and sure to raise a smile, this is a great non scary book for little ones this Halloween.
That’s not my Bat / Witch by Fiona Watt
Most people will be familiar with the That’s Not My books – but in case you’re not – these touchy feely Usborne books have new textures to explore on every single page, great for sensory awareness in babies and toddlers. These are pretty much a childhood right of passage! 🙂
10 Trick or Treaters – Janet Schulman
10 Trick or Treaters is a fun counting book for Halloween which little ones will want to read again and again. Its Halloween night and a group of 10 friends are off out trick or treating. As the book progressed, another child is scared off by a (non scary more costume based) monster, vampires, mummy or bat, until there is just 1 left, the last brave child returning home to bed with a bag full of candy. The girls loved looking at all the different sweets at the end and deciding which one was their favourite! A great way to reinforce counting backwards from 10 too! 🙂
The Very Hungry Caterpillars Creepy-Crawly Halloween by Eric Carle
The Very Hungry Caterpillars Creepy-Crawly Halloween is a spin on the original very Hungry Caterpillar which we all know and love. This one follows the adventures of the caterpillar as he meets a number of Halloween style bugs and creatures including a spider and a final surprise hidden behind a pumpkin. Toddlers and preschoolers will love lifting the flaps to reveal the (non scary) creatures hiding behind. Short and sweet with all the charm of Eric Carle’s illustrations. Love this one.
The Crayons Trick or Treat
Buy at Amazon – The Crayons Trick or Treat
If you’re familiar with the original The Day the Crayons Quits, you’re going to love this Halloween board book edition. In this hilarious book, Purple Crayon teaches the rest of the box the magic words to say when they ring their neighbours’ doorbells. (and spoiler alert, it isn’t BOO)
Halloween stories to read to Young Children
There Was a Young Zombie Who Swallowed a Worm by Kaye Baillie
Buy now from Amazon – There Was a Young Zombie Who Swallowed a Worn
This book is so much fun to read aloud as your little one joins in with the repeated rhyming text.
Based on the story ‘There was an old woman who swallowed a fly’, We meet a cute little zombie who swallowed a worm – we don’t know why he swallowed the worm – it made him squirm. Packed with toads, witches, bats, trolls and a VERY hungry little zombie, it’s guaranteed to make them laugh this Halloween.
Pick a Pumpkin by Patricia Toht
I love this book because for me it captures everything that we love about Halloween (although some of the elements like trick or treating we won’t be able to do this year *sob*). The illustrations in Pick a Pumpkin are adorable, full of autumn colours, and the story follows the journey to a local pumpkin patch to pick and bring home their pumpkin. A really lovely rhyming story to get your in the mood for Halloween and perfect to read before bed.
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
Room on the Broom is an absolute classic Julia Donaldson book which the girls love all year round but is also perfect for Halloween. As the witch flies she drops her possessions like her want and her hat, and helpful creatures return them so she offers them a ride on her broom in return. Suddenly the weight of her new guests causes her broom to snap, and the witch finds herself at risk of being eaten by a giant dragon!
A story of friendship and working together, this rhyming tale is another must have for your Halloween Collection.
There’s a Ghost in this House by Oliver Jeffers
Get yours at Amazon – There’s a Ghost in this House
This is such a unique book for Halloween. A young girl lives in a haunted house, but has never seen a ghost – even though apparently one lives in her home. With transparent pages that will reveal all their hiding places, this (non scary) spooky book will really raise some laughs.
Five Little Pumpkins by Ben Mantle
Buy now from Amazon – Five Little Pumpkins
A fun and beautifully illustrated read for Halloween – Five little pumpkins are sitting quietly on a gate until they are joined one by one by creepy characters including witches, spiders, bats, frogs and ghosts – all ready to cause some Halloween mischief.
Witching’s Witch by Lu Fraser- illustrated by Sarah Massini
Lu Fraser is rapidly becoming one of our favourite children’s authors and this latest release The Witchling’s Wish is so beautifully illustrated it has to be right up their with one of the best!
