There, I feel better with that off my chest. I don't know how it works at your library, but at our library you have to reserve holiday books waaaaay ahead of time in order to get your mitts on any at all. Because of this, I pour over other amazing blogs' booklists ( ahem, Cutting Tiny Bites) get out my phone and reserve away.
We've discovered a bunch of new favorites this year and we are still a couple of weeks, and a whole bunch more reserves, away from the big spooky, amazing day!
Before I get into it, I guess I should confess one more thing. I am a book addict and Kinley seems to share my love of all things written. We go to the library at least twice a week and I plan on sharing nothing but the best of the hundreds and thousands we devour.
There is a printable library list if you scroll down to the bottom in case you want to see all the titles together :)
Here goes, ultimate favorites first :
The Spooky Wheels on the Bus by J. Elizabeth Mills
Definitely our number one pick! More and more adorably spooky creatures board the bus as the book moves along and they all do some kind of wiggly dance. We wiggled and shook right along with them 10 or 12 times :) It's adorable and you can sing the entire thing to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus", of course! Preschool perfection.
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
If you don't know the joys of Room on the Broom you better just go get in the car and head to the library to pick it up! It's sooo cute--a nice witch is flying through the air on her broom with her faithful cat, but the wind keeps blowing her stuff back down to the ground and each time they swoop down to look for it they make another animal friend who wants to go with them on the broom, and even though her cat is not pleased, the extra company turns out to be very helpful when they encounter a witch-eating dragon! There's a claymation movie version of it on Netflix that's super adorable, too. We actually read this one year-round cause we love it and it's not actually Halloween-y other than the witch :)
Not Very Scary by Carol Brendler
Melly is heading to her cousin's house for a Halloween party, and luckily she's a super brave little monster. Nothing scares her! Not skittish skeletons or goblins or creepy black cats. Okay, so maybe she's a teensy bit scared...but you guys won't be because Greg Pizzoli's illustrations are the cutest! (We've been obsessed with that guy since The Watermelon Seed!) Love this one :)
Skeleton For Dinner by Margery Cuyler
Poor cute little Skeleton overhears the witches talking about having him for dinner, and he runs Chicken-Little-style all over the forest warning the other creatures about their plans. But, they don't want to eat him and the other creepy critters, they want to invite them to their dinner party! How can you not love a book with a skeleton as cute as this one? :)
Skeleton Meets the Mummy by Steve Metzger
Skeleton's mommy sends him on an errand to his grandma's house before he can meet his buddy and head out to trick or treat, but on the way there he hears creepy noises and realizes someone, or something, is following him! I won't tell you what happens cause that's part of the awesome, but this is a great one for reading aloud and it's easy to get all "WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN?!" Trust me, it's a good one :)
At the Old Haunted House by Helen Ketteman
Lots of spooky creatures live in the mansion! This is a counting book and Halloween book all rolled into one. You get to count the spooky critters as trick-or-treaters show up and go inside for a Halloween party.
We're Off to Find the Witch's House by Mr. Kreib
Another great read-aloud story! Don't blame me when it gets stuck in your head for days ;) The rhythm is just so dang catchy! The little band of trick-or-treaters is headed to trick or treat at the witch's house and they run into lots of spooky critters along the way and they are more than a little freaked out. Good news though--when they finally make it to the creepy old witch's house, things take a much friendlier turn :)Are you looking for some more suggestions? Well, you are in luck because I've got a bunch more!
- Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara is an adorable story about a witch who gets tired of the ghosts haunting her house, so she catches them and washes them and puts them to work as sheets and curtains and tablecloths. ADORABLE!
- There Was an Old Mummy Who Swallowed a Spider by Jennifer Ward follows the same "There was an old lady" storyline, but for some reason Kinley found this one hilarious!
- Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman is a classic from when we were little and it's just as entertaining now as it was then. Kin ate this one up :)
- Where's My Mummy? by Carolyn Crimi is a sweet little story of a little mummy and his momma playing hide n' seek in the spooky-ish woods. So cute!
- Clifford's Halloween by Norman Bridwell probably needs no introduction! This one has been around since our school days and that's what I really love about it. Isn't it fun to share the ones you remember from your kiddo days with your own little? And, besides, who doesn't love Clifford? :)
- The Monsterator by Keith Graves is a cool book about a little boy that drops a dime in a machine and it turns him into a monster for Halloween, but when he goes back to reverse the magic, the shop is gone and he is stuck being a monster forever! The best part is at the end--there are tons of flaps that let you monsterate the boy yourself with so many monster-y flap options.
- The Night Before Halloween by Natasha Wing is a cute and simple story about a bunch of monsters and Halloween creatures getting their house ready for a party with the trick-or-treaters they hope will come.
- Little Boo by Stephen Wunderli is not what you expect from the title! It's about a little pumpkin seed who can't wait to be scary. He tries winter, spring, and summer to scare to no avail. The wind tells him to be patient, but it's so hard! I won't give it away...you'll love this one :)
- Birdie's Happiest Halloween by Sujean Rim is one in a series of adorable books about a sweet little stylish girl named Birdie. (We especially love these books because I've been calling Kinley "Birdie" since she was just a teeny girl!) This one is a light happy story--Birdie can't figure out what she should be for Halloween, and even though she has fun doing all of the great traditional fall activities with her mom and friends, she is completely distracted by it.
- T. Rex Trick or Treats by Lois Grambling is a funny one about a dinosaur with the same problem as Birdie! He just can't figure out what to be for Halloween. Nothing seems scary enough and what he and his friends come up with at the end will def make you chuckle.
- There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Spider by Jennifer Ward is pretty much self-explanatory, but the burp at the end made the entire book for Kin ;)
And here's the round-up of all of the books I listed above. If you want to print it to take with you to the library, just click on the list below! Happy reading!
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