Halloween Books
I feel like we haven't added Halloween books to our stash in ages, so this year I ordered a few. (As I've described in years past, during the month of October, we like to light candles each night and ready Halloween books or spooky stories. This year we even have a fireplace (woot!). It totally heightens the drama.) The books we added this year:
Bone Soup.
A Halloween themed retelling of Stone Soup. Instead of carrots and potatoes, the townspeople eventually share their stewed eyeballs and jars of batwings. The illustrations are the best part. My kids love this.
By the Light of the Halloween Moon.
A rebus by Caroline Stutson. Simple and repetitive. My preschoolers especially like this.
Once Upon a Halloween Night.
This is a chapter book. I was looking for something the older kids would like. We're still not done with it yet, but so far so good.
You can find links to some of our other favorites here. What are your favorite Halloween books?
Labels: children's lit, holidays, kids
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Monday, October 19, 2009
42 Comments:
Two of our favorites are "Where's My Mummy" and "Boogie Knights". We check out the former from the library every October and are lucky enough to have the latter in our own library.
We love "The Best Halloween Ever" by Barbara Robinson (and love her classic "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever").
We love "Zoom Broom" and "Piggie Pie" by Margie Palatini. It looks like there is a new one out called "Broom Mates". They are about Gritch the Witch and my two year old up to my seven year old love them. I like reading them too because they are clever and funny. My kids laugh out loud. They are good for Halloween, but they work any other time too.
"A Woggle of Witches" by Adrienne Adams. And Paul Galdone's "The Monster and the Tailor" and "Tailypo." All of them are just spooky enough!
What better way to celebrate a holiday than with loads of books? We will most definitely be looking for these ones at our library. Especially Bone Soup. That sounds darling.
A few of our favorite Halloween books are Halloween Pie (Michael O. Tunnell), The Skeleton in the Closet (Alice Schertle), and of course the classic Humbug Witch.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Bone Soup is awesome! Spooky enough to be Halloween worthy and funny enough for kids of all ages. It is also written and illustrated by my talented sis-inlaw, Cambria.
artblob.blogspot.com and tinysketch.blogspot.com
Have you ever read "Mucumber McGee and the Half-Eaten Hot Dog" by Patrick Loehr (a local Denver author and illustrator)?
It is clever, sweet, and even rhymes!
Synopsis:
" Where the rain falls and the wind howls, little Mucumber's stomach growls.
But what can he do when there's nothing to chew, like apples or crackers or porridge or stew?
But wait—a hot dog!—albeit quite old . . . and wrinkled and lumpy and lonely and cold.
We all know it's true—food is better when new.
But if you were that hungry, what would you do? "
Our favorites are "Happy Halloween, Little Critter" because we are big fans of Mercer Mayer and "My Monster Momma Loves Me So" by Laura Leuk and Mark Buehner because it's adorable.
Yes, Bone Soup is so good!
Halloween is one of our favorite holidays, and also my daughter's birthday! She will be three this year and loves books! I think we'll give "Bone Soup" a try, especially since I loved "Stone Soup" when I was younger.
How old are your older kids? Can't beat Ray Bradbury's classic Halloween Tree, gives the whole history of Halloween in a great tale.
Ooooh, BONE SOUP looks right up our alley. Halloween has been DD's favourite holiday since she was wee. Now at 7 it's a month long hoop la (we've received so many compliments on our halloween plates... 13 and counting so far -- thank you)!
Our favourite Halloween book is A Very Brave Witch by Alison McGhee. The illustrations are so fun. Bone Soup is now on the list -- thanks for the tip! :)
TracyMB
We love the already mentioned Piggie Pie {read with a scary witch voice, of course}, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything {Linda Williams}, Go Away Big Green Monster {Ed Emberly}, and Inside a House that is Haunted by Alyssa Caucilli {also a rebus}.
But I love the idea of reading by flickering candle light. We're going to have to start this tradition! Thanks for the idea.
love bone soup!
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I absolutely Bone Soup! I got to see a copy last year when Cambria was in town. All her books are marvelous, if you can get your hands on them.
(And Cambria herself is pretty great too.)
We love Bone Soup, too!
We don't have many Halloween books, but my son loves ROOM ON THE BROOM. Great for the younger crowd.
Fright Night Flight...no competition. The illustrations are to die for.
A witch flies around on her super jet fueled broom picking up all her spooky friends one by one until they end up at your house to trick or treat. Really, really fantastic.