A beautiful story of friendship, this story is all about a Little Witchling who lives alone on a mountain top. Of all the things in the world, the thing she wants the most is a friend, so she decides to try and magic one up with a very special spell. When the last ingredient is the last hair from a little girl’s much loved teddy, the witchling has a bit decision to make about what it really means to be a good friend.
We’re Going to Find the Monster by Malorie Blackman – illustrated by Dapo Adeola
From the award winning author of Look Up! We’re Going to find the Monster is a fun filled book of two little adventurers with a very vivid imagination! Great fun to read aloud, these two kids use their imagination to turn their house and the people within it into a whole other make believe world as they trek to track down the very scary monster (who is actually their older brother!)
This is also the first book I have seen which has a character with vitiligo. It’s not referenced at all in the text, but is helping children learn about diversity and individual differences too.
Gustavo the Shy Ghost by Flavia Drago
This book is so beautifully illustrated, that each page is a joy to explore. Gustavo the Shy Ghost tells the story of Gustavo who is great at all sorts of paranormal things like waking through walls and making objects fly, but when it comes to making friends he really struggles as he is incredibly shy. One day he gets an invitation to a Day of the Dead party and finds that by being brave and showing courage you can finally find that sense of belonging you are searching for. A real Disney Coco feel to this one – a lovely read for Halloween.
Beast Feast by Emma Yarlett
A really fun interactive book with Mr Postman style letters to open – the Beast Feast tells the story of the Beast who captures a child he refers to as Dinner. As he works to plump up Dinner ready for his dinner party, Dinner is wise and shares some enjoyable experiences to get him chilled, salted and slimy ready for the Beast’s guests. Soon enough Beast doesn’t want to eat Dinner anymore – but what happens when his guests arrive? A non scary story with a nice happy ending! 🙂
Spookrumpus by Tony Milton
Buy now at Amazon – Spookyrumpus
With glowing artwork by Guy Parker-Rees, illustrator of the bestselling Giraffes Can’t Dance, this book is a hilarious countdown to Halloween, featuring floaty ghosts, clickety-clackety skeletons and terrific tromping trolls!
I’m NOT (very) Afraid of the Dark by Anna Milbourne
Although not strictly a Halloween book, I’m not VERY afraid of the dark is a great October read for children who may be a little nervous in the dark at bedtime. Full of tiny little holes that show that the shadows we see at nighttime arent always what they appear, the girls loved reading this, shining their torches through the holes and in Neve’s case, poking her fingers through all the little gaps! 🙂 A really lovely read best suited to children 4 and over as some of the pages are a bit delicate and younger children may inadvertently rip in their enthusiasm!
Halloween Books for Juniors / Books with Chapters
The Witches by Roald Dahl
I am so excited for the new movie release of The Witches, which looks like it’ll be streaming to our screens rather than the cinema due to COVID. This book is a bit scary in parts (I remember as a child at junior school having to skip a few chapters myself), but this is another childhood essential read. The Witches tells the story of a boy who stumbles across a group of witches at a convention in the hotel where he is staying with his Grandmother. The Grand High Witch plans to make all children disappear by turning them into mice with a magic potion and when she discovers Luke hiding; she tests the formula on him! Luke then must try and save the day – as a mouse! What could possibly go wrong??
Magnificent Mabel and the Very Important Witch
Get yours at Amazon – Magnificent Mabel
Whilst it’s the 5th book in a series for early readers, this Halloween read works perfectly well as a stand alone too.
Sometimes life isn’t fair for Mabel Chase. Like for instance she isn’t allowed to go Trick or Treating on HALLOWEEN because she has to visit a relative instead. And even though there’s a monster living under her bed, her parents STILL won’t let her have a brand-new high-up bunk bed which wouldn’t have ANY hiding spots for monsters. And NO-ONE at school believes her when she spots aliens in the playground. But none of that matters in the end … because Mabel is still MAGNIFICENT.
