When trick or treating is around the corner, we love to pull out our children’s Halloween books! These books will get your kids excited to dress up, carve a pumpkin, put on costumes, and have some spooky (but not scary!) fun to get them in the Halloween spirit.
Children’s Halloween Books Get Kids Excited About the Holiday
Goblins and ghouls and ghosts, oh my! Halloween is around the corner, and children just love to get into the holiday spirit. Aside from picking out your costumes, heading to the pumpkin patch, breaking out your scariest books, and deciding what candy to have on hand for the big day, we simply love reading children’s Halloween books to bring the excitement of the holiday right into our home.
Halloween Books for Kids Contain Important Values
Believe it or not, many children’s Halloween books do more than give kids a case of the spooks! Some of these fun stories contain life lessons that all grownups seek to instill in their little ones. Why, you ask?
Children’s Halloween books often revolve around characters that are “different” than others – think monsters, ghosts, and witches. These characters seek to make friends, fit in, and play nicely with others. But how can they do so when they aren’t like their peers?
Halloween stories can thus teach the importance of kindness, compassion, and learning not to judge a book by its cover.
Our Favorite Halloween Book
Lucy Ruth Cummins’ Stumpkin (as featured below), is our very favorite children’s Halloween book. It is the story of a pumpkin who is very different than the other pumpkins in the shop. He’s orange and beautiful and round and perfect, but he’s missing one very important part – he has no stem! Will he ever turn into the perfect jack-o-lantern and get his time to shine on a windowsill?
This fabulous story helps children see that even though we each have unique characteristics that make us feel different from our peers, we always have our moments to shine. Stumpkin is a gem!
RELATED: We’ve got more than 100 children’s book lists on Happily Ever Elephants. Be sure to check out this link!
Frequently Asked Questions
There’s no doubt about it, my favorite Halloween book to share with our youngest readers is Eek! Halloween! by Sandra Boynton (as featured below). She can do no wrong, in my book, and her story features great illustrations, pitch-perfect rhyme, and never fails to get toddlers laughing with glee.
You can never go wrong with Crankenstein! I love Trick or Treat, Crankenstein, for the way it makes grumpiness relatable to kids and helps children recognize that even our “bad” days can turn around! Check it out below!
Never forget that you know your child best! While most children’s Halloween books are more “silly” than scary, any book featuring monsters or other ghouls has the potential to give small kids a fright. Always make sure to read through a book before you share it with your children, noting if anything in the story might not be a good fit for your child’s particular fears or anxieties.
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More Children’s Halloween Books We Love
There’s a big round moon in a dark, dark sky. The chickens are nervous. Do you know why? If you have a toddler in your house and you haven’t read any Sandra Boynton books, you’re missing out! This simple Halloween story features great rhyme, silly text, and many chances for toddlers to chime in with the reader. Treat your littles with this darling board book! For more great board books to read all through the year, click here!
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Stumpkin is a beautiful pumpkin! He’s round and bright orange, and he doesn’t even have a blemished side! He’d make the perfect Halloween jack-o-lantern, except for one small problem. Poor Stumpkin doesn’t have a stem! Instead, there’s nothing there. Just a stump. And no one seems to want a stemless pumpkin for Halloween. Will Stumpkin ever get his chance to be the fabulous jack-o-lantern he knows he can be? There’s no doubt about it: Stumpkin is one of our very favorite children’s Halloween books!
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This funny book is hands down a new favorite that had us laughing from start to finish! It’s easy to fall in love with a book featuring a witch who stars in her own television show called “Bewitching Kitchen.” Making new recipes is her bread and butter, but things get a little hairy when she tries to make Frog Soup. In order to have Frog Soup, of course, you must use real frogs for some extra kick and a pop of color. But getting frogs onto a spoon isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. Young readers (and their grownups) will get a kick out of the deadpan text and the witch’s frustration as the frogs leap, hop and escape. Whatever is a witchy chef to do? Simply hilarious!
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What happens when a ghost isn’t a billowy sheet, but a thick quilt instead? A hot, stuffy quilt that is not as light as air and causes the ghost difficulty when he tries to twirl and float and soar? This adorable story of a different kind of ghost who feels left out when his friends are zooming all around packs the perfect punch. And the magic that happens on Halloween when the little ghost has an experience that was only possible because he’s a quilt and not a sheet? Perfection!