We love "Big Pumpkin" by Erica Silverman and "Scary Story" by Carl Reiner - especially the audio for both! We've also read "Where's my Mummy". My youngest loves that one!
Thanks for the book suggestions. We'll definitely add these to our list!
Will pick up "Bone Soup" this week. Next to Christmas, Halloween is a lifetime favorite. My favorite books: "A Job for Wittilda" by Caralyn & Mark Buehner (who live in my neighborhood), "Queen of Halloween" by Mary Engelbreit (bravery) and "Bats at the Beach" by Brian Lies (for beach lovers, cleverly done).
My kids' favorite is Shake Dem Bones. Our copy is falling apart, and I've been searching for another one with a better binding (ours is a cheap Scholastic) but no luck so far!
Haven't read bone soup. I'll have to check it out at the library soon. Some of our favorites are The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey and Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves.
awww I love it. and you can't forget "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"! My fave
Anna
inhonorofdesign.blogspot.com
I love the idea of reading the stories by candle light. We will have to try that.
We like "Halloween Pie," by Michael Tunnell, "Hallowiener," by Dav Pilkey and "Goodnight Goon," by Michael Rex.
Reading Halloween books this spooky season is a great idea! I would love to buy a couple of these books and read them to my nephew. It'll be a fun activity to celebrate Halloween.
The Little Old Lady who Wasn't Afraid of Anything!
Our tradition for Halloween is to watch a spooky movie after going trick-or-treating! We tell the kids to eat all their candy that night while we watch so it's not lagging for weeks after!! As the kids get older we get to go even spookier! :-) I think we're going to do Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" this year. And hopefully by next year we'll all be ready for Arachniphobia!!
oh, I love funny bones! I even know it by memory...
Funny bones, funny bones, tell me was the matter?
I have lost my bone...the funny one..
"Cinderella Skeleton" is the best!!
Author: Robert D. San Souci
Illustrator: David Catrow
You have to check it out. The illustrations are to DIE for, and the text is cute and has great rhythm.
We love "Room on the Broom" and "Mrs. Biddlebox", we are fond of all things WITCHY :).
you must try, you may have already, "pumpkin heads." it is a super simple book for 2-4 or 5 years old. the illustrations are traditional shots of the picture perfect trip to the pumpkin patch and more. enjoy!
We have not gotten any Halloween books yet. Bone Soup sounds like a good one :)
Mommygaga.com
buying a new halloween book was on my list for tomorrow. Just ordered bone soup!
We love Go Away Big Green Monster...so fun for little kids.
I have to add a third vote for Room on the Broom. It was given to us as a gift and my kids have adored reading it for years now.
I also recommend "The little old Lady who wasn't afraid of anything". I have been reading this to my grandchildren for years. We always sit on the bed or floor and when we come to the "surprises" we all do the motions. Even the older ones (10) still like to participate in the annual reading.
i know i tweeted this to you when you asked ... but i just have to mention it again ...
twisted sistahs.
so cute. and funny. and FULL of vocabulary. my oldest girl LOVES it.
The Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything... great for the little kids.
I have a signed copy of Bone Soup...from Cambria herself we received last year.
My kids LOVE this book!!! They want to read it year round...so clever and the illustrations are hilarious :) We will have to pick up some of the other suggestions!
Oh, I'm not sure if it was mentioned in all the comments but I forgot to mention we're also reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman...my nine and half year old LOVES it!
We have had Keith Grave's "Frank was a Monster who wanted to Dance" on our shelves for all three of our kids. Every one of them can recite this cute story by heart.
"Room on the Broom" is a fantastic, rhythmic book by Julia Donaldson.
Another fave is "Boris and Bella." The illustrations are frighteningly cute.
The Teeny Tiny Woman
Room on the Broom
Does anyone remember the Dorrie the Witch series? About a little girl witch and her cat Gink, I think? We used to check them out from the libary when we were little. I loved them.
I always like to read a chapter book to my kids, on or two chapters a night, leading up to Halloween. We read "The Witch Family" by Eleanor Estes. It's a clever story about two little girls who banish the oldest, meanest Head Witch to live on top of a glass hill forever, except she can come down on Halloween. She can't gobble up little rabbits or use her magic much, which is very frustrating for her. It is very empowering to children, I think. Same author who wrote "The Moffats" etc. I read it as a kid and still love it so much.
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