The Bigwoof Conspiracy by Dash Roberts
Buy now at Amazon – The Bigwoof Conspiracy
A fantastic sci-fi series for middle grade readers, this is the first edition about UFO obsessed 12 year old Lucy. When she sneaks out in the middle of a thunderstorm to investigate the unexplained disappearances in her hometown of Sticky Pines, she finds more than she bargained for: a huge hairy creature, a thirteen-year-old stranger named Milo Fisher and a deep-rooted secret.
Together, Lucy and Milo become entwined in a mystery that threatens to engulf the whole town of Sticky Pines and its weird and wonderful residents
Following Frankenstein by Catherine Bruton
Erin is absolutely loving chapter books at the moment and you can also find some great middle grade books for Halloween.
In Following Frankenstein, Maggie’s father has dedicated his whole life to hunting down the monster created by Victor Frankenstein. Now her father is staking everything on one last voyage to the Arctic, with Maggie secretly in tow, where he hopes to find the monster at last.
When they arrive however, they make an even more shocking discovery: Frankenstein’s monster has a son…
From the award-winning author of No Ballet Shoes in Syria and Another Twist in the Tale this edge of your seat adventure will keep children wanting to read just one more chapter! (Aimed at children aged 9-12)
Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters
The first rule off Monsterous League of Monsters – keep monsters hidden from humans”.
10 years ago a small baby was abandoned in a graveyard, and Zombie George and Bandit the cat rescue her, determined not to leave her to her otherwise destined fate.
Bought up and raised by Monsters, forward wind 10 years and we meet Theodora Hendrix, a child whose unorthodox upbringing has seen her baby sitting warewolf cubs, making friends with Tarrantulas and having a Mummy who well, is quite literally a Mummy.
When a series of annoymous letters start appearing that threaten to expose the truth about her family and their secrets forever, Theodora needs to act fast before their real identity is revealed!
My 7 year old daughter loved reading Theordora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters – the illustrations are really engaging and fun, and help bring some of the more imaginative scenes to life. The book is spooky but funny, so nothing that will give them nightmares, out most importantly from a parents perspective it comes with some lovely underlying messages around family – that family is what you make it and can take lots of different forms. For children who have diverse family settings or are adopted, this would be a great reinforcement of some positive messages in a fun and non explicit way.
The Day I Fell Into a Fairytale by Ben Miller
The Day I Fell Into a Fairytale is a twist on the fairytales we think we know inside out and whilst not traditionally Halloween’y – its full of magic – and so for those with a vivid imagination its definitely a great October read.
Lana is bored. Her brother Harrison has become serious overnight and no longer wants to play with her and she is desperate for someone to play with her.
One day a new supermarket called Grimm’s appears literally overnight on the common by their home, and inside is like no other supermarket she’s ever seen before.
When she discovers a giant pick and mix which hides a secret portal, it transports her directly to a fairytale world, Lana learns what really happened to Sleeping Beauty – and its not quite the story as we know it!. There is humour and wit, action and excitement, as she realises that in this fairytale, the princess needs her help,
Can she convince sensible old Harrison to return to this fairytale world to help save the day? And what will come of Grimm’s?
With an underlying message of sibling relationships and a reminder that you’re never too grown up to go on an adventure, this book kept Erin absolutely hooked from start to finish.
Tweens
The World of Weird
Buy yours at Amazon – The World of Weird
If you’ve got an older child who prefers their Halloween reads to be of the nonfiction variety, this is a creepy compendium of true stories. From shrunken heads to witches’ charms, saints’ blood to graverobbers’ remains, hangman’s salve to trepanning tools, take a peek into our grisly and macabre past – if you’re brave enough!
Young Oracle Tarot
Buy now at Amazon – Young Oracle Tarot
Fancy themselves as a mystical hero? Young Oracle Tarot reveals for young oracles-in-training what tarot is, how to read the cards for themselves and for others, and how this ancient mystical practice can be used for self-reflection, self-care, problem-solving and more.