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Beatrice likes the dark. In fact, the darker, the better. Things she loves: the night sky (and all its stars!), dark clothes, spiders, and graveyards. Things Beatrice doesn’t understand? Well, one big thing, in particular. Her sister, Roo. Roo loves everything BRIGHT and everything LIGHT, from the hottest, brightest days to picking strawberries to watching butterflies. How can two sisters get along when they are so very different? This book is a bit spooky, a lot glorious, and positively enchanting! for our full review, click here!
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This bilingual Halloween book is such a fun read-aloud! If your grownups leave for the night and your new babysitter rides in on a broomstick, cackling like a crow and sporting a black sombrero, beware! She might be a bruja, and you may not have anticipated having a witch watch you for the night! One little girl is determined not to fall for the bruja’s tricks, (after all, is a bubble bath a boiling cauldron?) but that doesn’t mean she won’t have the best night ever. Magic potions, enchanted towers, and sleeping spells make this a delightful book to get into the Halloween spirit – and ready for bedtime, too.
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Why did the chicken cross the road? This hilariously spooky picture book is perfect in the days leading up to Halloween, and it gives new meaning to the notion of “the other side.” Why? Because here, when the chicken attempts to cross the road, he gets flattened by a truck and becomes a ghost. He’s supposed to cause a bit of trouble in his new form, but is it really nice to scare people?
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If your family has a pumpkin carving ritual you will absolutely love this children’s Halloween book and its vibrant, retro-styled illustrations. From picking out the perfect pumpkin to carting it home and clearing it out to carving a spooky face and lighting it up with a candle inside, children will recognize their own Halloween traditions in this great story with pitch-perfect rhyming text!
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Crankenstein is such a fun character, and in this Halloween romp, he’s having another case of the grumps. His costume is a disaster, his pumpkin is ruined, and he lands at the house that gives away toothbrushes instead of candy. Meehhrrr! Will anything turn Crankensteins bad day into the treat-filled holiday he loves? This one never fails to get kids giggling!
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If you love We’re Going on a Bear Hunt as much as we do, you will love this Halloween spin on the classic book! Three trick-or-treaters are on the hunt for a perfect pumpkin, but they end up encountering cobwebs and bats and a haunted house! But are they scared? No! Your young readers will delight in this children’s Halloween book that lends itself well to singing and activity!
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A witch and her cat are flying along when the wind picks up and blows away her gear! Luckily, some helpful animals come along to help her retrieve her missing things, but when they want a ride on her broomstick, there may not be room on the broom for everyone. What happens when the broom breaks, and a dragon comes for the witch? A delightful rhyming book your children will love!
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Uh oh. House has a little bit of a problem. She squeaks. She creaks. She groans. Could she be – gulp! – haunted? Poor house simply wants to find a perfect family to settle within her walls, but will she ever find the right ones? Can she turn a haunted house into a haunted home?
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Little witch Leila is good at everything she does. Things just come easy to her! Yet, when she tries to win the Magnificent Witchy Cake-off, she realizes she is a disaster in the kitchen, unlike the rest of her ancestors who have mastered the Dark Arts of Patisserie. With the help of her magical sisters, Leila learns to accept her imperfections and try her hardest – even when it feels really challenging. We love a great growth mindset story – and we’ve got more here!
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What happens when you come face to face with a scary ghost? Make sure to grab this book if you want to have the essential tips handy, because some ghosts may simply need a friend. If you are sweet and warm and kind, I suggest you be on the lookout because a ghost may find you soon!
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This Halloween, you are guaranteed to be the one doing the scaring, not those daunting ghosts! Read this book for the ultimate list of tips to frighten your ghouls— and then have some fun with them too.
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This is a fun, simple rhyming book that will get your youngest readers into the Halloween spirit! It’s perfect for reading aloud and helps little kids learn the holiday traditions as the big day approaches. A definite Halloween treat!
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What is your favorite children’s Halloween book? Let us know in the comments below!
Happy reading!
RELATED: We’ve got the best children’s books for you on Happily Ever Elephants, so be sure to check out these great picture books for kindergarten on up!
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