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Halloween is a few weeks away, but as soon as October hits, I bring out my Halloween picture books to read to my darling daughter. One of my favorite things about special days, holidays and each season is sharing special stories. My picture book library has grown tremendously since I started teaching 10 years ago. I loved immersing my students in these special stories year after year, but now I am looking forward to sharing them with my darling daughter.
My daughter really enjoys her board books right now, especially the ones with flaps she can lift or buttons she can push. We checked some Halloween and Fall board books from the library and I also purchased some to add to our home library. We have this store in our area called “2nd & Charles”. It is a store that sells used books, CDs, DVDs, video games, records. They have new books, too! I found board books that were in excellent condition and were practically brand new for less than $4 a piece. That is a good deal for board books! My husband and I love buying books at this store for ourselves, too. Occasionally, they will have a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” promotion and we will take full advantage! Of course, I still need to find time to read the books I purchased for myself, but that’s a story for another day. Anyway, back to Halloween books.
Halloween Board Books
Here are the Halloween board books that we purchased/checked out of the library:
Boo, Bunny! by Kathryn O. Galbraith and Illustrated by Jeff Mack
This is a cute story about two bunnies who go trick or treating and are spooked by the spooky sounds of Halloween night. The text rhymes and includes adjectives and verbs to bring the story to life. The illustrations portray Halloween night and support the text really well. The illustrations really do a good job of telling the story.
Boo! Guess Who, Elmo! by Matt Mitter and Illustrated by Ernie Kwiat
This board book features flaps that can be lifted, which my daughter loves. This story features the favorite characters from Sesame Street and repeats “Boo! Guess Who, Elmo!” on each page. Elmo and his friends go trick or treating on Sesame Street and have a Halloween Party at the Fire Station. There are questions to engage young readers by encouraging them to make guesses about the story.
Corduroy’s Trick-or-Treat by Don Freeman and Illustrated by Lisa McCue
Who doesn’t love Corduroy? Corduroy was one of my favorite books and book characters as a child. This board book is a special story that uses vocabulary centered around Halloween like haunted house and spooky ghost. The illustrations are very colorful and support the text on each page, which is perfect for young readers.
Halloween Mice! by Bethany Roberts and Illustrated by Doug Cushman
This board book uses a lot of strong verbs like skitter, scamper and rustle. There are sound words used throughout like “Whish, whish!”. This is a fun book to read to a baby because the text lends itself well to varied speeds of reading.
Happy Halloween, Curious George by N.T. Raymond and Kelly Loughman and Illustrated by Mary O’Keefe Young
This board book is a collection of 7 short stories with Curious George as the main character. Each story shows how Curious George participates in a Halloween activity and gets his costume ready for the Halloween party.
My First Halloween by Tomie dePaola
This board book is filled with simple text and bright watercolor paintings. This book introduces your little one to the traditions of Halloween.
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Illustrated by Axel Scheffler
This board book is filled with a rhyming story about how a witch makes friends with several animals and how the animals use teamwork to save her from being eaten by a hungry dragon. Young children will enjoy the surprise ending!
Where is Baby’s Pumpkin? by Karen Katz
This is a book filled with flaps that are perfect for little hands to lift and look. Throughout the text, the baby is looking for the pumpkin. The baby looks for it in many different places.
Whooo’s That? A Lift-the-Flap Pumpkin Fun Book by Kay Winters and Illustrated by Jeannie Winston
Each page of this book features something hiding behind a pumpkin. Your child lifts the pumpkin to uncover ghosts, bats, skeletons and other Halloween surprises.
Check out Creative Parenting on a Whim for some additional Halloween Board Book titles you can read with your baby or toddler.
Halloween Picture Books
Here are some of my favorite Halloween picture books:
The Berenstein Bears Trick or Treat by Stan & Jan Berenstein
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll
Corduroy’s Best Halloween Ever by Don Freeman
The Halloween Play by Felicia Bond
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams
The Littlest Pumpkin by R.A. Herman
The Night Before Halloween by Natasha Wing
The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler
The Spookiest Halloween Ever! by Teddy Slater
The Spooky Halloween Party by Annabelle Prager
I enjoy being able to put out these special seasonal titles every year. All of these Halloween books reinforce key vocabulary centered around a specific theme as well as teach about the elements of Halloween in a friendly way 🙂 We love reading in our house and I hope you can find a title or two to add to your child’s home library!
Do you have a favorite Halloween book? Share about it in the comments below!