Our Favorite Picture Books: Halloween Edition

Halloween is now just two weeks away. My kids are still flip-flopping on their costume choices and the Trick-or-Treat candy has been bought (and not yet eaten by me!). We've got some pumpkins to buy and carve still and a corn maze not yet solved but we did make sure to get out our Halloween pictures books and start reading them. We have our favorites around here and I wanted to share them with you, in case you were on the lookout for some to share with your kids. A couple of these are old favorites, a couple are new this year but all of them are ones we'll be keeping around to read each year at this time.

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

Room on the Broom follows and slightly clumsy witch as she travels on her broom. As she goes, she drops different items, like her hat and her wand, and makes friends when she drops to the ground to find them. She picks up the animals that have found her items along the way, until they become too heavy and the broom breaks. They encounter a hungry dragon along the way who wants to eat the witch but the animals scare off the dragon together. The witch makes a fancy broom with enough room for all of them and they head off together at the end of the book. It is truly adorable and one of our favorites. It's not specifically Halloween, but the main character is a witch, so we call it a Halloween book around here. The rhyming and repetition are perfect for children and makes it easy for young kids learning to read or for those who like to memorize their stories. The book is cute, not scary, which also makes it a perfect Halloween book for younger kids and we've been reading it for years and have still not tired of it. This one comes recommended by all of us!

Scaredy-Cat, Splat by Rob Scotton

Splat wants to be the scariest cat in school during his class' Halloween party, but doesn't have a scary costume. Splat is a bit of a scaredy-cat himself and finds that all of his friends costumes scare him more than his own. When his teacher reads a scary story in class, Splat get so scared he topples over his jack-0-lantern. When the lights come back on, the class is scared of a new creature in class! But it turns out to just be Splat with his own jack-o-lantern stuck on his head. The class loves it and Splat is happy to be the scariest cat in class. We haven't read any other Splat books as a family, so I'm not sure what the normal structure of these books are. Scaredy-Cat, Splat is loved by both of my kids (ages 6 and 3) but not nearly as much by either me or my husband. It's much more of a silly story for kids centered around a clumsy cat than a funny book for adults. There's no lesson to be learned or plot that matters at all, but the kids love it. And since we only bring this out in the fall, it really doesn't even matter that much. It's definitely not a book I could read over and over, but since my kids love it and giggle so much during it, I've kept it around. This book comes highly recommended by both my kids and is considered acceptable, if completely uninteresting, by me.

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

This book follows Jasper Rabbit, a regular rabbit who loves carrots. He eats them all the time, even steals them from the field near his house. At least he does until he thinks the carrots start following him. They show up everywhere. And no one else seems to notice. Finally Jasper has enough of the creepy carrots and comes up with a plan to make sure they stay in the field where they belong. The end has a funny twist so I won't spoil it here. But this is a perfect Halloween book for young kids. It isn't too scary, but is creepy enough to keep them on the edge of their seats and feeling like they're reading an actual scary story. And it's funny and interesting enough to keep parents from falling asleep reading after reading. Plus, all of the illustrations are done by Peter Brown, one of our favorites that I've mentioned on here before. In my book, those add up to a great children's picture book. And it's a Halloween book that can be kept out all year-long without feeling out-of-place. This book comes highly recommended by my whole family!

Five Little Pumpkins by Dan Yaccarino

On the off-hand chance you are looking for your baby's first Halloween book or are shopping for a baby you know for Halloween, this is a great board book. The rhyme is perfect for the littlest kids and short enough to keep their attention. You can even sing the lines, if that's your thing. The book follows five little pumpkins who start out sitting on a gate. Each one says something about the night and the end has them rolling off together into the night. It's cute, short, simple, and easily memorized. It's been awhile since I've read it and I can still recite the entire book by heart. I'm pretty proud of myself. But in all honesty, that's part of what makes this so great for young kids. They can remember the lines on the pages themselves through the rhyme and the pictures and it makes them feel proud and excited to 'read' the book on their own. This fun, simple board book makes a great Halloween starter book for babies and toddlers and comes highly recommended by me and both of my kids!

That is our list of current must-read Halloween picture books. Since we're always looking for new books to read, I'd love it if you'd share your family's favorite Halloween pictures books with us in the comments!